You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
My grandmother did these in the 1960s. She made decorative bowls, placemats, and bottle covers from longleaf pine needles. She sent me into the woods to find the cleanest, prettiest ones and I would bundle them in a stack and she would make these.
They are not at all sticky. Resin is under the tree bark but the needles are dry. You collect the needles and pull the "cap" off that holds the needles together at the end and then you have the raw material for these; she used sisal, another natural fiber to sew with.
And sadly, no one learned the craft from her before she left us in 1972.
You should post these on the Crafts forum--I'm sure people there would love to see these! It wouldn't surprise me if someone over there knows how to make these, or at least knows someone who knows, so you might be able to regain the lost knowledge.
Those are really neat. I bet I'm not the only gardener, by far, who often loooks at some natural things in the yard and thinks' I could try to make _____ out of that"
