Feathers from Twine

I took on a challenge this week, trying to avoid going into stores or ordering MORE stuff on-line, to create a DIY with stuff I already had.

I perused Pinterest until I found an idea that required two items that I owned and could immediately put my fingers on.

I needed some twine (or jute) and a wooden bead so that I could create this...

A "feathery" macrame "hang" with a BoHo feel.

Here's how I did it.

I decided right away to use the cotton twine instead of the jute, but either will work.

I also had this box of beads leftover from this necklace project.

I started by cutting an 18-inch long piece of twine, but you could cut it longer or shorter as well.

I folded it in half and created a loop knot at the top leaving about an inch of loop.

I took a geometric bead a strung it on both strands, pushing it up to the top right below the knot.

Next, I decided that I needed 10-inch long strands for BOTH sides of the "spine" of the feather.

I first cut 6 20-inch strands, folded them in half, and sniped them at the fold.

I took the first pair and placed them on either side of the spine.

I needed to create a square knot with these two strands.

I looped the left strand and placed it UNDER the spine.

I then looped the right strand and placed it OVER the spine.

I threaded the tails of the UNDER strand UP THROUGH the right strand loop.

Then, I threaded the tails of the OVER strand UP THROUGH the left strand loop.

Notice how now the UNDER strand loop is on top, and OVER strand loop in on the bottom.

I pulled them equally until they knotted themselves on the spine.

I repeated that same process...

BUT...

I switched the loops this time.

The right loop was now the UNDER and the left loop was now the OVER.

I needed to do this so that the over strand loop (where I'm pointing in the photo above) will be on the other side of the spine.

You can see it here.

My goal was to make the over loops zig-zag back and forth, from side to side, over the spine.

Once it was knotted I slid it up close to the previous one.

I got into a rhythm until I realized that I had two over loops on the same side.

Not a problem!

Before sliding them together I added an opposite over loop in between and then snuggled them together near the top.

At this point, I got the idea to washi-tape down the top and the bottom so it was easier to loop and slide each pair.

For every inch on the spine, I was able to loop 5 strands.

Once I got to 19 pairs of loops I stopped.

I had a length of about 4 inches and that was fine by me.

I knotted the two strands of the spine together at the bottom to keep the loops from sliding off.

I just knotted it twice and added the tails to the other looped tails on each side.

I decided that I didn't want to "free-hand" my feather cuts, so I drew a rough shape on a scrap piece of paper.

I placed it under the "feather," lining up both the real spine and drawn spine.

This allowed me to rough cut the shape I wanted.

Using my brush, I teased out the individual strands of the twine.

It took a while, and I would recommend a fine-tooth comb or a dog grooming tool for efficiency.

Once the strands were fluffy, my feather was a bit wonky and needed a more refined "hair-cut."

So, with just a few snips, I evened out the edges and was done.

I added a doubled length of twine through the top loop to create a tie-on.

I tied it to the water bottle I use to refill my diffuser in my office.

I love how organic it looks and it was so easy to create.

I think this would make a fun gift tag for a present or tied to a cool jean tote.

You can make it with some fun colors as well and school-aged kids would really get a kick out of making some themselves - especially with all different colors of twine.

If you search on Pinterest, you can find many examples to inspire you.

Happy Crafting!