Good Luck Horse Shoes Craft
Popular at weddings and St. Patrick's Day parades, the horseshoe is a powerful symbol of good luck. With its instantly recognizable curved shape, it has overtones of strength derived from the strength of the iron and the association with the horse. Horseshoes are a common sight nailed onto cottage doors, or as silver trinkets hanging from charm bracelets and necklaces. The simple, distinctive shape can be used in practically any medium to create your own good-luck token.
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Horseshoes and Luck
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Horseshoes have been considered lucky for centuries. No one knows the true origins of their power as talismans, but legend has it that the evil spirits that disrupted household routine were afraid of iron and could be kept out of a house by a horseshoe nailed over the door. Opinion is divided on whether the shoe should be hung as a U-shape or an arch, but most people believe that the shoe should be hung as a U-shape in order to catch and hold the luck.
Weddings
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For an unusual wedding gift, clean a horseshoe and file off any sharp edges. Paint the shoe with two coats of silver paint, then paint the bride's name on one side and the groom's name of the other. Add the date and the word "Married" along the curve of the shoe. For a more upmarket version, have the shoe professionally silver-plated and engraved, then mount it on a plinth.
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Greeting Cards
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Good luck cards often carry the picture of a horseshoe. Make your own card by tracing the outline of a real horseshoe, or by drawing a stylized horseshoe onto metallic card and cutting it out. Stick it onto a folded piece of card and add a good luck message. Build up a 3-D effect by making several horseshoes from plain card and gluing them on top of each other, then adding the metallic cut-out as the final layer.
Fabric Crafts
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Make a horseshoe brooch as a good-luck talisman. Cut two circles of green felt and sew or glue them together. Cut a horseshoe shape from gray felt and glue it to the center of the circle. Sew a safety pin to the back of the brooch. Alternatively, make a bookmark from a thick strip of felt with gray felt horseshoes glued on, or embroider horseshoes in metallic thread onto a handkerchief or spectacles case.
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References
Resources
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