How to make Cotton Stems Inexpensively

How to make Cotton Stems Inexpensively

My aunt had a cotton plant on her back porch. I was fascinated by that cotton plant.

Now I wish I would have remembered a bit more about how nature put that cotton plant together.

I could have checked online…but instead made cotton stems how I imagine a cotton plant would come together.

Cotton Stems

Cotton stems DIY mostly from nature. Click to read how these were simply made. Country Design Style

This is my cotton stems. Below is how I made them.

I gathered old elk trotted on pine cones. Not sure how important the elk trotted pine cones are to the project. But old pine cones are easier to break apart. Beautiful store bought pine cones are hard to cut apart. If you can, find pine cones in a local park or forest. Kids trotted pine cones are great for the project too.

While gathering I grabbed some tree branches.

To clean the pine cones from any bugs, I boiled a pan of water, removed from heat and popped in the pine cones for a few seconds. This softened the pine cones too! The branches were washed down with the garden hose.

When inside I grabbed two handfuls of cotton balls and fired up the hot glue gun. You can read my hot glue gun tips here.

I fluffed out the cotton balls quite a bit, then rolled then slightly back to round.

I pulled the middle scales from the pine cone. Actually, I pulled, twisted, cut, and wiggled out the scales. The middle scales are larger and easier to pull, twist, cut, and wiggle out!

Then I hot glued them in a cross shape.

Next, I tried hot gluing them onto the branches by adding the hot glue to the branch stems. That didn’t work as well as, adding a dollop of hot glue to the center of the pine scales and pushing into the branch stems.

Cotton stems DIY mostly from nature. Click to read how these were simply made. Country Design Style

We’ve had a busy weekend, but “hands on” time to complete was under 30 minutes including a stroll to gather the nature pieces.

Cotton stems DIY mostly from nature. Click to read how these were simply made. Country Design Style

Are cotton balls natural?

Easy to make your own cotton stems using cotton balls and items found outside. Country Design Style www.countrydesignstyle.com

Glad I had white cotton balls!

This wouldn’t look as realistic with pink cotton balls.

Update: I will be making cotton stems on a LIVE workshop with subscribers, October 6 at 4:30 pm PST. Please click here to learn more. If you’re a subscriber check your email to register for the free workshop.

I made a cotton wreath too!

Original article and pictures take countrydesignstyle.com site