The Story Stick- Keeping A Record of the Ordinary Days

A story stick is a piece of wood or a rod used by cabinetmakers to record the dimensions of a project  on site and is then taken back to the shop to construct the project. Not being a woodworker, it's a bit hard for me imagine how it's used so here is a link at WiseGeek.com that might be helpful to you cabinetmakers out there who want to ditch the tape measure.

There are Native American Talking Sticks, used in counsel, and I found this article at The Call of Story about recording and sharing stories and this looks like a fun thing to do. I'm imagining things tied in with the yard- seashells, washers, little twigs, keychains, who nows what treasures you could find.

But we didn't know any of that last summer when my kid started her story stick. It was a spontaneous idea that popped to the surface as she sat on the bench drawing on her latest stick treasure. We're hikers in our house and are always on the look out for a good hiking stick.

I did a quick Internet search and didn't find anything quite like this but that doesn't mean it's not out there. You adapt it to your needs. Find a nice sized stick that feels good in your hand when you hold it. Carefully strip off all of the bark and clean off all the dirt and tree-clingy things.

When you look closely at the story stick, you see that it is covered with small drawings. Every evening my little storyteller drew a picture of something she did that day, using a basic black Sharpie----

Sitting at the picnic table reading.

Fencing class.

(Someone is being unsafe without their mask!)

New horses in the field.

Extra time allowed to play on the Wii.

A nice sunny day.

The dog kept running away so we had to tie him up.

One day my daughter came to work with me and helped the patients during a craft group.

Changing the sheets on her bed. That's not such an unusual thing but this day we flipped the mattresses too.

The new puppy barking at the old dog.

We bought a new cabinet for the TV.

Um, yea-- something about driving Daddy's truck but they were both being vague and sheepish about this one.

And on it goes- a trip to Barnes & Noble, pitching the tent, roasting marshmallows, something about tribal Indians in the Amazon (our dream-fantasy trip is up the Amazon River).... just the ordinary things that we do from one day to the next. I tell my daughter that we need those ordinary days to keep us calm and steady.

Once the Story Stick was full of stories, my daughter coated the entire thing with Polycrylic, using a foam brush.

We used Polycrylic because it was what we had on hand, left over from a previous project. It is low-odor, dries quickly (for sealant) with a nice clear finish, and is water-soluble. Polyurethane would work just as well, probably even Mod Podege (I would suggest the Outdoor flavor).

Make sure you get your sealant into all the little cracks and dimples.

Let your stick dry- check the label of the sealant for drying time.

Next- add the shazaam, those elements that make any project really special. In this case we added ribbon and pony beads. Shells, twigs, washer and bolts, jingle bells, anything that can be tied to a ribbon would work nicely.


It's all about letting your imagination run wild.

Last step- tie your ribbons to the top of the stick. This stick had a nice nubbin' from a branch to hold the ribbon and keep it from sliding down off the bottom. You may need to cut a notch, fire a staple into it, hammer the ribbon down with a thumb tack, whatever works for you. It looks nice to have the ribbons at different lengths when you tie them on.

And there you go- ready to sit around the campfire telling stories.

Which makes me think of an upcoming post--- S'Mores.