4. Nature Handcraft

Fun With Stones and Rocks

Rock Roll.As a game for one or for many, set stones on the floor as obstacles. See if you can roll marbles between the stones without striking them.

Bird Bath Rest.Place a pan of water in the yard. Set a rock in the center so a bird can stand on it and easily get at the water.

Paper Weight.Find smooth and attractive stones which can be used as desk paperweights. Maybe the older mem­bers of your family can use them in their business. If you like, you can wash and color them.

Door Stop.If the wind keeps a door closed, why not find a rock that will hold it in place? Use a smooth rock with interesting colors or designs.

Hanging Bird Feeder

Make three pieces of wood about six inches long. The exact thickness is not important, but 1 inch would be good, for the birds will perch on them. Nail these three pieces on the bottom side of the pie tin so that they stick out for three or four inches.

Space them an equal dis­tance apart. Now make three holes in the edge of the pie tin, each one between the sticks. Push three lengths of cord or wire into these holes and knot them on the bottom side so that the cord will not pull through. Bring the other three ends of the cords together above the cen­ter of the pie tin. Tie them together with another piece of cord.

Suspend your bird feeder from a branch. Do not leave it in a spot where the wind will turn it around too much. Keep it at least six feet from the ground. Fill it with bread crumbs, raisins, seeds, and other foods that birds like.

Bird Perch

You can make a bird perch in just a short time. In order to attract birds the perch must provide some sort of shelter. First of all take two pieces of wood that can be made into a slanting roof.

Make an upside down V out of them by nailing them together. Short supporting pieces of wood crossing from the top of one section of the Vto the other will make it sturdy. Make sure the roof is waterproof. Nail this roof onto an old broomstick or any other kind of supporting stick. Nail two or three rods onto the broomstick at various heights to serve as perches. Nail your broomstick to a post or in any location where you can see it. Also be sure that it is in the open where perching birds can watch for enemies.

Wind Pointer

Take a flat piece of wood and saw out an arrow. You can make it any size you like, but one about a foot long is good. Your work will be more accurate if you first draw the arrow with a pencil on the wood.

Make a prominent point and tail to the arrow. Find the center of balance and make a small hole through it. Slip a nail that is smaller than the hole through the hole so that the arrow freely turns. Mount the arrow on the end of a small stick or old broomstick. Before nailing, place a washer between the arrow and the stick. The washer will allow the arrow to turn more easily.

Paint the arrow and stick any bright color. Or, you can make them attractive with stripes of alternating colors.

Branch Book Ends

Search about for a branch that is no longer of use to the tree. Perhaps you can find one from a tree in your yard. Try to find one with a diameter of at least four inches; six inches would be better. Also, try to find one that is attractive in its appearance so that it will look good as book ends.

Once you have your branch, trim away the extra twigs and leaves. Now plan the places in your branch where you will cut it. You are going to make two straight cuts in your wood—for each book end—so that the cuts form a right angle. In other words, one straight side will set on the shelf while the other straight side will hold the books. You can either leave your branch book ends as they are or shellac them.

A Cardboard Sundial

Make a base by cutting out a cardboard circle. The exact size does not matter, but the size of an ordinary plate will be good. Now fill in the hour numbers by marking off twelve equal spaces. Number these marks one to twelve, just as on an ordinary clock. For more ac­curacy, also mark off each quarter-hour.

Now draw a straight line from the center of the face of the clock to a point just below the hour of 12. Make a cardboard triangle. Set this triangle on the straight line, with a high point of the triangle toward the edge of the face of the clock—in other words, so that the triangle slopes upward from the center toward the edge. Allow extra cardboard on the bottom of this triangle so that it can be folded over and pasted on the face.

Set the sundial outside with the sloping edge of the triangle facing south. The shadow of the triangle will fall on the face of the clock and tell you the approximate time. Remember to adjust the time in case you have day­light saving.

Take two lids from jars of the same size. One lid will serve as the top of the home and the other as the bottom. Now take a piece of spare wire screen and make a strip about 4 inches wide and 10 inches long. Roll the wire so that it forms a tube just large enough to set inside the jar lid that serves as the bottom. Weave the screen to­gether, where it overlaps, with wire or string. Now set this screen into the lid and fasten it down by running wire through the screen and through small holes in the bottom lid. The other lid merely sets on top of the screen so that you can remove it whenever you like. You can now see your little creatures as they live in the home.

