Take A Pinecone And A Tambourine…

I love Godey’s Lady’s Book, also known as Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book. This was a ladies’ publication that enlightened American women from 1830 to 1898 about fashion, crafts, household hints, recipes - with a bit of sheet music and fiction thrown in. It really was a precursor to the Ladies’ Home Journal and Good Housekeeping and their ilk. It was published by Louis A. Godey in Philadelphia; it was first edited by him and later by the writer Sarah Josepha Hale (author of “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” among other things). Here is a cover from 1850:

The crafts are from the Christmas 1887 issue. The authors boldly address a problem that a lot of us have had (or have right now): “What To Do Twigs, Cones and Acorns.”  Yes, what to do? When our kids were younger we had quite a storehouse of this sort of thing in the basement - to be treasured forever, of course. But there were always so many! And there’s a limit to how many pinecone-dribbled-with-glitter-glue Christmas ornaments one can (a) interest anyone in making  and (2) fitting onto the Christmas tree.

The authors of the Godey’s article say it perfectly: “Unless you have given the subject some thought you probably have little idea in how many ways the above can be utilized.”

No kidding.

So here are two craft ideas I had not seen before. The first involves making a basket out of a tambourine - assuming that you have a few odd tambourines in the basement, stored near the pinecones. First off, you have to gold the cones, twigs and acrons and put them out on a board to dry.

Then you add a wire handle to the tambourine. You cover the wire with “ribbon or chenille cord.” Then you make holes in the side of the tambourine and weave ribbon through them. To the ribbon, you will sew gilded acorns, suspended by loops of silk thread which you “run…next to the cup of each [acorn].”

The other thing that you might like to do is to drape some cones over a jug, and use a cone as a stopper. Here is a nice picture of the result. The authors say that you will be so excited by the gilded cones and acorns that “you will want to fasten a cluster on every fancy article you make…it would not be strange if your friends begged for duplicates.”

Actually, I think it would be a little strange. But if they do, I have plenty of pinecones and twigs and things to use up. Now I just need a few jugs and tambourines.

The fabuous 1850 Godey’s cover is from the equally fabulous New York Public Library Digital Gallery. Perhaps the fellow on that cover is going off to hunt down some twigs, acorns and pinecones. He certainly has a big enough bag.

Collection Guide:The Picture Collection of the New York Public Library Digital Image ID:818582 Digital Record ID:704202 Digital Record Published:10-28-2005; updated 1-16-2008 NYPL Call Number:PC DESI-Ame-18