Hello My Darlings, and welcome.
Today I am going to show you how to make a decorative broom for your altar or your home.
Let’s do some Magical Crafting.
The materials I used for my broom are a wooden dowel and wood stain and some wheat grass and
snippers. I also used feathers, twine, metal pendants and charms, and hot glue and a glue gun.
I started this project with a plain, unfinished dowel rod. It measures 12 inches long and a half
inch in diameter. I used Folk Art Home Decor wood tint to stain the dowel rod to a darker
brown color. You could leave it unfinished in the light pine color if you prefer,
or even use a large stick that you find in nature instead of purchasing a dowel.
I brushed the wood stain onto half of the dowel and then removed the excess with a paper towel,
then repeated the process on the other half
of the dowel - until the broom handle was a warm golden color
I am using wheat grass for my broom, but you can use any kind or material you want to create yours.
You can use any dried grasses or small twigs from nature. My broom is going on my altar,
and will be used ceremonially and decoratively. It is not meant to be a real broom, and this
wheat would not be a good choice of materials for a broom that is used to sweep your floors.
I used my snippers to cut approximately 20 pieces of dried wheat grass into 6 to 8 inch
long pieces. You can cut your grass any length you think looks good on your handle. Feel free
to take this tutorial and change it up to suit your taste and aesthetic.
One way to use your broom, or besom, is as a tool to cleanse and purify a space
which will be used for ritual. You can use a small broom to sweep away negative
energy on your altar or in your home. The broom does not have to touch the surface,
and may be used a few inches away from whatever surface or area you wish to purify.
I hot glued the wheat around the handle, all at the same height
Then I cut more wheat a few inches shorter to create a second level of the broom bristles,
and glued them at the same height as the other ones, so the wheat stalks underneath would show.
A small decorative broom can also be used to help close the circle at the end of rituals.
Brooms are quite effective at dissipating residual energies raised during a ritual. And otherwise,
it’s common to place it near the entrance to your home, to guard against negative energy or
unwanted energy. Stand it upright by your door, or hang it over your hearth, to keep away those
who might do you harm. Tuck it under your bed at night to keep bad dreams away while you sleep.
Once all my wheat was glued on, I started to play around with adding feathers. I chose
chocolate brown, rust orange and light brown or tan feathers to create a ruff around the wheat.
Brooms are also used in witchcraft and folk traditions to sweep away evil forces,
and even illness by sweeping around the ill. If misfortune has come to a home, you may
wish to ceremonially sweep it to immediately clear out negative energies you find there.
To secure the wheat and feathers, and to cover up all the raw edges of the broom materials, I chose
to hot glue twine around the broom starting at the top of the grass and ending just below the ends of
the feathers. Once I got going with the wrapping I only added glue every once in a while. There is no
need to glue every revolution of twine. Too much glue might cause a build up and a lumpy broom.
As a further decoration I added three small spotted feathers and a bronze moon pendant,
along with a pentagram pendant. Feel free to decorate your broom to personalize it
with colorful ribbons, bells or even carving into the handle if you like.
When the broom is complete, you may wish to consecrate it as one of your magical tools.