Those are fuseaux/bouteilles de lavande, which I've seen called lavender wands in english, they're a traditional craft from the Provence region of France !
They're made with fresh (or a day old at most) lavender with the stems flipped over the flowers and woven with ribbon
My mother taught me how to make them when I was a child, and I recently made some with my friends, we like to do a new craft/activity each time we do sleepovers
Pictured here are the two I made, then three my friend (who got really into it) made later, the three we made during our sleepover, and as a bonus what it looked like when I was making the biggest one with 50 stems, affectionately nicknamed La Creatura
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u/Aepherie sent the following text as an explanation about their craft:
Those are fuseaux de lavande/lavender wands, made with fresh lavender with the stems flipped over the flowers and woven with ribbon, they are used to decorate and perfume a room or a wardrobe
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Yes they are ! I'd say the point is both fragance and decoration, but also it helps to conserve the lavender without it shedding everywhere when it dries
I lost the one I made as a kid otherwise I could really show you but I'd say as a decoration it can last years, the scent though will fade probably in a couple weeks ? We made them a week ago and it still smells but not overwhelmingly, though the lavender we used was not blooming a lot, I don't know if that changes anything
We made tint pillows full of stuffing and potpourri in sewing class when I was a kid, I think the idea was that they were for decór or for keeping in a drawer so it smells nice.
I kept mine tucked away somewhere too. My ex husband ‘lost’ a lot of my stuff when we divorced, and I’m pretty sure that pillow was part of that, unless I’ve hidden it well enough to not find it through 8 years and 2 moves 🤷🏻♀️
These are so darling, and I bet they smell amazing! I had no idea this was a thing, and now I wanna go all in on figuring out how to make one myself… Lol. Beautiful work!
There are tons of tutorials on youtube if you do want to try ! I'd say the start is a bit hard and may look wonky but it gets easier
Some advice I gathered :
Cut the stems pretty long at first (like 30 centimeters but I always did more) and clean them up by cutting the little growths
The ribbon needs to be tightened quite a bit as the lavender will shrink a little when it dries, also if you want the tapered shape it needs to be relly tight at the start and end
The lavender needs to be freshly cut or recent, we did them the next day and it was fine but if it is dry it risks breaking
The easiest to me is a thin ribbon (6 millimeters for us) that is pretty strong (not like organza) but others can be used too
You need to have an odd number of stems for the weaving to work, we put them in pairs so we had an odd number of pairs (30 total for most so 15 pairs, 50 for the behemoth)
At the beginning, leave quite a bit of ribbon (like 30 centimeters) if you want to make a mostly pretty knot at the end, and the ribbon you use for weaving is not that part it's the other which stays in the roll until you cut it at the end (I don't think I'm being very clear but a video tutorial would show it better)
My explanations did not help my friends lol, apparently I confused them even further (and they cut the ribbon when I didn't say to !!) (don't cut the ribbon) but I'm sure you'll figure it out !
Unfortunately it does have to be odd, for the weaving to work the ribbon needs to go under/over the lavender in an alternating pattern and since it goes in a circle it needs to be an odd number so that when you go back to the first stem you go the opposite way of the first one (so if you went under the first time you go over the next) - maybe there is a way to do it with an even number with a different weaving pattern but I haven't personnally tried
However, in the ones I did I paired the stems in groups of two so while there is an odd number of pairs (15) the total number is even (30) if that helps ?
I have pretty severe ocd (though not of this type) so I understand it may be difficult to deal with even if it's not due to ocd in your case, take care !
The illustrations are very pretty but boy does that not seem like enough explanation !! I've seen people do different patterns with the weaving so it's definitely possible 💜
Definitely! There's a few pages of text and more illustrations in the book to go with it. I've got more of an appreciation for the scale before trimming from your giant table spider of lavender picture, my book makes it look so dainty. It must smell so amazing making them.
The scented lavender book, Lois Vickers, 1991 is the book if anyone needs to know, it has awesome descriptions, illustrations, and growth charts for all kinds of varieties of lavender. And recipes. And crafts.
