Make a mid-century style chair from a conker, dress pins and yarn
Walking through the park the other day I saw my first conkers of the year…
I love them; how they feel so smooth and shiny in your hand…
I have fond memories of my granny teaching me to make ‘fairy’ furniture from the fallen conkers in her back garden…
See below for how to make one using a conker, dress pins and some yarn!
My granny was very fond of fairies; I used to get a flower fairy book or a reprint of Andrew Lang’s coloured fairy books for Christmas and birthdays.
After she died and we were clearing her things a few years ago, I came across the book Something To Do, and as I was interested in making things, I took it home.
The book is full of things to make and do organised by month.
Only after reading it did I realise the conker furniture was an activity listed under ‘October Indoors’ (‘without spending much money or being a terrible nuisance‘!). Mine doesn’t have arms, but see below for if you wanted to add some…
The book is from the 60s, and although there are still plenty of activity books out there for kids now, I can’t imagine them listing ‘February, that month of sniffles, chickenpox and measles‘; I don’t think it’d get past the sales people!
I also had to look up vade mecum because Something To Do is apparently one ‘for every busy mother’ (fyi – it’s Latin for handbook)
I love this book as it makes every month sound exciting; there is a poem, an animal or bird to look out for, a bit of folklore or history, something to make or cook, games and activities.
Something To Do
Editor: Nancy Shepherdson
Illustrators: Shirley Hughes, W. D. Bland
Published by Penguin as a Young Puffin in 1966
