It's no secret that pinwheels are ever so desirable. There are so many sublime ones floating around the blogging world, made of seriously gorgeous papers, held by equally gorgeous children. Problem is, I'm impatient. The idea of having to use a glue-gun, doweling, rotating spacer beads and waiting for it all to dry is outside my "15 minutes to complete a craft" objective.15 minutes as a time frame is the aim because I have young children, too much washing, and a desire to get a return on my craft-time-investment fast. That's why I've invented a pinwheel alternative; I've named it "The Horizontal Pinwheel."
Instead of making a paper pinwheel where the pinwheel is vertical, or upright (spinning like a windmill), I've turned mine around so it spins horizontally, or flat (as are the ones on top of a helicopter).
Without glue, the beads seem to stay in place on the skewers for awhile, and my girls were able to move the single-paper pinwheel by blowing on it. The double-thickness (2 coloured pinwheels) didn't rotate as well, even when I made the holes larger. The great thing about these pinwheels however is that you can spin the stick and the pinwheels spin... kind of makes me wonder why they're not called 'spinwheels'!
Here's what you'll need;
- A packet of origami paper (it's the perfect size, already cut square, and comes in a variety of colours).
- A packet of bamboo kebab skewers.
- Some 'pony beads' (type it into your image-search engine and you'll see what I mean).
- Other beads you have that might suit (you won't know what works best until you try - the aim is to get a bead with a hole big enough to push onto the spiked end of the kebab stick but small enough that it fits snuggly enough to stay put).
Here's what to do;
- Prepare the paper as if you were making a normal pinwheel (I'll blog the how-to in the subscription-only April newsletter - feel free to join up before the end of March.)
- Push the pony bead onto the timber skewer; it should go down past the spike, but not too far down. You might have to experiment with different beads to get one that sits where you want it to.
- Push the center of the pinwheel paper onto the skewer, fold the corners over into the traditional pinwheel shape.
- Push the decorative bead onto the end of the skewer to hold the paper in place.
If you've ever made a pinwheel you'll knock these little beauties up in no time and they'd be perfect for party decorations, keepsakes, as table-settings or even accessories to go out with invitations. If you haven't made one, read my up-coming detailed how-to, or surf the net for a tutorial, and then follow it to make the paper part, then ignore the complicated rest!
PS - thanks to Michelle, of Michelle's Craft Blog for awarding me the Liebster blog award; pop across and check out all her clever crafty-posts and browse her list of other inspirational blogs! Thanks Michelle; stay crafty!
