by Mouse

Created on: April 30, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

PAGAN: How to make a Corn Dolly
Traditionally made from grasses, the Corn Dolly plays a key part in Mabon celebrations for many Pagans.

When you're a beginner, or crafting with children, you may prefer to start out with craft straws or soft willow wands etc. In our family, we've had some very good results from lavender (especially rabbits' ear & roman varieties)

I'm going to describe the method as though making a basic corn dolly with art straws, with a variation of making a rattle for Mabon celebrations.

You will need 5 straws all the same length.
Two elastic bands / lengths of string or ribbon
Dried peas/beans lentils (optional for variation)

A large, flat surface to work on tends to save time (& sanity) at least at first!

How to do it:

Stand the straws on their ends so the ends match up. Fasten them about two inches (five cms) from the top.
(Suppose for a minute here that you were using a grass or lavender, what you would be doing here is tying them off just below the heads)

So what you've ended up with is a long end below the tie-off & a short, stubby one above.

next thing to do is to splay the long ends out (hence the need for a working surface) so that the long ends splay out and the short, stubby ones stand up perpendicular to the working surface.

For sake of ease, it's best to arrange the long ends so that they point in compass points relative to you. (North, South, East & West)
Make sure that the fifth long end also points East. So you should have one end in N, W & S - with the remaining two strands pointing E (You'll have a top E and a bottom E)

Now to start the weaving.

Take the bottom E strand & pass it beneath both the top E strand & the N strand.
Now take the whole thing and rotate it a quarter turn Deosil (sun/clockwise) so that once again, the direction with two strands goes from being in the N, to being in the E.

Once again, take the lower E strand and pass beneath the top E & the N strands, then rotate a quarter turn Deosil once again.

Keep on repeating this action. Very quickly you'll notice that the work starts to pull up into a sort of a basket shape around the stubby ends - this is exactly what we want. - Continue in this way until you have a 'basket' that's long enough to cover the stubby ends completely.

If your making a rattle, you'll also need to leave about 4 inches (10 cms) of raw ends to form the handle.

*At this point, if you're making a rattle with craft straws, you'll want to put some dried lentils/peas or beans into the 'basket' to create sound.*

To fasten off:

Grab the raws ends together & fasten off by either catching up in another elastic band, or a second length of string or ribbon.

*If you're making a rattle, you might choose to 'finish' the handle in some way - plaiting or twisting for example*

If your finished piece was made from craft straws, you might choose at this point to paint/felt tip/crayon your finished piece to make it really bright.

This is the method for a very basic Dolly. There are many more advanced techniques you could employ to make different shapes. It's very easy to obtain books/instruction sheets etc. from your local library. Have fun - Go mad!
The only limiting factor is your mind!

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