The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I'm looking for some ideas for Ostara crafts that don't involve eggs or seeds. A woman can only eat so many hardboiled eggs (hubs won't touch them) and I absolutely suck at starting seeds.

I crochet, cross-stitch, and (somewhat) knit, have jewelry tools (I dabble in beads and chain mail), and have been known to delve into paper crafts if that helps with suggestions.

And I'm on Ravelry and Pinterest, if that also helps.

Karen

I crochet, cross-stitch, and (somewhat) knit, have jewelry tools (I dabble in beads and chain mail), and have been known to delve into paper crafts if that helps with suggestions.

Why not crochet/cross stitch some lambs, rabbits, eggs, or other Ostara symbols? I bet you could find lots of patterns online, or make your own pattern of course, if you're into that sort of thing.

Actually, needle felting sounds perfect for Ostara, to make little fuzzy lambs and stuff; I might do some of that myself 😊 It's very easy to learn. To do needle felting you would need wool, felting needles, and a block of foam to use as a work surface. You might be able to find all these things at a local specialty craft store - if they stock spinning fiber, they will probably have felting supplies.  Needle felting is basically sculpting with wool - you just roll the wool up into a simple shape like a ball or cylinder, then jab it with the felting needle until it matts up and holds its shape. Then you can create multiple simple shapes and using some more loose wool like glue, jab them together to make more complex shapes.  Many people use a cheap white wool to build the skeleton for their sculpture, and then add dyed wool on top of that to color it, again jabbing it until it stays. There are plenty of video tutorials online too. Anyway, it seems like an appropriate craft.

I'm looking for some ideas for Ostara crafts that don't involve eggs or seeds. A woman can only eat so many hardboiled eggs (hubs won't touch them) and I absolutely suck at starting seeds.

I crochet, cross-stitch, and (somewhat) knit, have jewelry tools (I dabble in beads and chain mail), and have been known to delve into paper crafts if that helps with suggestions.

And I'm on Ravelry and Pinterest, if that also helps.

Karen

Make some paper!
 
I always keep some old papers about (like old school notes and stuff I don't really need) that I reuse and make new paper with. Here is a tutorial on that quick (since I am lazy and don't want to write one out myself XD).

Although honestly, for a frame I just took a wire hanger, pulled out the bottom to form a square and then just pulled an old nylon over it. Tada, a very inexpensive and easily made screen. And then instead of a pan or anything I just use the sink.

As the tutorial mentions, you can decorate your paper with dried flowers, or I could see even cutting out petals from different papers (tissue paper would keep the thickness okay) and adding flowers that way if you don't have anything dried handy. As well as any other shapes you like or associate with. You just sift a layer of paper, then add the design then do more layers. I will add strings, sometimes sparkles, (and seeds! XD) commonly to my paper, as well as after I am done layering I add some drops of food coloring. You can also color the batches by adding colored construction paper to the blend (adding food coloring to the water seemed to do nothing, but adding new colors of paper pulp does).

So the paper itself can be your fun crafty times, giving new life to your paper, and then you can even make paper flowers and buds to decorate with, or anything else really. It is paper full of pretty things. If you couldn't tell, I just really like flowers, so suggested them a lot. XD But you can definitely do egg designs, or even decorate the paper like they were eggs. Or make cards and stationary for future use. Depending on the thickness of the paper you can write on it okay.

Make some paper!

 
Thank you for this idea!  And for the tips!  This sounds like something even I could manage.  

Have you ever laminated any of the paper you've made?  Does that work?

I've just discovered that Sharpie makes fabric stain/dye markers.  So, now I'm imagining all sorts of colorful painted silk banners and flags and scarfs and things.  I've spent WAY too much time surfing around Dharma Trading Co. today.  I'm considering getting their beginner's silk painting kit to give it a try.  It feels like a very spring-y thing to me.  

 

Some nice craft kits at http://www.artifolk.co.uk/crafts/full-craft-sets.htm
They also sell all sorts of art supplies useful for crafts.

I was just thinking about how cool it works be to make a set of divination cards on homemade paper. But they'd probably need to be laminated so they wouldn't fall apart with use.

A Reminder:

Hi, Aster, Just a quick note: Tapatalk is messing up your quotes again. Thanks! Sunflower, TC Forum Staff

Crap.

Thanks, Sunflower.

I had the same problem on a different forum, so I've been extra super careful to make sure the quote is in the reply window before I hit post. There have been several times when it came up at first and then disappeared while I was replying and I couldn't get it to reappear, so I've had to ditch those replies.  So frustrating.

I'm now only using my Kindle or the laptop for TC, at least until there's some kind of fix for tapatalk. That might mean I'm not around as much, but I can at least be sure the quotes won't disappear.

Sigh........