Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Corn Husk Dolls



Welcome to my very first Cast Iron Stew craft post! My blog name was inspired by the pioneers, so what could be a better way to start off my craft posts than with a pioneer craft?

Here you go, a pioneer recipe written in pioneer cookery book style:

Take dried corn husks wet until pliable, tie them for the head, turn them the wrong way and fold down the husks around them. Take another several corn husks, braided, make arms and put them on the body where arms please to be. Tie off the waist and trim the bottom for a nice dress.

Just kidding! These are the real instructions, with pictures and all. Now in color:
____________________

CORN HUSK DOLLS (WITH PICTURES!)
SUPPLIES:
  • Corn (with husks)
  • Big bowl
  • Towel
  • Twine (or some other sort of string)
  • Scissors

HOW TO MAKE IT:


Pick out some corn. Every ear of corn should be able to make about 1 to 1 1/2 corn husk dolls.


Shuck the corn and save the corn husks.


Bonus: you'll get corn from this project too!


Let the corn husks dry in a box or an open paper bag for a couple of days. They will  probably dry faster in the sun, but you can dry them inside, too. The corn husks should be dry and brittle, but they will probably still be green. (At least that's what I tell myself, since I don't want to wait for them to get completely brown!)


Soak 7 or 9 corn husks in a large bowl half full with water for about 10 minutes. Because corn husks tend to float, occasionally douse them in the water to make sure that they get thoroughly wet. They should become pliable. After they have soaked, pull them out of the water and dry any extra water off with a towel.


Bunch an even number of corn husks together, either 4 or 6. You might think that I have something against the number 5, but I don't. Honest. Tie the non-pointed end of the corn husks together with your string.


Turn the bunch upside down.



Pull all of the corn husks around the tied area. This is going to be the "head".


Tie a twine around the "neck" of your corn husk doll.


Tie three new corn husks together.


Braid them and tie the ends. Cut off the pointy end and make it even. These are her "arms".


Put her arms under her head and halfway between the front and the back of the corn husks.


Tie them off to make her top.



Cut the bottom, pointy ends of the corn husk doll to make the bottom of the dress even. 

____________________

Enjoy your pioneer craft!
Katie

No comments:

Post a Comment