How to make a Chimney Sweep Brush

Chimney Sweep costumes come up so much, at various times of the year. Obviously chimney sweeps need a brush! Here is how you can cheaply and easily make your own.

Chimney Sweep Occasions

Maybe your school has had some idea that they want your child to dress up as a Chimney Sweep for Victorian Day. Or perhaps an after school group wants Chimney Sweeps from Mary Poppins or Oliver Twist etc! This may lead you to think how the Dickens am I going to do that?! Or maybe your child just likes dressing up/let’s pretend. Or you want a dressing up costume for World Book Day. A chimney sweep brush is indeed the perfect prop.

To make your child into a Chimney Sweep simply:

Take a white t-shirt (I used the one from PE), a waistcoat and scarf (hat if you want to push the boat out), team with some school trousers (old ones with a hole if you have them), and make yourself a chimney sweep brush.

Here’s how.

All you need to make a Chimney Sweep’s Brush:

• The inner tube from wrapping paper (those über organised for Christmas are bound to have plenty lol).
• A paper plate or simply a piece of card that you can cut a circle out of.
• Newspaper.
• Black paint.
• Sellotape or just generally some method of attaching it all together. I am not sure how easy it would be to staple it together, but would be more secure and less likely to fall apart..

Method:

Simply paint everything black, on both sides and leave to dry. To keep things as cheaply as possible I use an old container (from a curry dish, or a lid of a jam jar and so on) as a paint dish. Next I then use a glass (usually a jam jar again) as a beaker for the water, to clean the paint brush in.

Then attach the circle to the tube (I used sellotape).

Cut the painted newspaper into strips.

Finally secure  the strips to the circle, again I used sellotape. Make sure they are evenly distributed around the edge of the circle.

And that is all you have to it. Simple.

Then maybe grab a bit of black face paint and smear a few streaks on the face to look like soot. Make sure you rub it in to make it look more authentic.

Alternatively, if you wanted it to look a bit spikier you could use black straws.