Getting Ready for Imbolc - Wooly Sheep Tutorial

Well, here I am again, in my sadly neglected blog. I had a heck of a year, let us leave it at that. The good news - I've graduated, I officially have my Masters Degree (in Traditional Chinese Medicine) and soon I'll be a licensed acupuncturist. Hooray!

Since most of my hard work is done, I have more time for myself and, hopefully, that will translate into more writing.

On to the fun stuff!

Imbolc is coming, spring is beginning to stir in the Northern Hemisphere, and my son and I are starting to make preparations in anticipation of Brighid's visit. O is four now, and is very excited to celebrate Brighid's special day.  (We say a nightly prayer for protection, and he knows that Brighid watches over our home and helps keep him safe) I'm really making an effort to establish traditions in our home that reflect my personal practice. My husband is Jewish so we celebrate Jewish holidays; we celebrate the secular aspects of some other holidays too, like Christmas. I spend a lot of time decorating and preparing for those, so I want to make the effort in a more visible way for the Gaelic festivals as well. Decorating is part of that!

I was on Pinterest and I saw an adorable photo of porcelain sheep ornaments, but it was (as often happens on Pinterest) unsourced! My first thought was "I can make that!" ... I've seen similar concepts, usually using a paper or cardboard cutout of a sheep (or cow) body, wrapped with yarn. Simple!

I'm sure many different modeling clays or doughs would work - I considered salt dough at first (because it's cheap and if you screw up you haven't spent a lot of money), but then I found some old Sculpey in a forgotten craft box. I used 1 2oz package and got about 7 sheep out of it.

First, I drew my sheep body. I freehanded it, but there are a lot of sheep silhouettes on Google, or just print out mine (I don't mind).

Roll out the dough to a quarter inch thickness.

I used a toothpick to trace the outline of my sheep ...

... then used a craft knife to cut it out.

At this point I discovered it's best to roll your clay out on parchment, because once you cut the sheep and try to peel it off the table it gets kind of warped. I used my fingers to soften the cut edges, tweak any part that didn't look right, and smooth out the clay. Toothpicks make nice mini-rollers to smooth away fingerprints!

I poked a hole in each one for a string, then baked them according to package directions. They came out wonderfully! Here they all are, ready for the oven.

Now, once the sheep are baked and cooled, take your yarn and wrap it all around the sheep until maximum woolliness has been achieved. Tuck (or glue) the loose end of the yarn. (I had no issues wrapping around the tail, but a well-placed dab of glue could be used if your yarn is slipping off) Roving would also work for this step, but I just used a wooly yarn.

I used a large needle and embroidery floss to make the hanging loop.

ENJOY YOUR SHEEP!

They're pretty darn cute, and definitely bring some springtime cheer! I'm going to finish the rest with my son tomorrow.

Imbolc 2013

Happy Imbolc!

Dandelions are FUN!

The dandelions have been blooming in my area for a few weeks now, but I wanted to give special consideration to this holiday, as I have been building my relationship with Bride. I felt that this day must be a particularly special holiday for me. Of course, life gets in the way, and on the day of the calendar holiday I was working late and my mom had surgery scheduled for the next day! I ended up celebrating Sunday night (the 3rd); a good friend came for dinner and we "churned" butter in a mason jar! We had fun singing a churning song, and the butter was so delicious! After dinner my friend and her son went home and I attempted to get my 2 year old to help me make a Bride's Cross, but that idea went up like a lead balloon!

Bride's Cross made with pipe cleaners - kid friendly!

I finally had some quiet time after Mr. 2yr Old was in bed, to make my dealbh Bride (Bride doll/icon) and her cradle (the leaba Bride). I happen to have a young apple tree in the back yard so I used an apple branch for the slatag Bride - the wand of Bride.

The dealbh Bride 

Once the crafty part was done I did my prayers and offerings, and put all my garden seeds and some thread and cloth outside that night to be blessed, before inviting Bride in. More prayers and offerings in the morning; unfortunately I had not had time to go out to find any elder twigs (since I am in an area where there doesn't seem to be much rowan or mountain ash!) to make protective charms with ... I will have to make sure to be more prepared in the future! All said, it was a successful and enjoyable experience. I wish I'd had more time to prepare - especially for house cleaning - but I believe Bride was pleased. I did see something resembling wand marks in my ashes that morning!