If you would like your home decor project to be featured in an upcoming edition of Teach Me Tuesday, please email me at LivingWithLindsay@gmail.com and we’ll chat!
Before I get to today’s Teach Me Tuesday, I wanted to announce the winner of last week’s wonderful JULIAN & Co giveaway. The Random Number Generator did the hard work for me.
Congrats to Laura, who was lucky commenter #113! See, 13 isn’t so bad of a number, is it?
Today’s Teach Me Tuesday features a really special project from Sara at Creative Jewish Mom. I have apparently been living under a rock for years, because I’d never heard of Pomanders before I saw them on her blog. I just love the way they look, and I bet they smell amazing.
Sara teaches us how to make them:
These gorgeous pomanders are an amazing winter project! They’ll fill your home with the most delicious aroma of orange-scented cloves and you can make them without a huge investment of time. Sit down with the kids, or a friend, and make some together, that’s what I did! Even my 4.5 year old had great success with this project, with Mom only filling in a few holes at the end.
As far as displaying your works of art, well traditionally pomanders were hung, which you can certainly choose to do, or why not display them individually atop candlesticks and placed in footed goblets. Or how about making a whole bunch and filling a cupcake stand for a special occasion. Wow!
You’ll Need:
- oranges(or any citrus fruit except tangerines and mandarine oranges, their skin is too thin)
- whole cloves (make sure you have enough, at least 2 grocery store spice containers full, you don’t want to run out mid project!)
- star anise for a beautiful accent (optional, probably only available in a specialty spice shop)
- ribbon— either gorgeous metallic for an elegant look, or colorful for a more festive look
- tape — either electric tape or masking tape, in a few widths, or cut tape to desired width
How To:
Step 1: Place tape on orange to define areas, as shown
Step 2: Place cloves one next to another, using the tape as a guide. One row of cloves defining every area is really enough, though you can choose to add more if you like, or fill in entire areas. Just remember, it’s wiser to spend time making a nice simple collection of pomanders than to invest lots of time in one (in my humble opinion).
Step 3: Remove the tape and place ribbon in its place. Tie with a bow or a knot, whichever suites your style. I used wired ribbon so I was able to shape the ends nicely.
Note: Free form designs such as the spiral make a nice complement to the geometric ribbon covered versions, though I don’t really have any great tips for that. I did it by eye as the permanent marker I tried to use didn’t adhere to the orange peel. Any ideas?
I hope you’ll enjoy this wonderful project and do take pictures of your creations to share in the flickr group I’m setting up.
This is so great! Thank you, Sara.
Am I the only one left in the world who hadn’t heard of Pomanders before?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
We did these as a project during advent. I'm the only one who liked the smell. I was also surprised how fast the oranges began to go bad. The one I did with straight lines of cloves went first. My son's random one lasted longest. For him I pre-poked holes where he told me and then he inserted the cloves because his fingers got tired pretty quickly.
Love em!! I have heard of them — but have not thought of them in ages!! Thanks for the post!
Cloves are a very personal scent. I love them, hubby does not. I just wanted to note, with pomanders, they shrink at least 25% in size as they dry so when you tie ribbon on, make sure it is adjustable before you make the bow permanent. Also, pre-poking holes is super helpful even for grown-ups.
You make me want to go buy another bag of oranges! (I just zested and juiced nine last night!)
I love those because they remind me of my childhood. My mom made one when I was little by completely covering an orange with cloves and it smelled wonderful for years!
Thanks for sharing this tutorial. I have always wanted to make a pomander ball, and I even bought several bags of cloves for the project (at World Market)…about 5 years ago! This past Christmas, I actually opened the bags and just put the loose cloves in an open tin in the living room so we could enjoy the aroma. Guess I need to put it back on my crafting to-do list, eh?!!
i always loved the scent of cloves
I make these each year at Christmas with clementines or "baby oranges" as my daughter calls them. They work better with large thick skinned oranges though. When they dry out they still smell yummy!
What a nice craft this will be for me and my 5 year old granddaughter. TFS
Great idea. How long do the oranges last before they start going bad?
I heart these, so cute! I hope they're cat friendly.
I think a vis-a-vis marker would do better on the orange. but maybe wash it and make sure all the wax from the store is cleaned off before.
My Mom made them once. I gotta try doing it myself. The smell is SO yummy!