ThriftCrafting: Witching on a Budget

Green Man mask

Merry meet.

Beltane celebrates life at the peak of spring. The earth is bursting with potential, passion, vitality, joy and fertility. It’s when Flora, the May Queen falls in love with the young Oak King, also known as Jack-In-The-Green and the Green Man, and they consummate their union.

During celebrations, you often see men wearing a mask of green leaves. They can be made of dyed leather, papier mache and clay. Elaborate ones can cost more than $200. To prepare for your ritual, consider making one for $4 from the dollar store – or for free if you have the materials on hand.

I started with a blank mask I picked up at a tag sale last summer for 25¢, but you can sometimes find them on sale at craft stores. I picked out three kinds of flowers – each with different leaf shapes – and some ivy at the dollar store. The ivy turned out to be too big, and was never used.

Remove the leaves and the plastic piece that shapes them around the stem. Cut most of them apart, but leave some together.

I used a glue gun to attach them, overlapping randomly chosen leaves until the entire mask was covered.

That’s all there is to it. It took less than half an hour, making it fast and easy as well as thrifty.

Merry part.

And merry meet again.