They are having a "winter" Dress up day each day of the week this week. Monday was "A Christmas Carol" day and she was going as Tiny Tim but didn't want to carry around our wooden crutch all day and went with Scrooge instead.
Day two was "Frosty the Snowman" day. She asked me if we still had our "corn cob pipe" that used to be a bubble blower they would sell when I was a kid and I found one and bought it to show my kids at some point but I think I got rid of it thinking they wouldn't never use it so I did a short search and couldn't find it.
As you know, I have been super sick since my surgery and haven't been thinking very clearly as most of the infection is in my head. Princess Five had on her "thinking cap" however and she remembered we had this "cob" microwave corn cob in the cupboard and just never got to using it.
She asked if I could make her a "corn cob pipe" with the cob. You know if you read this blog, I like a challenge so I pulled out my power tools and went to work. 
At first I tried on the thinner end and tried to "drill" a hole using a drill bit. It broke off. I tried cutting into it with the tip of a knife but split the cob. You really have to go with the thick bottom end of the dried cob as it holds together better than the thinner top end. 
When you are cutting the dowel for the length of the pipe, make sure to give extra length as you are going to glue part of it into the cob and they are also going to have some in their mouth or into the snowman that you may use it on so add length for that when measuring how long to make the "stem" of the pipe.
To get the cob cut, using a saw, knife etc has you moving it back and forth and knocks off kernels of corn so I wouldn't suggest it. I tried it and lost many kernels. Using a dremel tool with a cutting tip worked wonders but did leave some charring on the top as it melted some of the sugar in the corn but I thought it made it look more realistic as a pipe would have black on the top anyway. 
To make the hole for the dowel, I mentioned that drilling didn't work. I tried several tips and the one that worked best for me was a graduated bit with sharp edges that looks like a fan blade in a way.
I asked Princess if she wanted the "stem" painted black but since she wanted to use it in her mouth, we thought paint wasn't the best option. I thought about using a black Sharpie marker but also, putting it in her mouth wouldn't be good so I just took a nail file and sanded the dowel down a bit to make it clean for her mouth and we put it in a baggie to keep that clean for when she wanted to use it. 
On the spot where I drilled and lost a few kernels of corn, I just glued some back into those spots and let it dry overnight so it wouldn't have any "bald spots" of corn. If you are going to use this on a snowman or outside for any length of time, you will need to "seal" the corn with a spray of clear coat varnish, or shellac so that the moisture won't "re-hydrate" the corn and ruin it.
If you actually want it to work, drill out a small center of the cob and use a thick straw that you may find on one of the kids tents or another type of thicker straw. You could drill out the center of the dowel if you are ambitious but she didn't care that it worked so this was great for us. 
One thing her best friend did was to cut out large flannel buttons and pin them to the front of her white sweater which I thought was cute. Princess let her borrow her "top hat" for part of the day as well. Aren't they just adorable~! I am so proud of Princess that she is still confident enough to dress up when maybe 15 kids in the entire school participate some days. I am blessed with a happy confident Princess and I LOVE HER!
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