Walnut Baby Tutorial

Walnut baby necklace

How to make a walnut baby necklace. First split and clean out your walnut.  (you can do this by tapping all the way around the seam of a walnut over and over with a knife handle, back of a spoon or something similar until it falls in two)

halve and clean a walnut

Step two: Take a length of ribbon long enough for the necklace and glue the centre of it to the inside of one half of the walnut near the flat end.

Glue in the ribbon

Take a pinch of unspun wool and gently roll it into a soft ball shape.  Glue or press into the walnut half to make the bedding

Press in a pinch of unspun wool

Cut a piece of felt about 5mm wider than the walnut shell to cover the bottom three quarters of the shell. Glue the  outside edge of the felt to the edge of the nutshell so it makes a pocket.

Glue on the felt to the edges of the nutshell to form a pocket.

To make the baby, take another pinch of unspun wool and twist the end between your fingers to make a point.

Thread this point through a small wooden bead and pull through.  The bead will be the head of the baby.

Pull some unspun wool through a bead.

To secure the head, fold the wool back over the head and roll between your fingers or needle felt the wool together to form the body.

Fold wool ends over and felt together.

Needle felting to secure head and body.

To make a cap, cut a triangle of felt that will wrap around the bead with one edge, and sew or glue up the other two sides of the triangle together.

For the hat, fold a triangle of felt in half and sew up one edge

Finally, glue the hat to the bead head, and place the baby in the walnut shell cradle.

Glue the hat to the head, and the baby is ready to be placed in and out of the walnut cradle.

Give it to someone to treasure and play with.  A great pocket pal for trips out and about, and it comes with it’s own built in pocket!

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and it helps you weave a little sunshine for a special someone.

For more hints and tips visit us in the textiles and craft rooms of Linuwel school. Thursdays from 11.00 til 1.00.

Treasure Boxes & Silk Sewing

It was a double week this week, with crafting on Thursday and Friday.  Thursday saw us busily drafting the first two prototype eurythmy silks, with nervous hands cutting and guiding the slippery silk through the machines.

baby bunting in a walnut necklace pouch

Friday was a day to let our hair down and get those creative ideas flowing at Jill’s place. Thanks Jill!  Treasures of all kinds were made to fit snuggly into recycled wedding boxes.  Here is just a sample of what we crafted.

Felt flower hair bands

Fabulous felted bunnies and little toadstool scenes

and little hooded hazelnut gnomes

More little crafts and digit dolls are planned for this Thursday as well as our machine sewing. We would love for you to join us.  If you would like to take one home to do, drop in to collect supplies from 11.00 – 1.00 this Thursday in the new and improved stables.  Or even just join us for a quick cuppa and a stickybeak.

Come and weave a little sunshine in your life.

Darling Digit Dolls

This week some darling digit dolls danced into being, helped by wonderful hands that crocheted flower skirts (thanks Diane!) and dashed over from work (thanks Sharon!) and wound with neat and nimble fingers (thanks Jill!) and inspired with books (thanks Maddy!) and tuned into the seasons (thanks Amelia!) and made our space open and welcoming (thanks Fiona!).

A delightful dancing digit doll created by the combined efforts of Sharon, Diane and Diana.

If you would like to join in the fun we will be making more pipecleaner people for the next three weeks.   Our big sewing project will also be in progress… making eurythmy veils for the primary classes, so any expertise or sewing machine skills would be gratefully received too.

Join us Thursdays from 11am til 1 pm in the school textiles rooms (old stables) and weave a little sunshine in your life 🙂

Let the Magic resume…

Craft group is ready to restart for the year, with a wonderful new space in the 2nd textiles (old stables) room.  We will meet on Thursdays during term time from 11.00am til 1.00pm.  Come and join in the magic of making something for the school or delight your own children by learning a new crafty skill to share.  All are welcome, however due to the new location, we request that you arrange for children not yet at school to be looked after elsewhere during our crafting time.

Come and weave a little sunshine in your life