How to Carve a Hair Stick from a Twig

Work out your stick length. You do this by measuring the width of your bun and adding a couple of inches.

Find your stick. Go for a walk and collect some twigs. They should be no thicker than your index finger. Your stick should to be at least two inches longer than what you need. Shaping will shorten the final stick. Don't worry about getting a perfectly straight stick. Slight bends and curves in the wood make it more interesting to look at and they will hold your hair more securely. Avoid evergreen woods like pine as they contain large amounts of sap.

Look for sticks that flex. Discard any sticks that snap easily. Hair is pretty strong. If a stick snaps when you bend it slightly, it will break in your hair.

Clean your stick. Using a knife, remove the bark from your chosen stick.

Cut off any prominent protrusions. Any big bumps will make it hard to slide the stick into your hair.

Trim your stick. With a hacksaw, cut the stick to the desired length. Be sure to remove both ends.

Shape the stick. Carve one end of the stick so it tapers into a blunt point.

Round off the other end of the stick. This is where you hold the stick to insert into a bun.

Sand the stick. With coarse sandpaper, sand the stick until it is the right shape. Make sure the end of the stick is sanded into a smooth curve. 09_x_Ensure_the_end_of_the_stick_is_smooth_274.JPG

Detail your stick. Draw your desired design onto the stick with a pencil or ballpoint pen. Do not use an ink pen as ink may bleed into the wood.

Carve out the design. Cut into the stick at a 45° angle just below the lines you have drawn.

Continue to shape the design. Cut into the stick at a 45° angle above the lines to cut out a V shaped piece of wood.

Carve out the entire design in this way. Work carefully to cut away only what you want.

Sand the stick with medium sandpaper.

Sand smooth all edges. Fold the sandpaper in half and use the edge to sand inside the cuts you made for the design.

Repeat with fine sandpaper. Go over the stick with fine sandpaper, folding it again to sand the cuts.

Polish the stick smooth. Use a nail buffer or progressively finer sandpaper to get the stick really smooth.

Oil the stick. Put a small amount of your chosen oil on a plate. Use your fingers to apply it to the wood. Make sure all the wood is covered with oil. Walnut oil brings out darker colours in the wood. Wood that looked rather boring before, can look stunning after it has been oiled. The darker the colour, the bigger difference the walnut oil will make.

Allow the stick to soak up the oil for a couple of hours.

Remove any excess oil with tissue. Wipe until no oil comes off the stick.