Sup Homies,
The story of this week’s craft starts last month when my friend sent me a bottle of Snoop Dogg branded wine.
I wanted to make the cork into an air plant holder. I had been exposed to Covid, so I couldn’t leave the house to go to my local store to buy an air plant so I decided to get one online. I didn’t realize that the online air plant order came with 4 air plants. So even after I made my air plant cork holder, I still had three air plants that needed homes.
(If you want your own air plant cork holder, it’s super easy, dig a little bit of the cork out of the top with an Exacto and touch a little bit of glue to the air plaint and rest it into the grove of the cork, with the roots slightly exposed. I added a magnet to the back and stuck it on the fridge. While it was a fun craft, it’s not the main one of this newsletter.)
I decided to make a holder for my other 3 three plants. If you haven’t heard too much about air plants, they are super easy to grow plants that don’t need any dirt to grow. If you need more info on them or how to care for them, here is a great link with info.
For this DIY, you really only need popsicle sticks, hot glue, and caps (like from the top of a drink.) I also used spray paint and a string.
To start out, grab some drink caps which your plants can fit in. I used ones that were from a fancy pre-made cocktail so they were already gold. If you pick one that you don’t like the color of, you can easily spray paint them later in this craft. I liked the gold color so I kept them the way they are.
The next step is to make a lattice out of your popsicle sticks. To start off, arrange your sticks into two symmetrical Xs. Glue the two sticks that created the X together on one side (the side with the glue on it will be the back). I hot glue, but wood glue will work too.
Once your Xs are glued together. Glue the two Xs together by putting glue on top of the opposing corners. Then side the two sides together.
You should sen up with something that is clean on the front and looks like this on the back.
It can be a little messy, it will mostly be covered. I made sure it was strong by adding more glue on the back after the fact which you can see above.
Now get three more popsicle sticks. Mine were a little smaller than the originals, but as long as the three new ones match each other, they can be a different size. I cut the rounded edges off and then used them to connect the furthest points of the lattice.
You should have a front and back that look something like this. As you can probably tell, I used already used popsicle sticks, but if you are using new and less stained ones, you might want to keep the natural wood color. I decided to cover mine with gold spray paint, especially to cover up the fruit stains.
I always spray paint on my fire escape. If you are using spray paint, make sure you do it outside or in a very well-ventilated area. You can also use other paints, get creative with it! If you want to change the color of your caps, you can wait to paint it until the end step.
Once the spray paint was dry, I added my caps on with hot glue. I measured out the center of the lattice and glued them to that line. Make sure all your caps face the same direction.
Again, I tried to put the majority of glue on the back of the holder.
Once that glue dried, I was ready to put in my plants. I also realized my caps were also the exact right size for tea lights.
Technically, this holder can be propped up against a wall and work fine, but I wanted to hang mine. I tied a bit of string around the right joint created by the sticks at the top and repeated the process on the left side.
My holder was now ready to hang. I used a slip knot and a tack. (It was light enough for tacks, but if your plants are any heavier than mine, you might want to use a small nail.)
Thanks for sticking around. I am sending this right before Thanksgiving. I hope everyone is being safe and social distancing correctly this year but on top of all of that, I think people really need to reexamine Thanksgiving. I have never been a ‘Thanksgiving” person. My family didn’t really celebrate it that intensely, if at all some years. I think we all know the myth of the pilgrims and ‘Indians’ having dinner is BS. Even if it happened, we take it out of a story of generations of genocide and white supremacy. I think it’s time to learn a little more about first nations and native causes. I think doing it before or even on this year’s Thanksgiving is a great step for those who have vowed to work towards anti-racism this year. And I have some links to help. Reclaiming Native Truth is a great resource to learn some real history and learn the stories from first nations peoples themselves. Similarly, the NDN Collective is a great learning resource. You can also put your money where your mouth is and instead of rushing to Walmart on Black Friday, you can buy your presents this year from native-owned brands. Another great place to support is the Indigenous Environmental Network. A great way to start conversations or talk to children is through the Native Land Map. You can see what tribes used to or still live on where you live now. The map is not 100% accurate but has links to more information and ways to follow up. Even simply making a donation to help native communities fight COVID can be a great start this holiday season.
Stay safe, please don’t get on a plane if you don’t have to, and stay crafting.