Have you ever found those vintage rattan placemats when you were out thrifting? I grabbed one a couple years back, not really sure what I was going to do with it. I have used it as a photo prop, and on the table during the holidays for hot casserole dishes.
But for a while it's just been sort of...there. I thought I could maybe do something with this. Then I forgot about it. It got shoved away until I started cleaning and purging stuff. When I brought it out again I had an idea to do something cool with it. I searched some of the higher end stores like One Kings Lane, Anthropologie, and Urban Outfitters to see if they had anything like what I had in mind, and Anthro had some that came close to my vision
Here is the piece I'm going to upcycle:
I will be using some clothesline from Family Dollar, jute twine, funky beads, paint, painters tape, a piece of card stock, and coffee. To drink yes, but it has another purpose here!
(I'm going to coffee stain some of the clothesline so it's not all that stark white.)
Now that I have everything together, I'm ready to craft.
To start, I'm taking my clothesline and deconstructing it. It has this center core that I want to take out. You could set it aside for a future DIY if you wanted, though I'm not sure what you could do with it.
Once I have that out, then I'll be soaking lengths of the rope in coffee. I found using hot coffee works best, as the heat sets in the stain a little better. Wring out the ropes without rinsing. After soaking them for about an hour, leave the rope to air dry. You could also use a heat gun or hit it with a hair dryer to set that in. Here are some samples I did to see if it would work.
Time to wrap the edges. I'm going to start with the coffee stained rope, wrapping it around the very edge layer, securing the end with hot glue. My starting point is based around the design and what I plan to do with the bottom. I wrap with that rope until it gets to the cross "stitches", for lack of better term. Then I'll use white. And so on with that pattern (think pie slices) until I get about 3/4 of it wrapped, leaving the bottom exposed.
I sketched out a design in my notebook that I want to replicate, so I'll use a piece of chalk to do a basic sketch and then lay out my painters tape to mark off the larger areas to paint. In other places, it will be free-handed (this ought to be good).
Now here comes the fun part. For the bottom, I'm going to do a combo of the tan and white, and I'm also going to make some "feathers" from jute twine to hang on here as well. I'm taking 4 pieces of tan, folding them in half and looping those through so i effectively get 8 strands. Repeat on opposite side.
(pic)
Then white next, this time 4 pieces doubled for 8 strands. Again, repeat on opposite side. Fill in remaining space with the rest of the tan, I have 6 pieces.
On to the feathers. I found a tutorial from Little Bit of Calm and Crazy on Youtube on making feathers. I know there are others out there but I am working from her video.
I measure out kinda where I want my feathers to fall, and cut 3 pieces of jute twine that will get doubled, so making those long enough to get the length I want. I shove all the rope up out of the way under the mat, and use those bits for this next part. Looping it through the same way as the rope, one in the middle, and two spaced evenly on either side. These are the spines of the feathers.
Next, time to get all the little twine bits cut. These are the strands that will make up the feathery part. Figure out how wide you want the thickest part of your feather, and double it. You could even go a little more so you have some wiggle room, as you'll be trimming it into shape later.
Now cut enough strands to get your desired size. I cut out 20 for each one, (remember they'll be folded in half) Then you take two strands, lay one (folded) under the "spine". Take the second strand and loop the ends through each other.
Now switch the sides. If your bottom loop end was on the left, now do it on the right and repeat the process.
Continue till you have your desired length. I ended up adding more to get a bigger "feather"
I'm cutting and gluing a little feather shape on the back just to stabilize it and help it take shape. I'll lay a strip of glue on the "spine" first, then flip it back over and glue the strands in place where I want them to lay. Then I trim the sides into that shape but not flush to the card stock, leaving a considerable margin.
Finally, I took my funky beads, threaded some rope through those, and tie the ends. Hot glue the ends to the back for the hanger. (The twist-tie was from when I hung it for the before picture)
Here's the final product!
I'm really kinda digging this wall art! I've never been into the boho vibe, but it's on trend right now and this one was a super cheap way to create a unique piece. All told I think I'm only in this about 2 bucks, if you break down the cost of the mat and all the supplies (rope, paints, twine, tape) by use.
Have you found an item that you were able to turn into art? Send me your photos!
You can find the video on my YouTube channel!
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