CENTER OF ATTENTION

By Stacy Whittemore

This year we explored our inner creativity as we vinyl tablecloth to prepare the logs. I loved helping her found ourselves forced to stay home. According put the plaster on the cans and picking out decorations to Smithsonian Magazine, craft sales increased for them. They were gifts for neighbors, friends and 76%, and Etsy blossomed with new products. the other teachers where she worked.

With time on my hands and a need to reach back to I lost my mother years ago, but I have no doubt she a simpler crafting time, I thought of my mother. In the would have embraced the craft craze the pandemic 1970s, homemade crafting was at its height, and she brought. embraced it wholeheartedly. Thankfully, the plaster of Paris mushrooms knick-knacks didn’t catch on, but another craft holds a special place in my heart. The custom of burning the Yule log goes back to medieval times. Originally a Nordic tradition, Yule is the name of the old winter solstice festivals in

In the basement, she had a box where she kept Scandinavia and Germany. The first Yule log was empty tomato juice cans through the year. When late an entire tree lit to burn through the 12 days of October came, she would start making Yule logs. She Christmas. Today it makes a festive centerpiece would clear our kitchen table and put down an old for holiday gatherings.

STEP 2

STEP 3

Directions:

1. Lay out newspaper to cover your workspace and tape the two cans together. 2. With a marker, draw a straight line across the top to position the PVC couplers. Measure 4 inches in on both sides of a mark. Hot glue a PVC coupler center over the 4-inch mark on the left. Repeat on the right. Two total on top. Let glue set. 3. Mix the plaster of Paris according to the directions. The mixture needs to be the consistency of thick pancake batter. Note: Plaster of Paris sets up hard fairly quickly. Make sure the PVC couplers are upright and level, so when the finished log is complete, the candles will stand evenly upright. With your fingers, spread the paster over the entire surface of the can, making sure you go around and up the PVC couplers, but not inside them. You want a fairly thick layer of plaster. Make bark patterns in the plaster. On the end of the cans, make swirl patterns to simulate tree rings. Run your finger around the base to make a uniform base. Don’t move the log, let dry for 24 hours. 4. After the log has dried, pull away the newspaper. Cut out a piece of felt or flannel to fit on the bottom to protect from scratching surfaces. 5. Lightly coat the log with two coats of varnish and decorate as desired.