This year we decided to create a succah with a very elegant/relaxed feeling by using a combination of cremes and whites, so my first succah craft entailed cutting out a huge number of cardboard leaves which I then painted white. Of course the leaves (and fronds) are not just any leaves, but rather fig leaves, olive leaves, pomegranate leaves, grape leaves and date palm fronds, which have great meaning as these are 5 of the 7 holy species, missing only wheat and barley. And while I did not get around to trying to figure out how to make giant wheat and barley stocks, I have just the place to do it next year, yippee! Cutting out all these leaves took me several days, but in the end it was well worth it as the end result is really wonderful, and I will share that with you soon!
Of course we aren't making any decorations once the holiday starts, but keep this in mind for next year! And keep on reading for some tips......
You'll Need:
- cereal box cardboard and regular corrugated box cardboard, save those huge boxes or pieces of cardboard that protect a large frame
- white house paint (I actually used oil-based white paint for door trim, but don't recommend it as it is such a mess!)
- good scissors
- stock photos of leaves you'd like to create
How To:
- Make one of each type of leaf or small branch to use as a guide for multiples, by drawing the leaf, or tracing right off of your screen, and then transferring to cardboard. The palm frond is too large to worry about precision, just draw it on the cardboard! The fig leaves look especially nice as they were created on cereal box cardboard.
- Use a craft knife to cut out air spaces between pieces on the palm
- Add some flower shapes to the mix if you like, i like them!
- Paint all your shapes, preferably on two sides so that when they blow in the breeze the other side looks good too!
- I assembled mine by gluing and taping the vertical rows you see here to thick macrame string in both creme and light pink, and then I tied them all to a large branch, and voila a wall hanging for the succah!
- You can of course choose to assemble this however you see fit, but I think it looks great as a large piece if each vertical string is dedicated to one kind of leaf.
- Enjoy!