Purple Scent Lavender
Suzanne Powers
5400 Chico Way NW
Bremerton, WA 98312
360.308.9867

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Purple Scent Lavender Farm

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Purple Scent Lavender

Although practice in wand making will improve the product to some extent, all wands bear the mark of the maker's personality. I suggest that beginners learn the skill by watching someone who has made wands before.
Because the wand is made by weaving a ribbon over and under adjacent stalks, you must use an odd number of stalks. (I usually use thirteen, but the number varies depending on the cultivar and how fat I want the head to be.) Harvest only the most robust and straight flower stalks. Cut them just above the first set of leaves and avoid any stalks with side flower stalks, which weaken the stalk and could break off during weaving.

Materials
• 6 feet 1/4" wide satin ribbon in a dark color (the stalks can stain light-colored ribbon.)
• 13 stalks fresh, straight, long-stemmed lavender such as 'Grosso', 'Provence', 'Abrialis', 'Super' or 'Hidcote Giant'.
• Heavy thread
• Clippers
• Scissors

1. Align the flower heads and wrap the thread tightly below the flowers, including one end of the ribbon. Knot the thread and trim the ends; leave 1/4" tail of the ribbon.

2. Turn the wand so that the flowers point downward. One at a time, bend the stalks over the thread. (Pressing your thumbnail into the stalk above the thread as you bend it prevents breakage if the stalks have dried out a little.) Space the stalks evenly like the spines of an umbrella (Figure 1)

Figure 1

3. Bring the ribbon to the outside of the umbrella and begin to weave over and under adjacent stalks. As you weave, pull on the ribbon fairly hard and make sure that the flowers inside are covered (Figure 2). (As the pulling causes the stalks to twist, realign them after weaving three rounds so that they are once again straight and evenly spaced. Repeat this step if necessary after the sixth round.)

4. After weaving beyond the flower heads, form a handle by weaving the ribbon tighly for 4 to 5 inches. Tie it off in a bow.

5. After the wand dries, reweave the ribbon on the now shrunken handle and retie the bow.

Variations:
• Basket weave. Using an odd number of pairs of stalks (for example, eleven pairs or twenty two stalks), weave the ribbon over and under alternate pairs. This shows off more of the ribbon in the finished wand.
• Tie in two ribbons in coordinating colors. Weave the first round with one ribbon, then use the second to weave the next round. Continue to alternate rounds.

Figure 2