When I was researching spring holidays for my spring book I was particularly intrigued by a German custom wherein children build a nest in a field or garden in which a hare would lay colored eggs for them. This idea came to the America’s with German settlers and seems to be the precursor of the modern Easter basket and the rational for rabbits laying eggs. Eggs and hares were both of course ancient symbols of spring and fertility that predate Easter. All of that to say… I love the idea of making secret outdoor nests for a magical hare to leave gifts in!!
I started making a proper basket, but I wanted to simplify it so that it was do-able for kids (and frankly adults…) What I ended up with is just looped cordage which is super satisfying to make and much easier than making a basket. You could use any natural material and skip making the cordage completely if you wanted to simplify even further. All you need is a little nest shape on the ground!
Cordage Nest Baskets
This may look a little intimidating, but making cordage is easy to learn and one of those soothing, repetitive tasks like knitting or crocheting that once you get good at you can do without paying attention. I like to idly make cordage while I’m sitting outside watching the kids or zoning out. (It’s easier to pick up then knitting or crochet though!) You can make cordage with all kinds of things, but spring is the best time to use strips of bark. (I also love to use all of the dead perennial stalks that I am pulling out of teh garden this time of year) Trees begin sending water and nutrients from their roots up to their leaves in the spring– this is of course the same way we collect maple syrup! That liquid that is traveling up the tree is right under the inner bark which makes it super easy to peel the bark off this time of year! In fact as you are peeling you may notice that it feel wet– that is the the sap that all trees produce.
Materials:
- pruned tree branches
- clippers
- water in a bucket or tub for soaking
- clothespin (optional)
Preparing the Bark
The first thing you need to do is peel the bark off your branches in long strips. This is my kids favorite part! When I first said we were peeling bark they were not excited, but as soon as they saw some of the peeled sticks they were all in. Even if you don’t decide to make cordage I recommend giving this a try. It’s easy and incredibly satisfying in some sort of primal sensory way. I have never met a kid who doesn’t love it.
Use your fingernail or clippers to make a small vertical cut on the cut end of the branch. then just peel! It will get a little harder when you get to branches coming off the main stem, but you can usually work around them with steady pressure. If you are feeling fancy you can also strip off the outer brown bark from the greenish inner bark. The inner bark is where the strong fiber is and it lasts longer and is more flexible, but leaving some or all of the outer bark isn’t the end of the world. (And you can see that I left lots of it in my cordage.)
Ideally, you dry your strips out and then soak them to soften them again, but honestly I don’t always. While it sounds counterintuitive you do this so that everything shrinks before you make the cordage. (Natural materials shrink as they loose water, you then soak them to make them pliable again.)
Making the Cordage
Pick up one strip of bark (or other natural material) and start twisting away from yourself in the middle. Eventually this bit will want to twist back on itself, let it and grab onto the twisted loop it makes with your left hand.
You now have two pieces of bark on the right. Twist the top one away from you and then pull it towards your body over the lower piece of bark and pinch it with you left hand. It is now the lower piece. Twist the new top piece away form you and repeat over and over. Once you work out where to put your hands this goes very quickly.
As you run out of bark, lay another piece over the tail and twist it with the original piece to secure. You can keep doing this pretty much indefinitely. Or until you run out of bark strips.
When you are done just tie off the end with a knot.
Coil up your cordage and make a nest!
[…] in the water for a minute or town until it is pliable but not sopping wet. Follow the instructions here on how to make cordage. (Skip “Peeling the Bark and go straight to “Making the […]