Spring brunch activity
Hello again.
This weekend would have been the NDORMS spring brunch and one of the activities we had planned was making grassheads, So I thought I'd have a go at making some at home anyway - why not give it a go yourself.
Step 1 - Gather your stuff
You will need
- A pair of old tights or pop socks (if you don't have these try an old sock or even some scrap material)
- Grass seeds (ideally) - I didn't have any so used cress (give it a go with what you have)
- Some soil, compost or even sawdust
- A jar or similar container (if you use a paper cup you can decorate directly)
- Stuff for decorating
Step 2 - Prepare the tights for stuffing
If you can use the end of a pair of tights, you can skip this stage. If you can't (perhaps because you are making more than one grasshead) then cut off a suitable length (longer is better, you can trim it later) and tie a knot in it. Turn the tights inside out so the knot is then on the inside.
Step 3 - Fill up the tights
Put some seeds in the 'toe' of the tights and then fill the rest of the tight section up with soil, compost or sawdust - I'm guessing cotton wool might work too. I made mine about the size of a tennis ball - it will depend a bit on your jar size. Make it a size that comfortably fits on the neck of the jar.
Tie a knot and leave a section of tights below the knot - this will be useful for the next stage. If your compost/soil etc wasn't wet when you put it in then dunk the grasshead in some water till it is damp/wet.
Step 4 - Assembling and decorating the grasshead (cat optional)
Fill your jar with water and put the filled ball on top with the piece of the tights below the knot dangling into the water. This will keep the seeds wet and means you shouldn't need to water it much (just keep an eye on the level of water in the jar).
Then decorate your grasshead. The grasshead will stay wet, so you will need waterproof glue (a gluegun works well supposedly) or you can to what I have done and carefully stick drawing pins into it (these will rust eventually).
You can then sellotape some paper or card round your jar and decorate that. This bit should stay dry so you can use normal glue for decorating, or just draw on it, like I have done here.
Happy crafting! I'll upload a picture of how my cress seeds got on in a future blog (I'm slightly worried they might not push through the tights like grass would).
If you have a go, do send me a picture!
Have a good week.
Natalie.
Update!
Here it is after a few days. As I suspected having a leafy sprout meant it couldn't get through the tights, so I had to cut a couple of large holes in the top (but leave enough to hold the top part together).
I have, of course, now found a box of grass seed so if anyone would like me to send them some seed then just let me know and I'll pop some in the post for you (till I run out of stamps, anyway). NB I have no idea how old it is, so it may not work.