by Ardeana Hamlin
of The Weekly Staff
I have a trove of small, flat bits of driftwood, silvery gray and smooth to the touch, tucked away. Jars filled with shards of beach glass reside on windowsills. These are the raw materials I use for small craft pieces easy enough for children to make. I have in the past referred to them as “totems,” but that is not the right word. I think “talisman” is a better word because the bits of glass and wood arrived on the beach through the magic of the weather — especially the gales of the winter. It was a matter of luck whether or not I was in the right place at the right time to find the wood and glass. So even though I do not believe my creations will bring me luck, I do believe that I am lucky to have found the materials just laying around on the ground waiting for me to pick them up and apply to them the my imagination.
Not that it takes a lot of imagination to choose a piece of driftwood and a few pieces of beach glass, and to wield a hot glue gun.
Nor does it require a hot glue gun. A bottle of white glue will do.
The best way to begin is with newspapers — lots of them. Spread them over the kitchen table or whatever work surface is available. Assemble the materials — the bleach glass, the wood, small pretty stones or anything else you’d like to include in the craft project.
Spend a some time arranging various bits of glass on the piece of wood. Do you want a mix of colors or only the greens? Do you have a large shard of blue you want to be the central motif?
Will the glass pieces be arranged into shapes such as flowers or sailboats? Or with the glass bits stand on their on, allowing their pits, grooves and ridges to be the focal point?
Once you have decided the order in which you want the pieces arranged on the driftwood, glue each one in place.
When the glue is dry, use an aluminum can pull tab to serve as a hanger. Thumbtack the tab to the back of the driftwood.
Hang the “talisman” in your house or camp. Hang from a shrub in the yard. Lean it in the windowsill. Wrap it in tissue and give it to a friend. Or put materials for making another “talisman” into a paper bag — Fun for a Rainy Day — along with how-to instructions, and give it to a child.