How to Make a Witch's Broom

This Witch's Broom was made using scraps and pieces of left over Deco Flex Tubing that I had in the shop. I really like when you can find a use for left over pieces so that nothing goes to waste. The broom was easy to make, probably took me about an hour from start to finish. Sorry but I had problems with my camera after I started the project and haven't been able to recover the initial photos. I started with the cardboard tube from a 21" roll of deco mesh, black and orange ribbon and some hot glue for the broom handle. I covered the end of the hollow tube with a piece of ribbon and then started at the opposite end wrapping the ribbon around the tube, use hot glue. Trim off any excess pieces on the ends. Once that was completed, I cut 18" lengths of Poly Deco Flex Tubing in lime green, orange and black. I wound up with about 47 pieces. Had more of some colors, less of another. The green Christmas ornament you see in the back ground of the above photo, was to be the base of my tree. I started with a 6" Styrofoam ornament and cut it in half using a knife with a serrated edge. Then I hollowed out a hole that was about the size of the broom handle. Turned out later that the 6" ball was too large and I wound up using a 4" ball instead. The Deco Flex Tubing was positioned about 1" or so away from the distal end of the broom handle (the end that will be going into the Styrofoam base). A rubber band was wrapped around the handle base twice and pieces of the tubing secured under the rubber band with the longer ends pointing toward the upper part of the handle. Position the tubing well underneath the rubber band so it won't pull out later. Better to have it under there too far, than not far enough. This is how it looked when I had placed all the pieces of tubing underneath the rubber band. The tubing actually comes to the end of the handle, I wanted to be sure it wouldn't pull out in the next step. Take two zip ties or cable ties and position one close to the distal end of the handle and one just about where the rubber band is. I didn't remove the rubber band. Tighten them slightly and double check to see if they are fairly evenly spaced and none are too short. Then tighten the zip ties and cut off the excess ends. Turn the broom straight up now and let the tubing fall down like a mop. I rechecked placing the handle into the cut Styrofoam ornament. Had to hollow the opening out a little more for a good fit. As I said earlier, the 6" ornament I had cut in half was too large, so I used a 4". Slicing through a Styrofoam ball isn't as easy as it sounds.....and it's messy. Position it flat side down and do any trimming you need to do to see that it sets flat. Cut a small piece of cardboard about the size of the ball or just a little smaller. I just used a square piece. The hole you created to stick the handle in, shouldn't be cut all the way through, but hot glue will melt it through. So, you need the cardboard as a bottom. Next you're ready to place your band around the tubing. I smoothed down the tubing and placed a rubber band about the point where I wanted to secure the tubing tightly like a broomstick. The other rubber band down lower on the tubing was just to help control them and keep the out of the way for a bit. I had to put two zip ties together to go around the broom. Tighten and clip off the excess. Broom ready for finishing. I wanted to make it so that it would stand, or hang. If you wanted to omit the step of inserted into the Styrofoam ball it would still look fine, just wouldn't stand alone. I wanted to cover up the plastic zip ties, so I used hot glue to attach a piece of lime green glitter strip garland. This glitter strip garland comes in a flat roll and is much like a plastic belt covered in glitter. You can just cut long strips of it and swirl on to your Christmas tree.....it has many uses and comes in several colors. All finished! You could add more trim such as a bow, spiders, bats....most anything Halloween. I tied some clear fishing line around the handle as a hanger. The overall size of the broom in its standing position is about 21" and to then end of the tubing about 33" The grandkids love it))