Make, Do & Mend - Lollychop Flowers

Submitted by Keely Rendell

Make Do & Mend

Lollychop Flowers

I have been saving my lolly sticks for several months now and as the ‘Magnum’ style choc ices are one of my favourites, I’ve now collected quite a few. I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them away as they were petal shaped and I knew I would come up with an idea eventually.

I have also amassed a large collection of chopsticks from various sources and finally put the two together to come up with these Lollychop Flowers.

Lollychop Flowers

You will need:

3, 4 or more lolly sticks from ‘Magnum’ type choc ices (washed thoroughly)

1 chopstick

Very small nut & bolt (or strong glue)

Instructions:

Drill holes through the centres of the lolly sticks using a drill bit appropriate to the fixing method chosen. You can use as many lolly sticks as you want. I used threes & fours to make these. Thread the lolly sticks on to the bolt. You will be able to decide at this stage how many lolly sticks you want to have.

Drill a corresponding hole in the chopstick and thread this on to the bolt. Add the nut and tighten. Alternatively, glue ‘petals’ together then glue to chopstick.

I was lucky enough to be given a carte blanche selection of nuts & bolts and was able to find some very small ones for the lollychops.

This is only a very basic make. You can come up with your own methods if you have to use other materials. I couldn’t resist painting the ones I made so this is what they look like in bright colours.

If you don’t have access to a drill, you can just use strong glue for all the attaching.

I have recently been persuaded (by a lack of cash!) to sell some of my items on ETSY. If you want to take a look at some of the things that I’ve been making, and even purchase some of them, please use the link.

Link of the week: http://www.mimzistar.etsy.com

Moan of the week: 

I occasionally shop in Morrisons and as the average age of the customer seems to be 65, I am always appalled at their consumption of Morrisons plastic bags at the checkouts. So much for young people having no regard for the environment.

Interesting fact of the week:

How well do you know the collective names for groups of animals, birds etc? These are a few that I’ve not come across before:-

·        A charm of hummingbirds

·        A cluster of cats

·        An army of frogs

·        A crash of rhinoceroses

·        A kennel of dogs

·        A business of ferrets

I also found some suggestions for persons & objects:-

·        A wobble of bicycles

·        A dialogue of dramatists

·        A foozle of golfers

·        A cuddle of nurses

·        A see-saw of surgeons

Taken from Usage & Abusage by Eric Partridge