Sunday, November 30, 2008

How to Make a Christmas Orange Pomander


Christmas Craft #2:
ORANGE POMANDERS
So here is the second craft for the Annual Christmas Craft Day. Very traditional and very easy to do. It is one the kids never tire of in fact they will keep reminding me ....." we have to make our Christmas oranges, Mom!"
The hardest part is the hanger but I'll show you the trick I've come up with to get it to work.
Materials Required
Make sure you use a navel orange and not a Mandarin, the skin is just to loose to hold in the cloves.
Most books say just to push in the cloves directly but I find the kids will struggle with that. It's much easier for them to poke the orange with a toothpick first and then insert the clove.
We are just doing a simple line design but you can cover the orange completely if you want, or write your name with cloves, or even a shape like a poinsettia flower.
They kids really enjoy this activity and it will make your house smell wonderful.
For the hanger take a length of wire about 10 inches or so.
Break a toothpick in half.
Wrap the wire around the toothpick and twist together to form a loop.
Punch a few holes in the top of your orange close together to form a large enough opening for the hanger.
Insert hanger into the hole and push down with a pencil or paintbrush handle.
Pull up a little on the hanger and it should stay in place.
The toothpick swells up a bit and holds the hanger in place.
Add a bow and you have a very nice Christmas decoration. If you only use a few cloves in your design your orange will probably not last forever.
If you completely cover your orange with cloves your pomander will last longer and may dry out completely.


Give it a try.
see you next time
gail

No comments :

Post a Comment