There are many crafty businesses that come about for the holidays, but one of the more ones is Demilune Brooms started by Yana Tarr, where she makes her own decorative witch brooms.
The idea to make brooms came about roughly five years ago after a couple of hurricanes came through the area in late September and early October and left a lot of debris and tree limbs in their wake.
For most people, that debris would result in angst having to clean it all up, but for Tarr and her creative mind, she saw it as an opportunity to do something different.
“I’ve always been crafty, and I remember seeing all that debris and sticks in the street and I thought ‘I bet I could make some nice witch brooms out of that with my kids, who at the time were about 10 and three years old. It was something we could all do together as a family.”
The grassroots family fun project quickly captured Tarr’s passion for creativity and next thing she knew she was touring up and down the neighborhood to find sticks that would have the best potential of becoming a witch broom.
“I ended up going absolutely manic that year and made like 30 of them for friends and family, because they were just really easy and weren’t refined at all at that time and it was something that I could just throw together and make a bunch,” Tarr said.
Over the years, Tarr has developed not just her styles but the approach she puts into the process of designing each broom.
“It has just kind of evolved, and by the third year I started doing some pop-up booths at some smaller markets,” Tarr said.
Since then, she has done Riverside Arts Market and recently has focused solely on Comic-Cons coming to the local area.
Part of that evolution in the process, includes the way she goes about sourcing the wood for her broom handles, which she no longer searches around for limbs in the neighborhood, but now she has a deal with someone in Tennessee that grows, cuts and ships the wood to her as blank branches.
“I was putting a lot of effort finding the sticks on my own and then treating them with natural pesticides, debarking them, sanding them, and painting them,” Tarr said. “It definitely saves me so much time and I can count on the consistency of my brooms being there.”
However, one thing that has not changed is how much Tarr enjoys doing it and the reasons she started doing it in the first place.
“We have a ton of kids in the neighborhood, and they all just love it,” Tarr said. “They call me the ‘broom lady’ and my son just loves to brag about how his mom is a witch, and I can’t deny it because I do have a garage full of brooms.”
One of the things Tarr is proud of is that her brooms go far beyond Halloween and the fall months, and she can make custom brooms that people can hang up and enjoy as a decorative piece in their house all year long.
“For example, I had a friend recently reach out to me and ask if I could design her a coastal style broom, so, like aqua and beige colors with seashells or starfish in it,” Tarr said. “I had never thought of doing that before, but I made it and realized how beautiful it is, so I started making more of them. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Halloween or harvest theme.”
Tarr’s company slogan is “a pumpkin lasts a season, but a broom lasts forever,” and that is reflective in the array of decorative styles that her brooms can convey.
Looking to the future, Tarr wants to continue to focus on attending her share of Comic Cons, as she has found that Harry Potter fans are fascinated with what she is doing.
Her selection of various brooms or to place a custom order, go to the Demilune Brooms page at etsy.com.
