Camel Garden Stake {Tutorial}
Camels have had a long history in the United States and this garden stake in the shape of one is a great way to introduce this, as part of Arab American Heritage Month, to my girls.
They first arrived on May 14, 1856 to Texas from the North African countries of Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia, along with other Mediterranean countries. The Army needed to improve transportation in the southwestern US, which most observers thought was a great desert.
One of the most famous camel drivers, Hadji Ali, had a Syrian father and a Greek mother. He is one of the first known Arabs to help settle the American west.
Pulling out our favorite tool, a cookie cutter, we decided to make a camel garden stake to honor Hadji Ali and his camels this month.
I decided to use it for my sage plant outside since it’s the most pudgent and people ask when they walk by “what is that smell?” I thought it might be nice to let the people know that are also curious, when I’m not outside to answer.
Supplies
Sculpey clay
Roller
Brown Sharpie
Cutting mat
Camel cookie cutter
Metal kebab skewers
To cook: cooking pan, foil and oven
We started by conditioning our clay, per manufactures instructions and rolled it out thinly on the cutting mat. (You can also cheat a little and use a roller machine, which we did.)
Use our cookie cutter, we pressed it in the middle of the clay.
We carefully took off the excess clay and laid out the kebab skewer on the cut out camel shape.
We flattened some out some extra clay in our hand and laid it on top of the metal, making sure to seal it down well. We carefully picked it up and placed it on the foil covered cookie sheet. We cooked it in our oven per manufactures instructions. We also made sure to have all our windows open, just in case, for ventilation.
We let our stake cool for a few hours and then used the Sharpie to write out our herb.
Now our camel garden stake was ready to go outside.
If you enjoyed this camel craft, try making these
Freezer Paper Camel {Tutorial}
Or stop by A Crafty Arab on Pinterst for other fun ways to learn about the Arab world.
