How To Make A Miniature Broom Without Wood



A simple broom tutorial,

I came up with the other night after watching how to make real life sized brooms on youtube. It's a pretty cool process which of course I completely modified for the materials I had on hand.

I used foil to make the handle but you can use a stick or a dowel or polymer clay. I like the foil because I could make it as crooked as I wanted. You can make this as long or as short or as thick or as thin as you want.

You will need:
foil
masking tape
glue and water
paper towel
stain or paint. I used instant coffee to stain my handle.
If you use instant coffee then you will also need a spray sealer or the coffee stain will eventually rub off. I used a matte, clear acrylic sealer.
rustic twine for the broom part.




For those using a stick, a dowel or a clay handle skip steps 1 to 4.
1) roll and twist a piece of  foil into the shape you want then wrap it in masking tape


2) tear off a small strip of paper towel, just enough to cover the handle, dip it in a bowl of glue and water mix and wrap it around the handle. Rub it on to make sure the entire piece of paper towel is clinging to the handle. If your fingers stick to it just dip your fingers in the glue then work the paper. Then lay the handle on a cookie sheet, but lean it on the edge so that just the ends are on the pan and the majority of the handle is off the pan. I don't have a photo of this step, sorry! But bake it at about 275 degrees for about 20 minutes until it is completely dry.

3) paint the handle or stain it with instant coffee as I did. I mixed a little bit of water with the coffee, more water will make it lighter, less water makes it's darker. Play around with it until you get the color you want. Brush the stain on with a paint brush then put it back in the oven to dry at 275 for about 10 to 15 minutes, again leaning it on the pan as pictured below. I usually put on a couple coats of coffee stain, drying between coats. When the handle is cool then spay it with the matte sealer. Let dry for about 5 to 10 minutes before touching again.


4) Make the broom. You can use whatever you'd like to use, I used rustic twine. I made a pile of strands about 3 inches long, again this length will vary to what you're making but make the strands way too long to start off with. The twine was a bit too thick so I unraveled each strand by holding each end and twisting it in the opposite direction of it's natural wrap. Each strand broke up into 3 thinner stands.


5) lay a long strand down, this one you will use to tie off the first bundle. Then lay a small bundle of strands down on top as pictured, lay the handle down then another bundle over top. Tie it off.






6) fold the strands from the top of the broom down over the part you tied off. Check it all around and make sure there's no parts of the handle showing through. If there is, just add more then tie it off again as you did in step 5. Once you're satisfied with it, wrap a long strand of twine or a thin wire around as pictured below, wrap quite a few times, tie it off then hid the tie strands inside the broom or tuck it under the wrap itself.

7) trim the broom to desired length and you're done!



I hope you found this tutorial helpful!

Tip Jar ~ Thank you!





Comments

  1. Estupendo tutorial y bonitas escobas.

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  2. Excellent!
    As always, thank you for your tutorials and great ideas!

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  3. Really w done. I have to make these.Thank''s for sharing it.

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  4. gracias por la información,lo pongo en práctica

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  5. Sharon, I just love looking at everything you have done! I have been following you for some time now and I think you are fabulous!

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  6. Sharon, I just love looking at all the things you have done, I have been following you for quite some time and I think you are fabulous! You inspired me with your paper clay, I built one thing with and I am getting ready to start a multi room fairy house. I just opened a Facebook page as well. Thank you for all your great ideas!!!

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