Zen Garden

This one -Making a Zen Garden- has been a long time coming!

I’ve wanted to make one of these for years, but wasn’t sure how to make the rake…

And then Donni (of The Magic Onions) made one out of sticks!

Um. lol. What a revelation!

We have a few wooden boxes floating about our house for just such a porpose. Actually, the first purpose was always toys, but I hang onto such things with an idea always in mind…

This particular box had paint and markings all over it, so I sanded it down to it’s more natural -and more tranquil- form.

I had some special sand that I had gathered from a favorite spot, Moon Lake, a few years before.

On to the rake! We have lots of little parts, just as I am sure you do. I found a wooden square stick that I thought would be just right for the rake handle.
I dug into a little box with assorted shapes and sizes of little pieces of wood
and then cut little bits off of a skewer for the rake’s tines.

Next I drilled a hole large enough to poke my square handle into,

and then drilled the holes for the tines.

(I would suggest that unless you can drill something perfectly straight and evenly -unlike me- that you allow yourself a bit of wiggle room – drill the holes just a touch bigger than your tines so that you may line them up as straightly and evenly as possible.)

Placing a tiny bit of hot glue onto the end of each tine, I put them and the handle into the holes in the rake.

Add a few treasures to your box,

and ’tis done.

Aaaah.

For a beautiful natural stick version, see The Magic Onion’s Zen Garden.