How To Build A Faerie House by Autumn

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 

Originating on islands off the coast of New England, building faerie houses is a family tradition that dates back for generations. Tucked in the hollow of a tree, under a rocky ledge or as the centerpiece for a flowerbed, faerie houses are small structures made entirely from natural materials you can find right in your own garden. These whimsical abodes can be built from twigs, bark, leaves, stones, feathers, seashells, dried flowers or husks.  The only rule is not to harm living things – or the fairies won’t come.



1. Plan out your faerie house. Observe and adapt ideas from woodland cottages. Faerie houses can be round and short, or skinny and tall- such as a tower.

2. Draw a realistic blueprint on a piece of paper of the main structure of your faerie house. Remember, it needs to be physically possible to construct this. However, decorations to your faerie house can be improvised.
 
3. Find a base structure such as milk carton or a birdhouse. You can also build one with cardboard or wood.
 
4. Gather your materials from the woods or your garden. They need to be dried natural materials because hot glue won't stick to damp or green woods.
 
5. Build your house; you can use cardboard, wood, or other materials. Glue them together using a hot glue gun or perhaps wood glue. It may be too costly or time-consuming to make your whole house out of clay, but oven-bake clay is great for turrets or windows. They come in many useful colors. You can add towers by using paper towel tubes, toothpaste boxes, or whatever else your imagination thinks up. Assemble your house on top of some sort of move-able platform.
 
6. Adorn the house with your findings. Once you have made your structure, you can decorate it with doors, vines, etc. Rustic and natural features will seem more realistic. Pebbles can be used in walkways or used to make a stone house. Birch tree bark has a beautiful look and you can use both sides. Don't forget to include landscaping!
 
7. Create an inside world for the fairies also. If you cut out the back of it, you can wallpaper the inside with natural materials, leather or natural paper. Either you can buy some inexpensive doll furniture or you can make your own out of twigs or clay:

    * Gather some dry twigs, both skinny and thick, from your backyard. Cut a couple pieces to the right dimensions for a table (about 4 inches long and 1 and 1/2 inches wide) and glue them together, forming a picture frame effect. When this has dried, lay twigs across the top and glue them to the frame. Now rest some table legs upward, on the underside of the table, and glue them carefully, so the table can stand on its own.

    * Clay furniture is much easier to make but does not look as rustic. There are no real directions, just carefully mold some air-dry or oven-bake clay into furniture.
 
8. Admire your finished faerie house and place it in the garden or the house. Keep it in a quiet , secluded spot away from pets and toddlers.


 

Faerie Houses can take many forms and can be created in many different places.

Find a quiet place away from roads or busy pathways. The base of a tree or the side of a rock could be just right. Close to the ground is usually best. Sometimes you may find a special place in the low branches of a tree or bush.

Look for building areas in woods, beaches, meadows, and especially your own backyard! Use only natural materials to build your house – nothing artificial.
         

Sticks, bark, dry grasses, pebbles, shells, feathers, seaweed, pine cones and nuts are just some of the materials you can use. A faerie house built in the woods will look different than one built at the beach!

Be respectful of plants that are growing. Try not to disturb plants that are still living, such as ferns, mosses and flowers. Fairies are careful not to harm anything that is growing.

Many faerie houses look so natural that they are almost hidden. Have fun building them everywhere, in every season, and enjoy all of your special visitors!



    
The Faeries' Rules
   

1. Faerie Houses should look so natural they are almost hidden. A location close to the ground is best.

2. You should use only natural materials. Dry grasses, leaves, sticks, pebbles and pinecones are just a few examples of materials to choose.

3. Be careful not to use or disturb any of nature's materials that are still living, especially flowers, ferns, mosses and lichen. Faeries do not like to disturb or destroy anything that is growing in nature.