This past Sunday my Knitty Gritty Friend and I hosted our third craft class together.
Can you guess from the cut up blocks what we were making? Tree blocks!!
We used apple limbs from Stephanie's pruned apple trees. I was going to cut them all myself, until the chop saw kicked back on me...thankfully the helpful men in our life cut them up on our behalf.
I took on the fun task of making beeswax polish...it's super easy to whip up a batch. Grate your beeswax and then put it in a pot with olive oil. 4 cups olive oil to 1 cup beeswax. Then pour it into jars.
After picking out their blocks, the ladies heading outside to use the belt sander on my porch! One of the moms said this was the "BEST" class so far because of the belt sander. It was so much fun to see the ladies out there.
We sewed up sweet drawstring bags and let the ladies make potato print stamps to stamp on them. Here is our crafty friend making a print of a skull, (yay for punk rock mamas)!
Here is mrs Knitty Gritty's lovely owl.
And here are the finished treeblocks...I love the effect of sanding off some of the bark...the grain underneath is just magical!
After applying the beeswax polish, the blocks need to sit for at least 2 hours to absorb the wax...everyone was sent home with their own buffing cloth, to give the blocks a shine!
What a beautiful gift to put under the Christmas tree this year. It makes me smile to think of the lucky little kids in our neck of the woods!
In craftiness
maureen xo
Those blocks are lovely! I wish we had a place (and the money) to set up power tools. We managed to buy a jigsaw, but with no clamp or work table my husband only managed to cut a few pieces from a branch before giving up. Of course, I'd trade said place for a group of crafty like-minded mamas to hang out with. (:
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to make tree blocks too. So just so I know what to do....I cut, sand, and then make the beeswax polish you have here and rub some all over? Is that it? What's the buffing cloth part? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBrought some branches back from our place in the mountains to make these for my girls for Christmas...thanks for the info on the polish, that's the part I wasn't sure about!
ReplyDeleteI love the owl! Thank you for the information. My littlest would love some tree blocks.
ReplyDeleteahhh yes! My daughter and her hubby have made these for our daycare and her little one.. They left theirs "rough" I will be sure to show her this post!
ReplyDeletehttp://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2010/08/back-to-basicshomemade-happiness.html
oh i would love to be right in the middle of all that fun! your blocks are beautiful!! ;)
ReplyDeleteHow lovely!
ReplyDeletexo
We love our tree blocks !! We made them this past summer and the children are still going strong with them.... one of the best additions we ever made to the block center.
ReplyDeletegood for you !
light and peace
Just gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteI sneak out and use the belt sander from time to time too:)
So beautifully made, hard working ladies!
ReplyDeletenice blocks, girls!
ReplyDeletethis is on my to-do list before the new year....
great instructions:)
Thank you for being a continued source of inspiration! I gave you a blog award today! http://childcentralstation.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-award.html
ReplyDeleteJenny...yup...that's pretty much it. I will tell you a little secret though...I left on my polish for 2 days, (lack of time to wipe polish off), and my blocks were just gorgeous. The "buffing" cloth is just a cloth used to wipe off the excess polish, (after its soaked in). Let me know if you have any other questions.
ReplyDeletexo happy block making all!
maureen