Macramé held first place in the craft world throughout the 70s, and everything from plant hangers to jewelry was fashioned from it. The craft has burst onto the scene once again and is making a welcome resurgence in home décor, especially when “bohemian” is the desired vibe.
This decorative wall hanging project allows the crafter to select colors that will work with their space; they could be primaries, pastels, or several shades of the same color. The project also incorporates a piece of driftwood, whose natural beauty adds a dose of ocean serenity to wherever the piece happens to hang. Driftwood chunks are often asymmetrical, which brings an an abstract quality to this wall art. The fact that the pieces aren’t “perfect” is a large part of their appeal.
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Materials
- Three skeins of yarn in different colors
- One piece of found driftwood
- Scissors
- Three skeins of yarn in different colors
- One piece of found driftwood
- Scissors
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Choose a yarn skein in color #1, and cut about 8 feet of it from the skein. Cut these into four lengths of approximately 2 feet each.
1. Choose a yarn skein in color #1, and cut about 8 feet of it from the skein. Cut these into four lengths of approximately 2 feet each.
2. Create a loop in the middle of each length of yarn, and place each piece of yarn on the work surface.
3. Each of the four yarn pieces should look like two placed next to each other, approximately 12 inches long each, meeting at the loop; at the other end, there should be the two ends of the single piece of yarn.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 using the other two yarn colors.
5. Use four pieces of yarn in one shade and, starting with the first one, place the top looped section just over and behind the driftwood “rod.” The ends will hang in front of the driftwood.
6. Take the two ends of the piece of yarn and pull them through the loop hanging at the top of the driftwood piece. Repeat until each pair of lengths is looped to the driftwood. Take care to keep each of the yarn colors grouped together, so one group fills the right portion of the driftwood, one is in its center, and one is placed on the left end.
7. Take the looped yarn length (two ends) on the left portion of the yarn cluster that is hanging on the right section of the driftwood piece in the right hand.
8. In the left hand, take the looped yarn length (also two ends) on the right portion of the yarn cluster that hangs in the middle section of the driftwood.
9. Start about one half-inch down from where the loop is, and tie a square knot with the four ends.
10. To tie a square knot, place the left lengths over the right ones, and wrap them around the other side of the lengths on the right.
11. Cross the right side lengths over the left side ones, pull the right-hand yarn pieces under the other ones, and tighten. A square knot will now be visible.
12. Repeat steps 10-11 to fashion five more square knots below the one that you just made.
13. Repeat steps 7-11, but fuse the left end of the center yarn section hanging from the driftwood to the right end of the yarn section placed at the left end of the driftwood.
14. Now take the four yarn lengths from the middle of each section hanging on the driftwood, which will be the same color, and tie four square knots. Make sure that the first square knot in this series is situated directly below the lowest square knot made from the different colors of yarn. There will be four lengths of the same color yarn in the mid-portion of the middle yarn section hanging from the driftwood.
16. Tie these double yarn lengths into four square knots, starting at the same point as the other lengths that all use the same color of yarn.
17. The piece should have two lengths of yarn on the right and left outer sides that have not been used for tying knots and just hang down from the driftwood.
18. Finish each single length of yarn by tying a simple knot directly underneath the square knots.
19. Trim the yarn length ends with a scissors into a chevron pattern, so the outermost sections are the longest and the lengths get shorter the farther inward their placement is.
20. Untwist and unravel the individual yarn length ends from the bottom of each one up to where they are knotted; these portions will have a “bushy tail” look.
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21. The piece is now ready to hang.