On my online workbook this week: A birch bark spiral wrap to cradle floral details in a wine glass

Dear

This week's inspiration is this cold snap… I mean… wow!

When you receive your stack of birch bark carefully inspect the pieces and rearrange them according to their creative potential to make it easier for you to design with later. The thinnest strips without chunks of heavy scar tissue are best for this design. The strips with great knots and bark on it are wonderful as a veneer. Also look at the back of the strips. See if something is particularly pretty that you might want to set aside for another design idea.

The thinnest part of the bark strip can be soaked and then rolled into the tightest spiral. Start with these. As we are rolling the bark strip from both sides you want to begin and end the strip with the thinnest, most pliable bark at both ends.

Get the wrap started by spiraling the thinnest bark piece neatly around a dowel stick. This way you get a neater edge and you can comfortably spiral the rest of the bark around and around.

Once you get to the middle section the spiral is now wide enough not to need this extra bit of soaking and care to shape. If you feel you need more strips to neatly finish off the shape simply add as many strips as you need to the middle. The better the wet spiral curls worked the more likely it will be that you need a few more strips to completely cover the glass in the middle. Simply bend the strip a bit to make it more pliable and then spiral it in.

Keep in mind… this is natural bark. Pieces might rip and peel. You might even find sections that are harder and more difficult to wrap creating a fold right where you least expect it. Best to let it just do what it wants to. The imperfections are exactly what makes your design unique.

Also don’t be tempted to cover up all those imperfections with the snow flakes later. You can absolutely add a light dusting to the bits that bother you most. But then focus on where snow would naturally gather. When viewing the design your viewer is much more likely to ignore the flaws in the birch bark if the snow falls in a believable way. It is just how we look at things.

And anyway… often trying to conceal something in a design only draws more attention to it. Rather focus and highlight what you love.

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine