The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home - Arin Murphy-Hiscock 2018

Corn Husk Doll
Herbs, Crafts, and Other Hearth-Related Magic Work

The craft of making a corn husk doll is often performed around the first harvest festival at the beginning of August (Lammas is celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, and Lughnasadh is a similar Gaelic festival). Sometimes these dolls are used as the kitchen witch icons and hung in the window or above the stove for good luck. If you wish to make one of these corn husk dolls yearly, you can burn or compost the old one that has watched over your kitchen throughout the previous year. Save your corn husks when you eat fresh corn in the late summer; lay them flat on a piece of newspaper for a couple of days, then collect them in a paper bag and store them somewhere cool and dry like the garage. To use, lay the dried husks in a shallow pan of water to soften them up a bit. Soaking the husks helps make them pliable, so they don’t snap when you bend them. They don’t need to be soaked for long; five to ten minutes should do it. These husks can also substitute for wheat stalks in many crafts, if you cut or tear them into narrower widths.

Making a Corn Husk Doll

You will need:

✵ Between 15—20 pieces yarn for hair (each about 12" long), color of your choice

✵ Dried corn husks soaked in water (trim to approximately 12" long)

✵ Tea towel or clean cloth

✵ Natural-colored cotton string

✵ Scissors

✵ 1 twig, about 5"—6" long and approximately ¹/₄" in diameter

1. Gather the pieces of yarn and knot them together at one end. Take the husks out of the water they have been soaked in and pat the excess water off with the cloth.

2. Stack 4 husks on top of one another, aligning the long and short edges. Lay the yarn along the top of the husks, with the knot near the narrow end. Roll the layered husks around the yarn and tie the roll just above the knot with a piece of string. Tie it tightly, but not so tightly that it cracks the husks. Trim the ends of the string.

3. Fold the husks down over the knot to make the witch’s head. Tie another piece of string around the husks at the neck. The yarn for the hair will now be revealed.

4. To make arms, roll a husk up tightly and tie a piece of string around the middle to keep it rolled. Slide the arm piece between the layers of folded-down husks. If you like you can tear the body husks a bit to place the arms where you want them. Trim the arms to the desired length and tie off each wrist area with a short piece of string.

5. Make the waist by tying a piece of string just below the arms.

6. To make a broom, cut a 1"-long piece from the wide end of a husk. Cut a fringe in this piece by snipping a series of lines into it, leaving a solid strip about ¹/₄" deep. With the fringed end down, roll the strip around the end of the twig and tie it with a piece of string. Secure the broom to one of the hands by tying it with a piece of string.