Are you one of those gardeners who has a pine tree with a gazillion cones? Although those cones are beautiful, they can make a mess and even pose a fire hazard.
So what can you do with them?
The Garbage Garage at the Larimer County, Colorado, Landfill has an answer: Make pine cone gnomes.
Yesterday a friend and I attended a Garbage Garage class facilitated by Cindy Tunney, Larimer County education assistant. Cindy even provided five-inch pine cones from her own yard. We industrious crafters created our gnomes in about an hour.
If you would like to make your own gnome, here’s some information:
What you’ll need. A pine cone; felt for the hat and feet; beads or pom-poms for the nose; pom-poms or other trim for decorating the hat; one 12-inch pipe cleaner for bending the hat; a lid from a frozen juice can for the base; yarn for the beard; cardboard for hat and feet patterns and for winding the beard yarn; scissors; measuring tape; and a glue gun.
Making the hat. The hat is the most complicated part of the project. All 4 One Home provides one of the better hat-making descriptions I’ve seen, but you’ll need to adjust the size of the hat, depending on the circumference of your pine cone. After you’ve made a pattern and cut your hat triangle out of felt, glue the 12-inch pipe cleaner vertically on the inside of the hat triangle before gluing the hat together. The pipe cleaner should start at the pointy end of the hat and run to the bottom. Any extra length can be wrapped around the pine cone at the hat’s base to secure the hat to the pine cone. The pipe cleaner will enable you to bend the hat a funky angles. If you want, you can add a contrasting strip of felt around the base of the hat, a pom-pom at the point, and other baubles for decoration.
Making the beard. After you position the hat on the pine cone, cut a piece of cardboard about six inches wide and as tall as the space between the base of the hat and the bottom of the pine cone. If you have a five-inch pine cone, for example, the distance from the base of the hat to the bottom of the cone will likely be 3.5 to 4 inches. Holding the cardboard so the six-inch side is parallel to the ground, wrap the yarn vertically around the cardboard 20 to 25 times, depending on the thickness of the yarn. Cut the end of the yarn. Then cut a separate piece that’s twice as long as the short side of the cardboard. Insert that piece under the looped yarn at the top edge of the cardboard and tie the yarn together. If possible, the inserted piece should hang evenly from each side of your knot so that the ends can be incorporated into the rest of the beard. Now insert your scissors along the bottom edge of the cardboard and cut through the loops. You should have some semblance of a beard, which you can trim later. Using your glue gun, fasten the beard to the pine cone at the base of the hat.
Making the nose and feet. Glue a pom-pom or bead at the base of the hat and over the center of the beard to make the nose. For the feet, cut a heart-shaped piece of felt. Glue the heart to the juice can lid so the humpy end of the heart extends over the edge of the lid. Then glue the feet and lid to the bottom of the pine cone.
Adding finishing touches. Trim the beard so you can see the gnome’s feet. Fluff it appropriately. Glue on other enhancements as you see fit.
If gnomes aren’t your thing, Craftaholics Anonymous offers 25 other pine cone crafts that you can tackle.
What if you don’t have a pine tree, but want to make gnomes and other treasures? Check around your neighborhood. If you find a pine tree, be sure to ask the owner’s permission before harvesting any cones.
If you live in Fort Collins, Colorado, don’t take cones from the city’s parks and other properties. It’s illegal. If you live in other municipalities, contact the city or county before foraging on their land.
As a last resort, you can buy pine cones on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, as well as at craft stores and other retail outlets.
Thank you for reading my blog over the years. I wish you the happiest of holidays. I’ll write to you again in March 2022.
Blossoms & Blueprints 