So this is how my world works… and how I end up in places I never could have imagined.

Last spring, April 17th to be exact, it snowed about 6 inches in Wisconsin. I hate snow. In fact I hate winter period.

I was spending my first winter back home in Wisconsin after 12 years of being gone. And, I wasn’t terribly pleased to be getting snowed on in April!

We have a saying there, you might have the same saying in your home state. It goes, “April Showers bring May flowers.”

So, it’s not supposed to bloody snow in April!!! If anything, it’s supposed to rain.

That afternoon I called around and found out there was a paragliding competition in Florida. Warm, sunny Florida!

The very next morning, I packed up my CRV and drove to Florida to fly my glider for a couple of weeks!

Well, Mother Nature was messing with me no matter where I was. And it turned out that we had crappy weather all week. Which meant we only got to fly 2 of the 6 days.

The other 4 days everyone just kind of hung around at camp and talked. Well, I’m not very good at being idle and sitting around. So I started on some crafts from plants I found around camp… baskets, brooms, cattail dolls, and other little crafty things.

I ended up teaching a handful of people how to make cattail dolls and baskets. The week turned out to be very flattering impromptu classes on crafts and making bow drill fires. I say flattering because people were really interested in these skills and appreciated making their own things.

The brooms were a big hit, and I made a handful of them for other paraglider pilots. They loved them. So, I thought I’d write something up for you here, along with pictures, to show you how I made them.

And while I use fan palm fronds for the brush here, you can make your broom with tons of different materials. The process is pretty much the same.

I’ve used the lots of plants for the brush part of my brooms…. the ends of willow shoots leftover from making baskets, mustard plants, yucca, grass flower stalks, and cedar leaves.

All that’s required from the material you make the brush part of your broom out of is that it’s fairly resilient to bending and you have to be able to line it all up even at the bottom. Or be able to cut the material off evenly.

So get a few handfuls of the seedhead stalks from grass, willow, or if you want to cheat, use broom corn. These are what you’ll use to make the brush.

You’ll also need some cordage. In these pictures I just use some hemp string in had in the car.

The only other thing you need is a stout branch or something similar to make into a handle.

The only tool you need is a knife. And a scissors is nice if you have to cut the ends off evenly on the finished broom.

materials for making a primitive broom — This is everything you need to make a broom. The brush can be made of anything that is semi-stiff.

Once you have everything you need, line up the material you’re going to use for the brush so it’s as even as you can get it.

Don’t cut anything yet, you will do that last.

line up the brush material on your primitive broom — Line up the ends of your brush material with the end of your handle. And tie it all together TIGHTLY!

Now, position your brush material evenly around the handle so that the brush material covers the end of the handle.

At about 6 inches up from the bottom of the handle, tie the brush material as tightly as you can to the handle. The brush stuff is going to want to spin and become uneven as you tie it on. Just do your best to keep it even.

Tie the brush material to the handle in a second spot close to the end of the handle.

folding the brush back on your outdoor broom — Fold the brush material over itself and hold it there while you tie it.

So now the bottom of the handle should be buried in the bush material. Take the brush material and double it back over itself so it sticks out opposite the handle.

Tie down the bristles of the broom — Tie the double layered bristles to the handle of your primitive broom.

Hold it there and tie the brush part down tightly. Make it so you catch the bottom of the handle with this knot.

holding the brush material of an outdoor broom — Tie the brush material together below the handle. You might want to tie a third time farther down.

Next, go down a few inches and tie around the broom a second time with another really tight knot. If you have a lot of brush material sticking out beyond the handle, go down a few more inches and tie it again.

make a temprary lashing to keep the ends even when you cut them — Here you see 2 temporary lashings that will be taken off once the ends are all evenly cut.

You’re going to lash the brush material together temporarily so you can cut it all off even. So go a few inches up from where you want the bottom of your brush to be and tie it all together. All this does in hold things together while you cut the ends off.

Cut off the ends, untie the last lashing, and your broom is done!

a finished primitive broom — The finished broom!

These are great brooms to make and use. A lot of times, as the broom wears away, I’ll just cut the ends off until it’s just a stubby little broom.

They are great for sweeping out your tent or tarp, brushing the crap off your sleeping pad and bag, and cleaning under your sleeping pad before you lay it down. I also use mine to brush the snow off my boots before going in the cabin.

How to Make Cattail Dolls

It was a cool spring day in the Rockies. I was making a fish trap out of willows to feed myself for the next few days as I camped along a nameless tributary.

As I sat weaving, the chickadees that kept me company as I wove my trap gave their alarm call indicating a predator on the ground moving toward us.

A bear I figured. Crap. I’d seen plenty of bears on this trip and they weren’t interested in me at all. But, there was no reason to push my luck.

I moved away from the stream and hid, figuring I’d let the bear pass and finish my trap.

Silently, appearing out of nowhere wasn’t a bear, but an old woman. She was barefoot, wearing a deerskin cloak over tattered jeans and a worn white blouse.

