Projects With Dowel Rods

There are many different hobby and craft projects that use wooden dowels. Often, wooden dowels are used as supports for projects, but they can also serve as the main crafting material. Wooden dowels can be purchased at most craft stores, and can also be bought at hardware supply stores.

If you aspire to make stacked cake creations, dowels will become an important item in you cake decorating arsenal. Long wooden dowels are used to support the cakes to keep the layers from sliding. To support a layer cake like the pros, stack your cake and then hammer the dowels through the layers with a mallet or small hammer. The dowels will act like large nails and will keep the layers from toppling over.

The basis of any good homemade kite is the dowel frame, because smaller dowels are light and flexible. For example, a Dowel Rod Ceiling Kite is a classic kite that is made with two dowel rods in the shape of a cross. Box kites are more advanced and take many dowels that are attached together to form a three-dimensional rectangle. These dowel frames are often lashed together with light weight string. Fabric or paper is then glued to the frame to finish the kite.

Furniture made from sticks is popular in some home décor stores like West Elm. Many crafters simulate the look of these home décor items with their own creations made out of dowels. Dowels work well because they are made of wood and can be bought in similar sizes, unlike twigs. To create a similar craft, you can slice a dowel into many little round disks using a handsaw. Once you have dozens of little disks cut, you can use them to decorate home decor items such picture frames or mirror frames to give them a woodsy look. This can be done with wood glue if the frame is wood, or with hot glue or craft glue. Once you are done covering the frame, you can paint it, shellac it or leave it the natural wood color.

Mobiles are hanging decorations that incorporate balance in their construction. You can make your own mobile by cutting different lengths of wooden dowels and suspending the wooden dowels from each other using string. You can also hang various items such as bells, pictures and old keys from each dowel for decoration. The key to making a successful mobile is to keep each dowel straight by suspending the same amount of weight from each side of the dowel. When choosing dowels to make this project, make sure to choose dowels that don't bend easily so that the mobile won't crack holding up the items you hang on it.