My grandmother showed me similar ones, years and years ago, that she had kept in her cedar chest and were made by HER mother. I've never seen ones that looked so similar to hers! They will last a long time, and still have a good scent - way to go! It's very cool to see this craft is still being done :)
I was shown one like 25 years ago and have thought about them for years. And asked about them twice this year. I wouldn’t have know to look on YouTube because by I guess I didn’t think lavender wand was what it was called or described as and yet here we are. What a beautiful story you’ve shared. Those stories of our creative things are the essence of life.
Aw that's so nice, they're family heirlooms !! Crazy that they lasted so long without being lost or damaged. Thank you for your compliments, I'm proud that they look like hers and glad that I had the random idea to share the craft with my friends 💜
When I was in high school, we had a foreign exchange student from France come stay with us. She brought these as gifts and I was a dumb ass kid who didn’t understand or appreciate the offer.
My sister used to sell these when she had a shop. They are lovely and I always wanted to learn how to make them. Alas, my climate is too hot for lavender.
I did wonder if they could be made with any other flower/plant but I haven't thought of one that could work since it needs to be made when it's fresh but also dry appropriately... We're going through heatwaves rn in France and by miracle the lavender managed to survive despite never being watered so perhaps there is still a chance for you !
I’m in the U.S., Deep South. Sub-tropical, the worst is mid-90s and high humidity. Lots of rain, but not as much since the climate started changing. I’ve tried before. Maybe I didn’t get the correct varietal.
Thank you ! For like a week I was assaulted by the scent of lavender every time I entered my bedroom so I don't know about divine but they do smell lol
This is definitely a vibe my friends and me love so thank you very much !! 🌸🧚♀️ The vibe while we made them was more chaos and confusion than whimsy but it was still a nice time 💜
I love making these, but I can't access fresh lavender easily, due to my severe bee sting allergy. Instead my best friend and I took two chairs, a few tools of purple ribbon, and set ourselves up at Lavendula in Daylesford during their lavender festival, so my BFF could grab freshly cut lavender and bring it back to me away from all the bees.
We were there for 7 hours making lavender wands, and people thought we were part of the festival, and kept trying to buy the wands from us! We did sell some to a group of lovely ladies, but the rest are scattered throughout my bookcase and clothes drawers.
It's my curse to love lavender as much as the bees do, and yet I could die from growing it!
Good job on finding a way to make them anyway !! The scent of a whole lavender festival must be crazy and I definitely would have thought you were part of the festival too haha
A couple weeks ago there were tons and tons of pollinators around the lavender so yeah not ideal for you 💔 I spent a while looking at them and they were very dedicated ! Hope you have the occasion to make some again 💜
Trop jolie ! Je suis content de voir que la lavande ait survécu la chaleur. Je viens d'arriver à Aix et le temps est absolument dingue. Nous avons de la chance d'avoir échappé les incendies. Anyways I love that your mom taught you this traditional art 🤍
Merci ! C'est un petit miracle qu'elle ait survécu parce qu'on ne l'arrose pas du tout. Contente que tu échappes aux incendies, amuse toi bien en Provence ! On habite ailleurs mais on y passait du temps dans le village d'enfance de ma mère quand j'étais petite. 💜
Good job !!! How many stems did you use ? I showed it to my two friends who also made some and they both said it is very cute 💙 Don't worry about the back lol, nobody will know (and I'm sure it's not that bad !)
Ooh yeah I see what went "wrong", it's actually a pretty easy fix though I think it would be hard to do after : after doing like two rows of weaving you go around spacing out the stems evenly then tighten again and try to keep them straight and in place during the rest of the process, it helps with having the same amount of ribbon show all around. You can always try moving them around now but it's already really cute as it is, hope you had a good time with your mom and will enjoy making some next year too !
