What Halloween display is complete without a creepy, old witches broom! Let me show you how simple it is to create your very own witches broom and add this must have decoration to your halloween decor!
What You’ll Need
Sticks, long branch, pruners, hot glue, sisal rope, floral wire, and polyurethane spray (optional).
First up! Head outside and look for sticks. Leave the dog inside or you will never be able to claim any as your own.
We coincidentally pruned several branches which left a great selection of twigs for me to choose from. You’ll need to gather a bunch of small sticks and twigs about 12″-18″ long. Finding some that have twists or curves will add character to the final result. You’ll also need to find a branch that can act as the broom handle. About 4 feet long and a couple of inches in diameter.
Look through piles of twigs from fallen branches in your yard. Look around when you take the dog walk. Pick up more than you think you’ll need.
Laying them out by size is a great visual in determining how they will all fit together. I recommend the longest pieces be towards the inside of the broom, shorter pieces on the outside. Hopefully your dog will be grateful that you’ve so thoughtfully arranged his toys out for him.
Once you lay your twigs out by size you can easily spot any that have a curve or twist. Once you start wiring twigs together into bundles try having the curves go in opposite directions to create more dimension and interest to your broom.
Assembly
To begin, let the dog outside, and select 6-8 twigs, depending on thickness and create a bundle. Use floral wire to secure the twigs together. Don’t worry about keeping the bottom of the bundles even. That will be trimmed later. Repeat this process until you have 10-12 bundles.
Using the same concept as the twigs, wire together half of the bundles you’ve just made to one another. Do the same with the other half, but do not connect them. Now take your hot glue gun and add a dab of hot glue where one twig touches another. Make sure you only add glue no more than 1 inch above, and 1 inch below the floral wire. You will be attach to the branch ‘handle’ next!
To attach the broom handle lay the first half section of bundles on a flat surface. Use that hot glue gun again to help keep everything in place by squeezing out some hot glue along the wire wrap line. Again, only about an inch above and below. Next, place 4″ of the branch handle on the twigs. Now you can easily bend the half bundle onto the branch and wire it down. Mind your fingers in case any hot glue squeezes out removing your fingertips.
Now do the same with the second half of bundles to cover the remaining part of the broom handle. You might have some bundles left over. Give those to the now sad dog who just really wants to play with the sticks.
Final touches
The final task is to hide all the wire, copious amounts of hot glue, and seared off skin you lost using the hot glue gun.. To do this you will wrap sisal rope around the twig bundles, securing it with hot glue.You will start gluing the rope below the wire line, and finish above it, so that none of the behind the scenes connection work is exposed. In my case, it took 5 wraps. Cut the rope and tuck the end underneath the previous layer, securing it with hot glue.
Taking the pruners, cut the twigs on the handle end so that they are even. I used polyurethane spray at this point to help protect the wood. It’s not necessary, but if you choose to do that, now it the time.
Et Voilà! You now have your very own witches broom!
I truly hope that you will be able to use your newly crafted halloween decor for many years to come! I enjoy coming up with new ways to display mine every Halloween. It was even used in a Baba Yaga photo shoot right here at Splinters and Sprouts!
Thank you for creating something fun with us! We hope you’ll keep coming back for more!
As an added bonus, here is a link to Sonja’s children’s book (sans artwork) for you to read!