knome whistle

Gnome Whistle Tutorial

Things you will need:
A branch, I use buckthorn which is very invasive here in Minnesota and is okay to cut out of the woods. But I’ve used downed branches I’ve found on hikes. Please do not cut apart a healthy tree!
A drill, here I’ve used a hand drill because I had little helpers but if I’m making this by myself I use a power drill.
A drill bit the same size as the dowel you are using
The dowel I used is ¼” and so was the drill bit.
A coping saw for little hands this works great.
Sand paper fine grade.
Glue , I’ve used just plan school glue but usually I use wood glue.
Carving knife of chisel carving knife. My son uses a mora kids carving knife I got him a carving glove as well. When I do it without them I don’t usually wear a glove. Or a regular old pocket knife would work too.
Also I vice if you have one they are nice , I got this one at a garage sale down the block , but I’ve made these for years without a vice.
Also a sharpie or other marking device.

First thing is to cut your branch to the desired length I do about 31/2” to 4” Cut that with the coping saw to length.


Next drill the hole down the middle of the branch , be sure to not go through the sides and straight down the middle. Don’t stress out if it’s off or wider at the top this is not rocket science! Just make sure you get a nice deep hole about half way down.

Now your going to mark were you are going to cut half way down to begin the

whistle hole on the side of the branch. About ½” to a 1” down is fine. This is creating a stopping point when you begin to carve the angle for the whistle hole.

The next step I start for the kids by cutting the angle in for them continue to shave
off a little at a time until you can see the hole you drilled all the little wood bits need to be trimmed or sanded off.

The dowel now needs to be shaved down. The dowel is round you need to make one side flat this is what makes the sound. Then we use the coping saw and cut it shorter.

Pictured here is a bit long for my taste you have to put it in your mouth to check the sound and this was hard being it was so long! My son cut it and I just couldn’t bring myself to correct his hard work!

The fun part is here! Now you slip the dowel inside the hole in your branch , the tip of the dowel should peak out just a little bit from the top part. You can put a little glue on the round side of the dowel as before you slip it in so it will hold while
you’re checking it. Then put it in your mouth and blow! If you get the sound you want your good to go! If it needs tweaking just keep readjusting that dowel until you get the sound you want.

Now I let this sit over night to dry because the cutting off the dowel and sanding can make the dowel unattached and that’s just a bummer!


The next day we used the coping saw and cut off the dowel , sanded the end. Viola you can a lovely branch whistle you can leave it like this and it’s great. Rub a little olive oil on the tip to seal it a bit.

Or if you want the gnome you can carve the bottom of the branch into a point. I usually do a “soft” point because these are for kids. You can shave off a bit off the
front to create a beard face area.


I use watercolor paints to paint the hats , here we just used IKEA paint.

You can drill a small hole at the end to put a cord through it.

The bonus work is to finger knit a cord for the necklace.


Sometimes when I am making one of these for a last minute birthday gift , if I’m going to make this without my children they are sort of miffed to not be making the gift themselves if they simply get to make the chord they are really satisfied in being part of the process.

Last year I did the week of June 9-15, I only did one that week. You draw the sounds and flight of the birds around you. And I was very touched by this verse and the painting with it. I wrote a small piece

Star shaped birds, showing us god as we walk by. Star shaped flight, showing us what’s in store before the night. Star shaped songs; fill my ears from dawn to night. Star shaped humans showing us the way to secrets we’ve never known before.

This year I am trying to write something that I feel is connected somehow to the verse and the painting or the plant of tree I see. Some feel almost like an “easy reader of calendar of the soul.” My teacher for “How to Know Higher Worlds” And “Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path” confirmed something for me that I had been thinking about for awhile. It seems a lot of these verses make more sense read backwards. Did you know some of them are flipped from season to season? Who knew, if the words don’t resonate read it backwards!


The first time I have started from the beginning of the book! April 7-13 the picture of the tree I drew and the three with ochre, green, blue and browns go together. Also I wrote

You may see and ordinary everyday tree. Center of the earth, fire pictures still in front of me. Reaching flames of the arms of the raspberries. Innocent flickers of a young tree, you do not fool me. Layers and branches and flames on those ordinary everyday trees.




The next week would be April 14-20th

The “tulips” are the drawings. It’s so interesting when you lie in the grass and stare
at a simple unnoticed tulip you see things you never saw before. After the first day of this my husband and I were walking down the street and he said “I hate tulips they are such a waste on flower then you just have a mess of leaves in the yard for the year.” I was upset; I looked at those stupid wastes of space tulips and feel in love that afternoon! I wrote…

Red edge or should I say lining so faint and beautiful how did I not see you before? Pretty as the flower you will soon host only for a moment but your forever. Nestled near the lily of the valley in late spring sitting calmly in the shade all summer edged in red, the dawn early hours.

The week of April 28-May 4th
I only did one that week the small one is from this year the other two are from last year.

The writing from that week


Some times I start seeing a different end, trying to lay the future foundations. This solid thought out path pulled a different way. The bonding of the human being to the world. Secretly I know what to come, to secret to share with the flesh and bone. So it giggles watching my silly plans and watching the heart in pain. It knows when it starts and when it ends. Pulling me back time and time again.




One more from this last week The big picture in the middle is from last year and the others are from this years postcard project. I am not an artist of this nature but I really like doing this.

little writings with the calendar of the soul

calendar of the soul KIDS!

So along the way my children saw me doing this work and hanging it around the house. They really wanted to do the art too. So during the weeks we read the verses from "In the light of the child" and then we do the exercises together. I'm not too much of a hardcore color miser I let them use browns and black for the exercise. When we do our wet on wet lessons we do not use any of those or coloring for that matter too. This example is from week of February 16-22nd. The one with lots of black is mine the two others are my children’s the tighter grid is Otis seven years and the spaced our grid is Zora who is five years old.

Spring Medicinal Herbal walk

This last Saturday I went up to Cannon Falls Minnesota and went on a Medicinal herbal walk , to Identify plants for healing we can use everyday. We wild crafted herbs to make tincutures and supplements to use for our families and ourselves. I made motherwort tincture from REAL motherwort I found. Also we found yellow dock to make a liquid supplement somewhat like floridix iron+herbs.




wild ginger above bloodroot below

Picking nettles to use for tea and pulling out the dehydrator is so satisfying. I’m always whining about how expensive natural health is and it makes it unattainable for most people and this really put some power in my own hands. I took a bunch of pictures and I'm going to make a little "field guide" for the kids and we can go out and search for plants together and make things.

Mullien

The woman who taught the class here is her website

http://www.minnesotaherbalist.com/Minnesota_Herbalist/Minnesota_Herbalist_Home.html

sun window star

A friend of mine lost her baby , meaning it died after months of heart ache and grief. That's not my story to tell or understand how that feels. She's not alone has a wonderful community of women and friends who are helping , meals , childcare , cleaning and company so she doesn't have to be alone. I made her a sunshine window star. How do you say "I'm sorry your baby died," I haven't been able to utter those words to her , I don't know why its so hard. So I make things for people when there are difficult words to say , "I love you" and "your so special and great!" I put things in boxes and ship them across the country , leave them in front porches and on rare occasions hand them to people.

I haven't posted in quite awhile.. I am promising myself I will be begin to post more frequently to keep a diary of the things I make and the things we learn through first grade enki/waldorf learning.