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June30th
Cut flowers are superb, but they lose their luster after a few days. Looking for something less high maintenance?
In NE locations, in mid-spring or early summer, go into the back yard and cut some maple twigs (doesn't work well for all trees’Äî the easiest way is just to try). Warmer places, why wait? When the tree sap starts flowing in warmer weather, they are very easy to peel if you don't let them sit too long before doing it. The bark neatly peels off the inner wood once you get started’Äî use a dullish knife to start it. In late summer and fall, they are not so obliging. If it's a wet spring, you can soak them in 90% water, 10% chlorine bleach for 24 hours to kill mold spores.
Leave them in the sun to dry the surface, then make yourself a great dry arrangement, as tall as you want it. Add some dried flowers or grasses, some glossy painted dowels or other color as contrast and’Äî voila. They mellow to a nice beigey tan and last forever inside the house. String them with white Christmas lights if you want... Dye them with Tintex... Paint them after they're well dried...
Natural Indoor Art’Äî JusTwigs
Other Natural Material Ideas
Make Drawer or Door Pulls:
Use segments of heavier peeled maple twigs as drawer or cabinet door pulls, towel racks.
Make a Vertical Pot Rack, Towel Rack:
Use an near-8 foot high peeled maple branch as the basis for a vertical pot rack. Use heavy screw hooks- predrill the holes. Cut it to your ceiling height minus 1.5 inches. Put 2-sided foam tape on the bottom. Drill a 1/4 inch x 3 inch deep hole in the top end and insert a 5 inch 1/4 inch carriage bolt with a nut and washer to create an adjustable pressure anchor to the ceiling. Or use this for hanging pictures, as a coat rack in the hall, as a towel holder in the bathroom NOTE: This cannot be used in rooms having suspended ceilings.
Make small tables or plant stands:
Bundle lengths of 2-4 inch diameter straight branches into a 12 to 18 inch circle, as tightly as possible (use rope pieces with slip knots to help). Add at least two hoops around this made of rope or metal strips (screw both ends of them into one of the branches). Cut the entire bundle to the desired length with a chain saw or large pruning saw using the finer blade side, then sand the top.