Lavender Wands, Batons, or Bottles
How to Make Lavender Wands, Batons or Bottles
It really doesn't matter by what name you call them because all three terms refer to the same Lavender craft item. See Lavender wand pictures below.
I believe the term Lavender bottles came to be because of the shape and the fact that the contents were "bottled" inside. The term Lavender wand or Lavender baton was coined because of the long shape of the piece which was due to the length of the flower spikes.
From this point on I will use the term "Lavender batons" because it was what I was brought up using. Below I will explain how you too can make Lavender batons.
Since the Victorian age and the great demand for this lovely plant, women would usually spend their free time crafting items out of the flowers. These were used to scent drawers as a Lavender sachet and hung on cabinets for decoration and freshening. They even carried around Lavender Tussie Mussies.
Some time and patience is all that's required to make batons out of the flowers but it is well worth it. I have some wands remaining still in use that I made as a teenager with my grandmother. Learning to make your own and passing on that knowledge is always a nice tradition so let's begin.
Instructions How to Make a Lavender Wand
First you will need a bunch of fresh Lavender flower stems and some narrow ribbon.
1. Take a small bunch anywhere from 7-17 stems. (choose an odd number) Bind them tightly together just below the last flower buds.
2. Carefully bend each stem down one at a time down over the blossom heads being careful to avoid breakage. The stems look like a "bottle" or "cage" around the Lavender flower heads encasing them inside. Sometimes my mother would add a bit of cotton (which you will not see when complete and a few drops of essential oil for longevity.) Doing this also added a nice fullness to the finished baton. You may use 1 or two cotton balls or leftover pillow stuffing. Doing this step is totally optional.
3. Now weave the ribbon taking care to keep it flat and basket weave around until all the flower heads are encased.
4. Simply wrap the rest of the ribbon binding the stems together tightly (they will shrink when they dry) down to the ends and then back up to the base of the flower heads. Tie a pretty bow or cut the ribbon and turn its cut edge under and hand stitch using a fine needle and thread and very tiny stitches.
There are variations that I would like to show you that my mother taught to me.
Instead of using satin ribbon. Did you ever consider yarn? Well my mother did as she did a lot of needle work and was very creative. Instead of weaving the ribbon she would first follow steps 1-2. Then she would add an additional step and bind the stems together right below the base of the cage. The next thing she would do was step 4 and wrap the remaining stems with a pretty ribbon or lace. (see picture below) This omitted step 3 from the list above.
At this point you would be left with a cage of flower heads and wrapped stems.
My mother would take some yarn and her needlepoint needle and beginning at the top weave around the cage until it was all covered and knot it securely as you would with needlepoint. I must note that this method requires using a greater number of stems per bundle as you are weaving it a bit tighter when stitching than in the ribbon method.
The finished result was quite unique although I am not quite sure how the Victorian ladies would have thought about it.
Below are some pictures of some of the batons that I have made using my mother's technique.
What do you think of these? The variegated appearance is due to the use of variegated yarn.
We would use whatever colors were to our liking although pale lilac was always my favorite. Notice how the little piece of cotton fluff she tucked inside the cage gave it a bit of fullness.
Lavender Wands, Lavender Batons or Lavender Bottles are easy to make whichever method you choose to try. They will last for years and give off a lovely sweet scent to your home. If you grow and harvest your own flowers the cost is next to nothing. You will enjoy your Lavender wands for many years.
Wand, Baton, Bottle - All the Same
Learn how to make the large Provence Lavender Wands
