Last year, I set out to make something similar to Jennifer's Wildflowers and Marbles' Father Oak. Which actually means I convinced my poor mother and father to do it for me! LOL! We were all so thrilled with him! So, after a year of having him as a regular part of our family, I'm finally getting around to blogging about him.
We call him FATHER BIRCH, for obvious reasons *wink*. He is quite mobile and moves around the house, sometimes resting on our Sacred Heart altar, sometimes on the children's area where we have various liturgical things set up, and sometimes as the centerpiece on the dining room table. These are some pictures from previous posts in red for Palm Sunday and Pentecost:
Here he is with all his vestments, made by the very willing and talented Grandma Charlotte:
We keep all this in a shoe box that is accessible and the girls can change the vestments whenever they want or according to the feast day colors.
The chasubles (violet, green, white, red and rose) are 17" long, 6.5" wide. They are made from a satin material, which was hard to work with, but that's what I found at the fabric store for practically nothing. Felt would probably be the simplest to use. We put gold ribbon around the outside on some just to make them more fancy, but not necessary.
The blue stole is for Marian feast days and it is felt with gold ribbon attached. The red stole is a ribbon with a material backing to make it a bit more stiff. And, the white stole is white material (same as chasuble) with gold ribbon.
Here he is on a Marian feast day:
And, a close-up of the wooden underneath that my dad made:
He is 9" tall and 7.5" wide. The pattern that we based him off of is at Wildflowers and Marbles that I linked above.
We've been thrilled with Father Birch, and how it's incorporated the liturgical colors in our home. And, as always I'm extremely grateful to my mom and dad for their hard work and putting up with my nonsense!
I posted a picture of ours. It did require the use of a drill, but no sawing (except a hand saw to cut the dowel down to the right height). Thanks so much for sharing yours and if your father wanted a little side business, I would order one from him in a heartbeat! My name is Charlotte, after all!
Posted by: Charlotte (Matilda) | June 17, 2009 at 10:36 AM
He looks great.
I want a Grandma Charlotte, who clearly channeled some sort of super power to be able to sew chasubles made of satin! Those are beautiful!!!!! Is she still speaking to you after that? lol!!!
I love seeing all the variations of the Priestly Fraternity of the Forest. :)
Posted by: Jennifer Mackintosh | June 17, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Wow, what a great way to keep the Liturgical Year in mind! Last year I made wreaths of silk flowers in liturgical colors (including blue) to use as centerpieces with pillar candles. The post is at http://thinkaboutthesethings.blogspot.com/2008/03/liturgical-wreaths.html
Since then I've started using novena candles (the tall colored glass ones) instead of pillars, as they are easier to manage (and it's easier to find them unscented). I also found colored tea light holders that we use on our prayer table.
BTW, did you know your post's title is "Father Birth" instead of birch?
Posted by: Barbara | June 18, 2009 at 04:56 AM
This is so awesome! Please have them make more of them so you can sell them to people like me who have no hope of conning anyone into making something similar! Please!
Posted by: Kari | June 19, 2009 at 06:01 AM
A great idea! I am inspired.
But why do you use blue and no violet or purple? In Canada and the US blue is not a liturgical colour last time I checked (except for the possibility of a blue stole for Marian feasts, as you pointed out).
Love your blog.
Posted by: JP | June 20, 2009 at 05:55 AM
Oh Suzanne, you rock! That is AMAZING! I think Fr. Birch is one of the most fun ideas I've seen in quite some time! Whoo hoo!
I got rather burned out over homeschooling last year, and all the liturgical celebrations fell by the wayside. I was too tired and too uninspired to make the effort. You just provided a little spark to hopefully get me moving in the right direction again!
Posted by: Ouiz | June 21, 2009 at 08:17 AM
Great post, loved it when I read it, love it now. I wasn't able to comment before today but had to return to let you know it's a hit over here. :-) Blessings to you!
Posted by: Renee | July 17, 2009 at 08:56 PM
Very cool~
I love the vestments...I too am Catholic. I have 6 kiddos and homeschool on and off!
Blessings,
Georgiann
Posted by: Georgiann | July 21, 2009 at 10:18 PM
Love this post! I featured this on Catholic Icing yesterday :-)
Posted by: Lacy @ Catholic Icing | January 11, 2010 at 01:44 PM
Through the earth, and that is love is the treasure!
Posted by: Jordans Sneakers | July 09, 2010 at 06:13 PM