Making Voodoo dolls can be a lot of fun. It is an activity that elicits laughter and is food for some great and potentially therapeutic conversation among family and friends. Invariably, the stereotypical reasons as to why people make Voodoo dolls comes up, and you have an opportunity to discuss who pissed you off, hurt you, and who deserves a good hexing. What a great forum for a self-help group!

MATERIALS

2 strong sticks
Spanish moss
scrap fabric cut in 2 inch strips, 2 to 3 feet long (color of your choice)
yarn that complements or contrasts fabric
string, hemp cord, or waxed thread
2 beads, buttons, or blackeyes peas to use as eyes
needle and thread in a color to match or contrast your fabric
tacky glue
7 pins with heads in the following colors: red, blue, green, purple, yellow, black, white

DIRECTIONS

1. Make a cross shape with your two sticks. Tie them together with your string, hemp cord, or waxed thread.

2. Take the Spanish moss and wrap it around the sticks, starting at the middle for reinforcement, and going up around the head, down to one arm, back across to the other arm, back to the middle, and down to the bottom.

3. Take you fabric strips and wrap around the moss. Make sure to leave some of the moss showing, such as on the head (for hair), at the ends of the arms, and at the bottom. Secure with tacky glue. You may want to reinforce with a couple of stitches with your needle and thread.


4. Make a face. Take your beads and attach them with the needle and thread for eyes, or glue 2 black eyed peas to the face for eyes. Add a button or bead for the mouth.


5. This is the fun step where you can dress your Voodoo doll. Take some yarn or contrasting material and wrap it where you want it for accent. Dress your Voodoo doll however you like.

If you wish to personalize your Voodoo doll, add some personal effects to the doll by slipping it under the fabric, or pinning it to the doll. You can even cut out a picture of someone's face and attach it to the doll for it's face, if you are so inclined. I have added a mojo bag to the one pictured. To make a mojo bag, cut out a small square of fabric and place a blackeyed pea in it. Tie it closed and attach to your doll. The yellow fabric is for general success.

That's all there is to it!

The poppet is perhaps the oldest form of Voodoo doll in existance. Poppets have been made in the context of sympathetic magic for thousands of years across cultures. There are numerous ways of making a poppet. This tutorial is concerned with constructing one out of leather or fabric.

This tutorial assumes you know how to sew a basic stitch. I like to use a blanket stitch, but this is just a personal preference.

Here's how to make your own basic Voodoo poppet:

Materials:

pattern
scissors
card stock
black and white nylon thread or waxed beading thread
hemp cord
leather needle
regular sewing needle
fabric glue
thin leather or felt
fabric scraps
straight pins
Spanish moss
2-5 buttons
patience & creativity


1. Pick out a pattern and cut it out on card stock.

2. Place your pattern on your piece of leather or felt and pin it to the material with straight pins.

3. Cut out the pattern, leaving about 1/4 inch seam allowance. Repeat so you have 2 sides.

4. Unpin the paper patterns. Cut the leather down the middle of each side (optional).

5. Place the patterns together and sew around the entire edge of the voodoo poppet. On one side of the poppet, sew all the way up the middle.

6. On the other side, starting from the head, sew halfway down. From the bottom, sew halfway up. You should have an opening on one side of the doll where you will put the stuffing. You can leave the feet and arms open if you want. I sewed the hands on mine, and left the feet open.

7. Take the Spanish moss and stuff your Voodoo poppet with it. If you want, you can turn the pattern inside out first. This is entirely optional and depends on how you want your poppet to look. You can also take this opportunity to place any personal effects, papers, or petitions inside the poppet.

I turned mine inside out. When you are done stuffing, it should look like this:

8. Sew the opening closed and tie the feet closed with the hemp cord. If you left the hands open, now is the time to tie them closed also. It looks cool to leave a little Spanish moss coming out of the feet and hands.

8. Decide which side you want to use as the front and sew the two buttons on for eyes. Add a mouth if you want.

And there you have it - a basic Voodoo poppet!

You can even take it a step further and dress it for a specific purpose. Here is one I dressed as a businessman for business success:

To learn how to make your own businessman poppet, go to Planet Voodoo.