Have you been seeing these amazing Polish paper chandeliers popping up on intsagram and pinterest lately? A few years ago I started looking into straw crafts, mostly in terms of Swedish Christmas decorations. You know what I mean? Those straws shaped into stars and tied with red thread. Gorgeous. The farther I searched into the straw crafts and traditions the more I knew I wanted to try them. (I tried straw stars. Hard.)
I've had Polish Pajaki on my list of crafts to try for some time now, and last weekend I finally had a few hours to give it a try. The first one came together pretty quickly, thanks to this awesome tutorial from the one and only Martha Stewart. It really helped to read the whole article, get all the materials out and choose a color scheme before starting.
I made this one first, using tissue paper that I saved from my daughter's birthday party.
I think it took about 3 hours, start to finish, to make one Pajaki. Here are my tips and suggestions:
Buy straws at IKEA or Costco. IKEA didn't have any straws when I was there, but I found these bright ones at Costco for about $5 for a huge box.
Cut all the tissue paper circles ahead of time and make sure you have enough of each color to complete whatever pattern you have chosen.
Martha Stewart Fringe Scissors are the bomb. They cut through multiple layers of tissue to make those tassels and were so easy. I bought mine years ago and never really used them, but they are great for this project.
Use a sturdy yarn or thread for the base of the pajaki. A stiff cord would be nice too. I used a large tapestry needle and it would have saved time to be able to put the yarn through the straws and tissue without a needle.
I improvised a little bit on the second pajaki. My daughter wanted hers to be mostly purple and we didn't have any purple tissue, so we painted some egg cartons and used them for the flowers. Anything goes!
I followed the same shape and style for the second chandelier. Next time I will change things up a little bit. Maybe make it two-tiered? Maybe more pom pom and tassels?