How to of the Day: How to Carve a Hair Stick from a Twig

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How to Carve a Hair Stick from a Twig Oct 9th 2012, 08:00 Hair sticks are a great way to secure long hair and can be made for almost nothing using twigs you find lying around. Edit Steps Work out how long your stick needs to be. You can do this by measuring the width of your bun and adding a couple of inches. Go for a walk and collect some twigs. They should be no thicker than your index finger and at least two inches longer than you need your stick to be Don't worry about getting a stick that is perfectly straight. Slight bends and curves in the wood make it more interesting to look at and they will hold your hair more securely. Avoid evergreen woods like pine as they can contain large amounts of sap. Discard any sticks that snap easily. Hair is pretty strong, if a stick will snap when you bend it slightly, it will break in your hair. Remove the bark from your chosen stick using a knife. Cut off any prominent protrusions. Cut the stick to the desired length using a hacksaw, being sure to remove both ends. Carve one end of the stick so it tapers into a blunt point. Round off the other end of the stick. Sand the stick with coarse sandpaper until it is the right shape. Ensure the end of the stick is sanded into a smooth curve. Draw your desired design onto the stick with a pencil or ballpoint pen. Do not use an ink pen as the ink may bleed into the wood. Cut into the stick at a 45 degree angle just below the lines you have drawn. Cut into the stick at a 45 degree angle from above the lines to cut out a V shaped piece of wood. Carve out the whole of your design in this way. Sand the stick with medium sandpaper. Fold the sandpaper in half and use the edge to sand inside the cuts you have made for the design. Go over the stick with fine sandpaper, folding it as you did with the medium to sand the cuts. Use a nail buffer (or progressively finer sandpaper if you have it lying around) to get the stick really smooth. Oil the stick. Put a small amount of your chosen oil on a plate and use your fingers to apply it to the wood. Make sure that all of the wood is covered with the oil. Walnut oil brings out darker colours in the wood, so a wood that looked rather boring before, can look stunning after it has been oiled. The darker the colour, the bigger difference the walnut oil will make. Leave the stick for a couple of hours to soak up the oil. Remove any excess oil with tissue. Edit Tips If the colour of the wood is too light, soaking it in undrinkably strong coffee will darken and warm the colour. This should be done before applying the oil. Edit Warnings Always point the knife away from you when carving. Walnut oil should be avoided if you have a nut allergy or will be giving the stick to someone with a nut allergy. Edit Things You'll Need A twig A hacksaw A wood carving knife; if you don't have one, a pen knife or craft knife will work Sandpaper in at least coarse, medium and fine; you can have more if you like Nail buffer or super fine sandpaper for polishing Walnut or linseed oil Edit Related wikiHows How to Make a Hair Stick from a Knitting Needle How to Put Your Hair up With Chopsticks How to Secure a Cinnamon Bun With a Hair Stick How to Make a Lazy Wrap Bun Article Tools Read on wikiHow Email this Article Edit Discuss Media files: 200px-00_Twig_hair_stick_524.JPG (image/jpeg)

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