AYLUS Oakland Gardens members made chenille stem crafts for a fundraiser on July 20, from 10 am to 1:30 pm, as their 176th event. Our members spent a lot of time learning, sorting, and making these hard-to-make objects.
Our members first sorted and counted the chenille stems by color. There was a large multitude of colors, such as red, white, pink, lavender, blue, green, orange, etc. In total, they sorted more than one hundred of each color. When they finished they removed as many of the lower-quality chenille stems as they could. These chenille stems will be used for crafts with lesser detail.
Once they finished, they folded some chenille stems in half and cut them to get multiple halves. We then folded them a few times and used rulers, scissors, hot glue guns, and straighteners to make multiple identical flower petals. The rulers were used to measure and make sure the petals were equal. The scissors were used to cut the chenille stems and the straighteners were used to make all the petals neater. When we did all of that, we used the hot glue guns to attach them to a green chenille stem, which will serve as a stem. The flowers ended up being multiple colors, such as red, white, and blue. After crafting the flowers, we used makeup to add highlights to the petals to make the colors pop.
In the end, they made multiple flowers, such as sunflower keychains, potted flowers, and rings of flowers. They also made multiple different hairclips and strawberry keychains. Making these items takes a very long time and could be a bit dangerous. Sorting and making them is very time consuming, as it is all done by hand. Their hands can also start to hurt from constantly folding the pipe cleaners. There is also a chance to get stabbed or poked by the sharp ends of the chenille stems. Finally, they could get burned from the hot glue gun and the straighteners, as they reach high temperatures. Despite this, our members continued making the chenille stem crafts. In the end, their hard work paid off, as they made many beautiful crafts.
Our Volunteers:
Sophia Lin: 3.5 hours
Stephanie You: 3.5 hours
Jia Qi Liu: 3.5 hours
Sophia You: 3.5 hours
Hong Hao Liu: 3.5 hours
Selena You: 3.5 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Fannie Li: 4 hours
Karen Liao: 4 hours
Faye Liu: 4 hours
Report Written by: Hong Hao (Alfred) Liu
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
