Tobacco Stick Flag

While searching in my Dad's barn, I found a pile of century-old tobacco sticks, gnarled from weather and use...and perfect. I quickly shimmied up the rickety old latter up to the hay loft and threw a bunch out the loft window, onto my truck bed below. A flag seemed the perfect project for these old warhorses, perfectly sturdy, perfectly southern, perfectly American. 

Ok, now for the how-to. Very simple, really. I started with 9 sticks, painted 5 red, 4 white. The red ones started out as blue (oops), but then quickly got a coat of red on top. I LOVE the way it looks, the blue peeking out, highlighting the grooves, bends, gnarles in the wood. The white, I brushed a coat of Americana craft paint over with a foam brush, leaving some wood to show underneath. I blocked off a square and spray painted that blue. For stars, I tore white rags and tied them on, in an alternating fashion, three on each stick. I took another stick and sawed it in two pieces, arranged the painted sticks on top, drilled pilot holes and screwed in the screws. I made sure to use mismatched screws for that eclectic feel. That's it people! SO SIMPLE and CUTE! 

Tobacco Stick Buttons

My dad and I made these buttons today from an old tobacco stick. He cut and drilled, I sanded and polished. Like an assembly line. I love the wood grain and the rustic feel. Also, the history behind the half century old oak. They were used on my Granny and Poppie's tobacco farm, year after year, stacking the tobacco for dying in the barn loft. The sticks are hard and weathered from use, so each button is unique in shape, width and texture.

They are for sale in my Etsy shop. $.75 each. Measures 1" By 1" approximately.