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In the beginning of time, when man wanted to create something he had to look around him for the raw materials. There were no lumber yards from which to select the wood, nor any hardware or department stores where he would find his nails or drills and paints. Today, life is much easier. If we want to make crafts we can go to a store designed specifically for that purpose. But sometimes we might want to make something crafty but either don't have the spare change for supplies or perhaps we simply want to get back to nature.
The craft projects we will be doing here are made from supplies that can be found in nature. The first is a cattail doll. These dolls were made years ago by Indian children, and kids today love making them as much as playing with them. Gather cattail leaves when they are full grown. To dry them, hang them up by clothespins to a line strung up in a dry, airy place. You can store them indefinitely as long as they remain in a dry place. When you are ready to make your doll, soak the leaves in water for just a few minutes to loosen them up, then pat dry.
To make the doll, take 5 leaves, stack them all together and fold them in half in the middle. Tie a thin piece of the leaf, about 1/4" wide, around the stalks 1" down from the fold. Cut a small bunch of leaves for the arms. (The length of these depends on how big you want your doll to be). Insert the arm bundle just below the tie. Tie another thin piece of leaf, 1/4" wide, around leaves several times at the waist to hold the arms in place. Spread out the cattails below the waist to form the doll skirt. If you desire a face, it can be drawn on with fine point permanent markers. Hair can be made from cutting several 1/8" strips and inserting them through the folds of the head, and then tying them at the top.
Another simple nature craft children enjoy is the nut shell animal. You'll need a half shell of walnut, hickory or butternut; thin, flat pieces of bark and some glue (or tree pitch or sap if you want to stay all natural).
On the bark draw an outline of the animal you wish to make. The shell will be the animal's belly so your outline will need to be looking face on at the animal. Cut the shape out of the bark and using glue or pitch, glue the shell to the bark. These little animals can be made into pins by gluing a pin back to the back side of the bark.
Eyes and mouths can be added by finding things in nature that contrast in color to the bark, such as seeds and tiny vines.
Bark can be used to make creative bookmarks also. These bookmarks sit over the corners of the page, rather than in the book. Birch bark works great, but if it is not available to you you can use elm, hickory, poplar, cedar, spruce and hemlock.
To gather bark, try to get it from fallen trees if possible. To strip it, cut a slit straight down the trunk and work it loose with a wedge. To get it ready for use, soak it in very hot, soapy water. If the bark is thick and bumpy, scrape the outer side to get rid of some of the roughness.
To make a bark bookmark, cut two right angles with 3" sides. Place wrong sides together. Using an awl punch holes along both sides for lacing. Natural lacing material is young spruce or evergreen roots. You can also find pine vines crawling along many forest floors. soak the root fibers in water until soft and pliable and then lace the corners together. Finish off ends by simply lacing the fiber under the last two loops. Other lacing materials that work good are thin strips of leather and raffia.
If you have access to vines, such as grape vines, you can make wonderful wreaths for your home. Gather vines by cutting them when the growing season is over. Before using the vines, soak them in warm water until pliable. Decide what size you want your wreath to be and with one end form a cirle that size. Then coil the vine around and around, building up thickness. When there is length left for only four more wraps, weave the remaining vine through the center and around itself, over and over again, until the wreath is complete. The end of the vine can be wrapped tightly into a finish knot and dabbed with hot glue to hold it in place. Vine wreaths can be decorated for any season and last indefinitely.
One final unique craft from natural materials is the twig necklace. Find twigs that are all uniform in diameter (1/2" thickness works great). Cut the twigs into 1" pieces. Cut notches on each side of twig pieces so they can fit together like log ends. Drill holes through the center of these notches so they can be strung on a cord, log-stack style. To make the neclkace more appealing carve designs, or notches branching out from center, into the ends of twig pieces.
So, the next time you're looking for a new experience, take a look around your backyard for something new to create.
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