How are you decorating the sukkah this year? In past years, I’ve used plastic fruit, paper garlands, paper flowers and kids’ art to make the sukkah more colorful and festive. Here’s another idea that costs practically nothing and is fun for the whole family: Magen David ornaments made of twigs.
The kids can participate in making these beautiful, rustic stars by helping to find fallen twigs in the yard or the neighborhood. They can also help assemble them because we’re connecting the twigs with string or yarn rather than a hot glue gun.
Now when you look up at the s’chach, you really can see stars, even if the L.A. sky isn’t offering any celestial ones that evening.
What you’ll need:
Twigs
Pruning shears or scissors
Yarn, string or twine
1. Trim six twigs so they are approximately the same length. Mine were about seven inches. You can use garden shears or scissors if the twigs are thin enough.
2. There’s a method to tying the twigs together securely. Start by tying a double knot around the end of one twig with a 24-inch length of yarn, string or twine. Leave an end that’s about two inches.
3. Position another twig on top of the first twig to form an upside down “V. “Then wrap the yarn around the twigs both horizontally and vertically. Tie the two ends of the yarn together with a double knot.
4. Connect three twigs to create a triangle, tying knots at each point.
5. Make a second triangle of the same size.
6. Place one triangle upside down on top of the other and tie knots at points where the twigs intersect. There are six intersections, but securing three points is sufficient to hold the Star of David together.
Jonathan Fong is the author of “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects at jonathanfongstyle.com.
