An amazing yet creation man. In times of massive shortages, people complained that nothing could be bought in stores. Now, when everything you wish is on sale, needlework has gained extraordinary popularity. Crafts from birch bark are no exception. With their own hands from this natural material enthusiastically make all kinds of products and children, and adults. And, I must say, sometimes such creations are obtained that can be called, without exaggeration, real works of art.
Back to the past ...
However, hand-made crafts made of birch bark are not at all some kind of innovation, which is well known to all of us from history. This craft began to flourish in ancient Russia. True, then the production of birch bark products was more dictated by vital necessity than by craving for creativity. First, due to the lack of paper, birch bark letters appeared , then the Russian people learned to shoe using this natural material, and then began to make all kinds of household utensils from it. For storage of various trifles weaved small boxes, chests, boxes. Going into the forest, they took with them birch bark baskets. Kvass, honey, milk, butter were stored in tueses made of birch bark, made from it musical instruments, children's toys.
So today we want to talk about what can be made of this material, where to get it and how to harvest it. Needlework today is not only knitting and crocheting, it is a huge field for creativity, which is now called the fashionable word handmade.
Go to the forest
But first, a few words about the material itself. Birch bark is the outer, very thin part of the birch bark. This is a very plastic, durable and easy to use material. That is why making crafts from birch bark with your own hands is not only interesting, but also easy.
Fallen birches are very often found in the forest, in which the wood has long decayed, and the bark has remained unharmed. It is from such trees that the top layer, which is used for needlework, is very easily removed. Harvesting birch bark for crafts is usually carried out in late spring or early summer. The layers removed from tree trunks are then dried at home (necessarily in natural conditions). When the material dries, it is necessary to remove all irregularities from it, then tie the sheets into bundles and boil for half an hour. Then they are dried again, and then cut into slices, stripes, ribbons - depending on what crafts from birch bark to do with your own hands.
And you can make anything of it. Flowers, candlesticks, vases, paintings, caskets, panels - all can not be counted. Today, children's crafts from birch bark are very popular - both within the framework of school activities, and in terms of organizing leisure activities. But the children are not far behind the children and adults who make all kinds of products from this material to decorate the interior of country houses and apartments. We would like to invite you to learn how to make a vase and applique from birch bark. Both options will be completely affordable for both children and their parents. However, efforts can be combined. So here we go. Crafts from birch bark, master class. More precisely, two master classes.
Vase
Such a product will be a magnificent decoration of both a country house and a city apartment. Making a vase from birch bark is quite simple, but you can use it both for flowers and for indoor plants (for example, as a pot).
We will need an ordinary vase of the appropriate size, a knife (or scissors), glue, material for jewelry (ribbons, pebbles, beads, etc.). And, of course, the source material is birch bark.
Perhaps this is one of the simplest crafts from birch bark. We measure the circumference and height of the original vase, add two centimeters in width, cut a piece of the desired size from the birch bark. We wrap it with our “blank”, coat the joints with glue, tie it with a ribbon. We wait until the glue dries. We get the source, and decorate a new vase: we tie it with ribbons, paste rhinestones on it, pebbles - this is someone who decides for himself. It is possible, if you wish, to coat the product with varnish.
Applique
For this craft, you will need a piece of cardboard or plywood of the appropriate size as the base, dark wood bark, PVA glue, scissors, tracing paper, sketch and birch bark.
First of all, you need to prepare the basis. To do this, you must first finely grind the tree bark (or even pass through a meat grinder), spread cardboard with glue and cover the entire surface with the resulting mass. This will be the background for the future composition.
Then we select a suitable picture, copy the image onto tracing paper, transfer it to paper. The birch bark must be carefully divided into layers, because the thinner the pieces, the easier it will work. According to our sketch, we make all the necessary elements from birch bark and glue to paper. After complete drying, cut them out with paper. And then we collect again the desired composition, but on a prepared basis (we paste elements onto it with glue).
Conclusion
It is interesting and pleasant to work with birch bark. And the presence of a creative vein and one’s own imagination not burdened with narrow frames of reality will allow creating true masterpieces from the birch bark.