November 29, 2011

Primitive Candy Canes~ A Sweet Tutorial

I don't know who I think I am giving tutorials to such wonderful, very talented, and seasoned ladies:) Arghh.... a lot of you have your own businesses in making things like this.  It's true, I am a beginner in this journey we call primitive, but I had a good idea.  I was just finishing up some handmade paper ornaments and decided I just had to have some big primitive candy canes right... away.  Ever get that way?  So my mind went to work at 9:30 (the best ideas always come late).  Forty five minutes later I had these babies.  Sorry some of the pictures are fuzzy.  I was trying to hold, glue, wrap, and photograph all at the same time.

 I used 1" thick sheet of foam cut into strips that are 14" long and 1.5" wide.
I cut a child's hanger in half and straightened it out.

 I chose to use some tea dyed muslin and red checkered fabric for the stripes.
Tear strips that are 20"long and 1.5" wide ~ 3 white and 4 red.

 Start by hot gluing the end of a strip over the end of the foam.

Start wrapping the fabric around the foam~over lapping the layers.
End in the back and secure with hot glue.  Now start exactly where you left off with the alternating color  Repeat until it has all been wrapped.

Fashion the other end of the candy cane with a square of fabric.  Hot glue it down and pinch the sides all around the end together.

 Grunge it up.  I didn't know about using a liquid because I thought the foam might soak it all up and take a long time to dry.  The shoe polish was wonderful and saved a ton of time.

 Bend and shape your candy cane.  The fabric will pucker up where it was bend so just hot glue it flat again and re-stain where it pulled apart.  

There you go.   

Yeaaaaa......

17 comments:

Sheila said...

Well, I think they turned out very nice and prim Steph! I make mine using rolled tin foil. Then I wrap them with tea dyed muslin dipped in "Stiffy" and then do the same with the red fabric of choice. Once you have them wrapped you can leave them straight or bend into the candy cane shape. Mine do not have a hanger since I use them in my arrangements. However, mine were not as neat as yours. Thanks for sharing your "tut" and happy crafting!

Cat Haven Craft House said...

Very nice and they look easy enough that I could make them!

Linda ★ Parker's General said...

Thank you. This is a great tutorial.....
I have been wanting to do these!

Lee Hill Primitives said...

Great idea! Great tutorial, it is fun to make them.Thanks.

TheCrankyCrow said...

Thanks for the tutorial Steph! This are very sweet! Just one question - I take it you put the hanger in the middle of the foam and then wrapped and glued the foam around it before wrapping the muslin fabric? (Sorry....I'm a little slow today - running on little sleep....) Smiles & Hugs ~ Robin

Christine said...

Yeaa! Way to go Steph! GREAT tutorial I'll definitely give them a go as I need more candy canes and yours look so quick to do!
Thanks so much - hope you don't miss out on too much sleep with all those fab ideas running around in your head!!lol! Been there, done that!
Christine

Susan At Glen Oaks Primitives said...

Hi, Steph, this is an awesome tutorial. I'm off to dig out some red fabric from the rubble here
and start tearing strips!

alltheseboys said...

Steph GREAT tutorial!! I love it. Tomorrow is pay day..now I can add foam and fabrick to my popcorn and cranberry shopping list!!! I have to try these!

Tolentreasures said...

I never thought of shoe polish for fabric. I use it for painting, but what a great idea. I hate all the coffee spraying mess. Love the color of the shoe polish also. I make these but I buy the plastic candy canes to make them. Find them at yard sales all the time. We are not going to talk about how many of those are in the stash...other than to say on Thanksgiving when the four oldest grandchildren found them, I only allowed them two each to play with...not the 10 or so each they TRIED to bring to the living room! Mostly to keep their parents from yelling at me!
Have a great day, thanks for sharing!

Cathy

My Colonial Home said...

Steph this is a fantastic tutorial...now dear girl...how do you think we all come up with these ideas...WE SHARE thoughts and techniques and then tweak them to suit ourselves and for our purpose....YOU DID A FANTASTIC JOB!
Karen

Carmen S. said...

Those are adorable, I love using shoe polish to age things, works like a charm every time;)

Danice G said...

What cute candy canes! Thanks for the photos. These are so holiday-ish :)

A Primitive Homestead said...

Thank you for sharing these cute prim candy canes. Blessings!
Lara

Jackie said...

Neato idea and very cute.
Had to chuckle at the "who do I think I am." LOL.
Blessings,
Jackie

Deppen homestead 1862 said...

hi, steph, loving you prim candy canes~ wonderful job~ thanks for sharing
hugs
Teresa

Unknown said...

Great idea!
I'll have to give it a try.

Hugs,
Tam

PS. Did you happen to notice who was the 3rd and final winner of my stocking giveaway?? ;)
wink, wink

Donna said...

WOW STEPH GREAT IDEA!!!Defainately gonna try this one.You are a smart Cookie!!!! Why ca'nt I come up with great ideas like this one???