Place a small amount of earth and some fresh leaves on the bottom of the home. Add a few drops of water to the earth and leaves every few hours. Watch your crea­tures for awhile and then turn them loose.

AFlower Book

Collecting and pressing flowers is always a favorite handcraft project. You can make a simple flower book by making two covers out of stiff cardboard. Place blank sheets of paper between them and bind the whole book by running string or cord through holes at the sides. Draw a picture of a flower on the front cover. Color the rest of the cover and the back cover with a contrasting color.

Now collect flowers about the yard. Perhaps neighbors will add still others to your collection. Of course per­mission must be obtained to pick any flower. Wildflowers should be left to beautify our hills and fields.

Press the flowers between two flat and heavy objects. Such a press can be made with two pieces of blotting paper weighted down with books. When the flowers are thoroughly pressed, place them in neat patterns on the pages. Hold them down with cellophane tape. Or, you can make separate cellophane pockets for them which are then fastened to the pages.

Seed Pictures

Gather a number of seeds. They can be almost any kind of seed you can find. If possible, get seeds of many differ­ent shapes and sizes. Seeds of bright and dark colors will give contrast to your pictures. Place the seeds in a box and lay a clean sheet of paper in front of you. You are ready to make seed pictures.

You can make anything you like. But supposing you wish to make a picture of a giraffe. Set a picture of a giraffe in front of you. Create your picture while con­stantly studying the giraffe. Set your seeds in an outline of the giraffe, then fill in the details. You need not fill in the entire body to give it a solid appearance; just space your seeds throughout.

Gather a number of fresh leaves. Use those that are more or less flat. Get as many different shapes and sizes as possible. Set them in an attractive pattern on a piece of colored paper. Fasten them down with small bits of cellophane tape. Make them as flat as possible. Set the sheet in the bright sunshine. If it is windy, weigh down the sheet with stones. After an hour or so, remove the leaves from the sheet. You will find their outlines on the paper.

Bottle Garden

Select a bottle or a jar with a fairly large opening. Re­move the lid. Wash the bottle and remove the label. Place the bottle on its side and use a spoon to place some good earth in it. Now use a small flat stick to place some seeds inside the jar and below the surface of the earth. You can use any kind of seeds you like. Orange, lemon, or grapefruit seeds are good. You can also plant radishes or other small vegetable seeds. By working carefully you can even transplant small flowers from your backyard. You can find these smaller flowers by looking in the grass or among weeds.

Place the jar where it will have lots of sunlight. Water it daily with a long-handled spoon.

Design Planting

If you plan an indoor design garden, fill a flat dish with good soil. Plant your seeds in the design that you like. Arrange them as carefully as possible. Do not plant them too thickly. You can use almost any kind of seeds that you have handy.

Try any of the following. Orange, lemon, grapefruit, small vegetable seeds, small flower seeds. Even bird-seed will sprout into plants!

Watch your garden as it daily grows into the design. If some of the plants are too far away from the pattern, take them out. Water the garden regularly and keep it where it will have plenty of sunshine.

Crayon Leaf Prints

Gather a number of fresh leaves. Get leaves of odd shapes and interesting designs. Collect large and small leaves. Try to find leaves of various colors and shades.

Set a leaf on the table with the vein side up. Cover it with a clean piece of thin white paper. Now rub all over the leaf with a crayon. You will have a print of the leaf on your paper.

Make a number of these crayon leaf prints. Use crayons that match the colors of the leaves. You can use green, yellow, and other shades of crayon that you might have. You can make a yellow-green leaf by first going over the leaf with green and then with yellow.

Earth Jar

Get several empty jars. Search about for different kinds of earth. See if you can find dark soil, red soil, sandy soil, soil of all kinds and colors. Place some of each in separate jars. When you are through collecting, take a medium-sized empty jar. Gently pour your samples of earth into this jar, one layer at a time. Make the layers of about the same height. Use contrasting colors of earth. Try a dark layer, a light layer, a red layer, a gray layer. You can even use a layer of salt, inasmuch as salt is a mineral that comes from the earth.

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