How to make a bowtruckle

This is basically a spinoff of the Bowtruckle tutorial by Crafting Doctor, except with more variety in the greenery. Although we only have one example of bowtruckles in the films, it makes sense to me that there would different varieties that would camouflage themselves to certain tree species.


Compared to the illustration on the Harry Potter Wiki:

Image result for bowtruckle


Materials
-Floral wire
-Floral tape
-Pipe cleaners (aka chenille pipe stems)
-Fake flowers and leaves

Tools
-Wire cutters
-Scissors
-Permanent marker
-Superglue





1. Gather the materials
All of these materials can be bought at larger craft stores, mostly from the floral section. You can also salvage faux leaves, flowers, and berries from thrift stores, which often have some old florals with the baskets and display pieces.

2. Cut stems
The cutting of the wire pieces for the body, arms, and legs do not need to be very precise. To make a bowtruckle that is about the size seen in the films, the body is about four inches, and the arm section about 3-4 inches, and the three legs or something less than that.



3. Twist into shape
Twist the arm around the middle of the body once or twice, then crimp the legs to the bottom of the body. It’d be interesting to vary the shape of the arms and legs, to add different lengths. But I do like have at least three parts for legs, so that it can act as a tripod to stand it upright.


4. Thicken the stems
Cut similar lengths of a pipestem and crimp them around the limbs of the wire. Again, it doesn’t need to marry perfectly with the wire. The color of the pipestem does not matter, though I used green in case it peeks out. You might even be able to start with this and abandon the wire altogether, but I think the wire lends it some needed strength.


5. Wrap the stems
Starting at one end at the head, leave a little space at the top and then work down to wrap every bit of pipestem and wire by overlapping it mummy-style. This can be done with one go, or by cutting several lengths of tape. Just make sure to wrap it snugly, and be careful with the ends. You may want to secure the ends with a touch of glue.



6. Add the leaves and bits
To the space left on top, slip the leaf stems or other stems. The film version has two simple leaves, but I think flowers or berries would not be such a stretch. If you want to make holiday-themed bowtruckles, then a bit of holly or pine needles and cones would work very well. Fix them in place with another short length of floral tape. Mark the eyes with a Sharpie. 



7. Add to wreath
Because I'm a huge nerd, I decided to add my bowtruckles to a Christmas wreath. You know, because what Christmas needs is an obscure Harry Potter reference. And I figure the best place for my new friends is in the only other piece of fake greenery I possess. (Actually my wreath is a table decoration, but whatever.)


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