Birch bark products: dishes, souvenirs, gifts

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Birch bark natural material is common for making souvenirs, gifts, dishes. They are not only nice to receive as a gift, but also interesting to make yourself. This process is not easy: only very patient and careful craftsmen can create products from birch bark.

What is this material?

Birch bark is the top layer of birch bark, which is easily torn off with a sharp knife. The most flexible and convenient for work is birch bark, taken from a tree with a diameter of 30 cm in the first month of summer. Strips of various shapes and lengths are placed in a dry, non-solar place so that natural drying occurs. After 3 weeks, the material is ready for processing. In case of drying and brittleness, the strips should be moistened with water.

How to work with birch bark?

To work with birch bark you will need: a sharp knife, scissors, a needle and thread, an awl, wire. The material can be painted in various colors, this is true for souvenirs and children's crafts. Birch bark can be dyed both in advance, in a solution of paint and water, and to decorate an already finished product. While maintaining the natural look of birch bark products look more interesting and more expensive,the material is covered with a colorless varnish, sometimes painted.

Working with birch bark is not easy, a good result will require a lot of patience and effort. It is better to start creating with simple and necessary things at home: vases, planters, etc. Having quickly created the first product, you will want to start more complex options.

DIY birch bark crafts

The most popular product made of birch bark is a flower pot, it fits well into any interior and is a necessary item. It is assembled very simply: the pot is wrapped in a layer, the excess parts are cut off, the connection is made with glue. For strong bonding, the birch bark should be tied. Such a planter does not need additional decor, but if you wish, you can paint it or glue butterflies, rhinestones, flowers…

Thin birch bark rings can be turned into earrings, and a chain of rings into a necklace. Such birch bark crafts will please your mother or girlfriend. Even children can cope with the work.

Appliqué birch bark paintings have a special look, they can be hung on the wall or given to loved ones. Such creativity requires the investment of all soul and love. To create paintings from birch bark, it must be put in boiling water, allowed to dry, stratified, and dried under pressure. Birch bark has many shades, so you can make a panel of small pieces from it without paint. To brighten the picture, you can use a background of other materials, branches, leaves, birch earrings.

More complex work can be done by seniorsschoolchildren. Birch bark is woven from thin ribbons. Such a lacy container will allow the bread not to become damp. To create a bread box or candy box, you first need to cross and glue two strips, then weave the remaining ribbons around the center.

Birch bark souvenirs

Professional birch bark products are widely distributed at craft fairs. They are bought as souvenirs and gifts. Therefore, the manufacture of such products is not only a pleasant process, but also a profitable activity.

Birch bark boxes of various sizes can be used to store jewelry, documents, sweets, herbs, etc. Folk painting makes the dressing even more interesting and individual. The material allows you to create a product of any desired shape, a huge variety of souvenirs allows you to choose an option for every taste.

Birch bark souvenirs are popular not only among the Russian population, but also abroad. They are brought as a gift and in memory of the country of white birches and brown bears. It's good that memory occupies a worthy place in life, and you can learn how to create souvenirs and not forget about the very recent past.

DIY boxes

To create a birch bark box, steamed, not yet dried ribbons are best suited. They are easy to work with: flexible and obedient. Work proceeds in the following order:

1) The ribbons are cut in the same size, equal to the perimeter of the box.

2) 4 ribbons are intertwined first.

3) Then 1 more ribbon is added on each side,it turns out a large square of small, 4 × 4 cells. Thus, the base is woven to the required size.

4) To get the corner of the box, you need a square block the size of the base. It is placed at an angle of 45o to all sides, like a diamond.

5) Then the ribbons are pressed against the block and intertwined around the perimeter in a checkerboard pattern to the required height.

6) To form the top edge, a wire is needed, from which a hoop of any desired shape is made, the size of the bottom of the box.

7) Ribbons are attached to the hoop: they go around it and go to the side, under the nearest cells. For reliability, the tips can be smeared with glue.

8) The lid is made in the same way. To keep it better, you can make it a little larger. Or weave and glue the inner rim for the box.

Changing the shape of the block, you can weave any basket. It will take a lot of patience to work at first, but the process of creation always works positively for both children and adults.

DIY painting

To create a picture from birch bark, you must sequentially perform the following work:

1) First, a sketch is selected, it can be drawn by hand or taken from any source.

2) Then the format of the picture is chosen depending on the capabilities of the artist: someone will translate the finished picture, someone will draw it himself.

3) The cardboard base is cut to size.

4) The horizon line is determined - it is laid out from thin birch bark. Furtherafter each layer the product is pressed.

5) The sky is laid out of small pieces of birch bark in light gray, white shades.

6) The earth is depicted from dried moss or dark pieces of birch bark.

7) Then they begin to lay out the plot on the resulting background: first the secondary objects, lastly the main ones.

8) After a 20-minute press, the picture is inserted into a frame with glass, in this form it will retain its worthy appearance for a long time.

Breadbasket with own hands

Birch bark bread bin will keep bread fresh longer than plastic one, there is no dampness or unpleasant smell in them. There are also advantages over wooden ones: it does not absorb odors, does not rot, does not mold.

You can weave it with your own hands, in the same sequence as the box, but this is a more laborious process. And the bread box requires greater tightness for the safety of the product. Therefore, it is better to buy it. You can buy a bread box without decor and decorate it yourself, you can choose the option with your favorite design, there are a lot of them.

Birch bark products have been valued since ancient times. Now they are relevant not only as souvenirs, but also as environmentally friendly kitchen utensils.