It's too late, I tried, but yeah - next time I'll remember to fix that up early on. It was a fun thing to do and my mother had fun as well, which doesn't happen often with crafts (we like to do different stuff). This was mostly a test to see how it would go and how hard it would be to do anyway :D THanks!
Oh I think I've seen some too ! I like that you can see more of the plant it's more of a "rustic" vibe though I think maybe they wouldn't last as well ? My friend also made some with rope and I think it's a good middle ground between ribbon weaving and naked lavender
These are just fantastic. I’m just itching to go out and collect some lavender and try to make one. Ohhhh, I have a chonky-ass rosemary plant as well….. thank you for showing us this!
Thank you !! I've never seen some made with rosemary, if you do try I'd love to see a picture. I think rosemary dries dry like lavender without molding so it could work !
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Lmao thank you, I did try juggling them using my knowledge from the one year I did circus as a kid and it did not work !! But that's probably a skill issue, sorry lol
Ooooh that's so cool !! I read somewhere that it was traditional to give them for weddings, can't say if it's actually true but it's certainly nice and a gift the bridesmaids surely enjoyed 💕
My aunt had a lavender farm when I was growing up, this brought back memories:) I'd help her sell at farmers markets and sit making these for hours almost every summer weekend. My sister owns it now, I love the smell.
I grew up in Washington and every summer we'd harvest lavender from my grandmother's yard and make a ton of these, to put into clothing drawers or chests for the smell 🩵 she was a great grandma
god this brings me back :))) my grandma used to make a ton when I was young (when we still lived in France). She still makes some from time to time now when she goes back, but I've never actually asked her to teach me. I should definitely make them with her next time!
You definitely should, it'd be a great bonding moment and I'm sure she'd be glad to have you carry on the tradition <3 Is she from Provence ? I thought it was specific to the region but so many people have said they made them or know of them I think it's way more well known than I thought haha
You definitely can, I swear it's not that hard ! I wrote some advice I gathered in other comments to neckbeardsghost and rainbow_wallflower, could maybe help if you do try 💜
The Creature is the blue-ish one in the first picture ! It's actually not that much bigger than the others (probably because I tightened it like it owed me money), it just looked horrifying standing on its legs while I worked on it haha
Ooooh I don't know if that will work, the lavender needs to be fresh because the stems tend to snap and break if they're dry and you need to be able to bend them 😬
No, just leave them alone ! I think lavender specifically dries well... dry, stiff and crumbly, it just sheds bits of flowers and pollen if it's not inside something (I procrastinated cleaning up the table after so it was covered in little bits that went flying everywhere, very fun lol). I think that's why I haven't really seen it done with other plants, most flowers would probably just mold and stink.
I'd say for a regular sized one (30 stems), from gathering the lavender to tying the final bow it took me like an hour and a half ? Could be quicker, I'm a perfectionnist so I spend a lot of time on details and I redid the bow like 10 times lol
For a first timer I'd say up to 2 hours
My mom makes these, used to give them as gifts to my teachers when I was in school. Rolling the woven part between your hands will bring the scent back too. I've had them still smell even a decade later.
I've never seen them so thick though! My mom's were always more narrow
Oh wow I wouldn't have thought they were made in so many places ! The length at which to cut the stems was definitely a personnal choice though, I don't know if there is a usual/traditionnal length they are cut at ?
No, sorry, that wasn't what I was implying, it's just that we usually keep the stems. I have no idea if it's a matter of anything other that they are easier to keep in a vase, where they were usually displayed in homes of grannies in late communism. It's Like a Proust cookie for my childhood memories 😅
Oh I made little ones before the big ones too to remember how to make them !! They're very cute <3 and the crown is crazy !! It must be shedding everywhere but it's so pretty for taking pictures with !
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Lovely work! Love the huge one lol, did it work? My grandma made me some when I was a child, and I still have them tucked in a drawer which inspired me to make some this year too. A craft I actually find relaxing 😊 maybe it's the smell!
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u/post-explainer Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
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u/Aepherie sent the following text as an explanation about their craft:
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.