She squatted down out of my sight to investigate the area where I had been making my trap. When she stood up again, she was looking directly at me.

I had no idea how she knew exactly where I was hiding in the thicket, she never even looked around.

I walked down and introduced myself to Starlight Laughter, one of the most interesting people I’ve met in my travels.

We spent that day and the next together feeding butterflies (I’m not kidding, she showed me how to feed butterflies out of your hand), making baskets, collecting wild edible plants, and she taught me how to make cattail dolls.

There is spirit in these cattail dolls she told me, and they need to be made with love. The first one you make should always be given away and you should think about and feel whoever you’re making it for. She told me the love would transfer through the doll to its recipient.

cat tail doll with broom — This cat tail doll is mounted on a bracket fungus.

I gave my first cattail figurine to the place we met. It held onto an alder branch along the bank, sharing the joy I had in meeting Starlight Laughter.

That was my introduction to making the cattail doll you see here. I have changed them a bit over time to make it easier for beginners and more human-like, but this is essentially the same cattail doll I learned to make that day years ago.

I hope you love making these cat tail dolls and the people you share them with enjoy them as well.

I have a book on Amazon on how to make cattail dolls that goes into more detail, but this will post here will get you started!

If you decide you want the book, you can find it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B6R7RVM/

Choosing Cat Tail Leaves for Your Doll

The best time of year to harvest cattail is in the fall right when the leaves go from green to brown. But, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. It’s possible to make cat tail figurines from the leaves of older plants as long as they haven’t rotted too much. And you can harvest the green leaves in late summer through fall and just let them dry.

Cross section of cattail leaves for making dolls — There are 3 different kinds of leaves on each cattail plant.

Making the Head of Your Cattail Doll

To make the head of your cat tail doll, start with by putting a rock in the middle of the widest leaf you have. Then wrap around the rock with other leaves until the rock is buried.

Tie off the doll right below the head using a waist knot. That will form the head and body core of your doll.

How to Make Arms for Your Cattail Doll

Next you’ll need to make the doll’s arms. You do this by twisting supple cattail leaves toward the center of the fibers. The twist you use here is the same way you’d make string from nettles, dogbane, milkweed or other fibrous plant.

Once your arms are done, slide them up your cattail doll and place leaves over the shoulders of your doll until the figurine has enough girth.

Cut the bottoms of your cattails off so they are about 7 times the length of the doll’s head.

Then you will tie another waist knot about half way down your doll to make the waist.

Basic doll after learning to make cattail figurines — This is the basic doll and what you will end up with after learning how to make cattail dolls.

Your basic cattail doll is done at this point, and this is where the fun really begins…

Personalizing The Cattail Dolls You Make

Your cattail doll has perfect hands for holding things and you can make lots of cool stuff for your doll to make it perfect for you… or for a gift.

Here are some things I like to add;

Brooms
Any straight twig or branch will do for the handle. To make the broom, fold a few leaves in half and shove the stick through the middle of the leaves. Lash the leaves to the stick with a waist knot. Use the tip of a knife to make bristles on the broom.

Sword, Spears, Axes, and Knives.
Whittle these out of wood.

Bows
Start with a twig and shape it into a bow. You can give your bow a lot of detail by carving an arrow rest on the bow. Make a nock at one end of the bow to hold the string and tie the string to the other end of the bow.

Arrows
The very end of male cattail stalk, above the seeds where the pollen used to be makes great arrows. You can split the stalk and slide a tiny piece of birch bark into the split for fletching. You can hold the fletching on by wrapping thread or sinew above the fletching.
Willow twigs are also great for arrows.

cattail doll holding a rake and scythe — This cattail doll is modeled after a doll by Mors Kochanski.

Quiver
Any pithy plant works well for your quiver. Cow parsnip, multiflora rose, and raspberry are my favorites. For arrows in the quiver you can make short arrows and stick them into the pith.

Grappling Rope
Use cattail, nettle, milkweed, dogbane or other good fiber plant to make a long rope out of. You can also make small pieces of cordage for the strap on quivers or to hold swords and knives on your cattail doll.

You can get full instructions in my book on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B6R7RVM/.

If you enjoy outdoor crafts, you might also like my post on making birch bark baskets.

Cattail Doll Book

Get my book and discover how to make cattail dolls!

My second survival skills book is now available on Amazon, How to Make Cattail Dolls. This is a great little book and you can use all kinds of plants to make these dolls with... not just cattails. Iris, lily, palm leaves and corn husks all work really well too! Once you get good at them, the plain doll will only take you about 30 minutes to make. Then you can add things like bows, arrows, knives, swords, brooms, tool boxes, wrenches, or whatever you want to personalize them. They make GREAT gifts and the people you give them to will just love them!!! You can get it by clicking here or the image above.

Category: Outdoor Crafts

How to Make a Broom