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Making
a Corn Husk Doll
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Corn is one of the most
important crops around the world. Every year in October, the ancient Romans
held a festival to celebrate their goddess of the corn, Ceres, from whose
name we get the word cereal. Many Native American tribes continue an old
tradition of celebrating the ripening of their corn crop and thanking the
Great Spirit for it with a Green Corn Dance in May. In April in the African
country of Angola, children harvest and roast corn on the cob. Corn is also
grown and celebrated during harvest festivals in New Zealand, countries in
Africa, and of course in the United States and Canada. |
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Native American tribes did not
waste any materials from their harvest, and often they used husks and silk
from their corn crop to craft corn husk dolls. Some dolls were for play and
others for important ceremonies. Pioneer children also made corn husk dolls.
This harvest season, you and your child can try your hands at making a corn
husk doll of your own.
What you need:
• around 20 husks of corn (“harvested” and prepared yourself from
store-bought corn cobs or already-prepared ones purchased from craft or
grocery stores)
• string or twine
• pipe cleaners in natural colors
• buttons, pieces of cloth, colored markers, and other supplies for
decorating the finished doll
What you do:
1. If you are using husks from a cob of corn, dry the husks and silk in the
sun for between 1-3 days.
2. Soak husks in a pail of water for about 10 minutes to soften them.
3. Layer 6 husks on top of each other with the pointy ends all together. Cut
the husks so they are all about 8-inches long.
4. Bundle the thin ends of the husks around a long, thick section of corn
silk “hair.” Make sure the smooth sides of the husks face inward. Use string
or twine to tie the thin ends tightly.
5. Peel the fatter ends down like a banana peel so that the hair sprouts up
in the middle (like the fruit of a banana). Tie a string around the fatter
ends to gather them together in a round knot to form a neck for a head with
silk “hair” sprouting out the top.
6. Roll a husk around a pipe cleaner. Tie one end to the ends of two other
rolled-up husks and braid them into a 6-inch long piece that will become
posable arms.
7. Create two more braids like this to form two legs.
8. Stick the arm braid into the body of your husk doll so that it lays
horizontally right below the head (perpendicular to the trunk of the body).
Tie a string around the body of the doll right beneath the arms to hold them
in place and form a waist.
9. Tie the ends of the leg pieces to two the ends of two of the husks that
form the inside of the body section.
10. Wrap another husk around your doll’s shoulders and back, criss-crossing
the ends across your doll’s chest. Tie a string around the waist to secure
this husk to your doll’s body and form shoulders.
11. Now you have a girl doll with a skirt. To make a fuller shirt, you can
layer more husks (fatter ends up) around the waist of your doll and tie them
tightly to the doll with another string.
12. To make pants for a boy doll, split the husks hanging down into two
sections, each wrapped around one of the leg pieces, and use three pieces of
string per leg to tie the husks closely to the leg at the upper thigh, knee,
and ankle areas.
13. You can use small pieces of cloth or corn husk to fashion accessories
for your doll such as a belt, a hat, a bonnet, an apron, or a vest. You can
also add buttons for decoration and use markers to draw facial features on
your doll.
What you can talk about:
• The word corn was often used to refer to the main grain crop of an area.
In the United States, this meant maize. In England, it meant wheat (or, in
Scotland, oats). In many early societies, people used to weave symbols from
the last bits of grain from one harvest to save and plant the next year to
ensure good luck for that year’s crop.
• “Corn dolly plaiting” or “wheat weaving” still flourishes as a folk art
today. For another craft project, experiment with weaving a doll or other
shape out of wheat straw. |
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