You know, blogging isn’t easy (I’ll be posting a more dedicated topic on this in the future). There’s some stiff competition out there with such wonderful bloggers doing such extraordinary work which makes me really happy and motivated! You constantly need to be coming up with creative ideas that are entirely your own and yet still remain relevant to the current trends which is a wonderful push in the right direction. And this, dearest readers, is where I got the inspiration for this adorable mini Hanging Rope Planter.

I know, I know – ANOTHER PLANTER??? The world has enough planters, I agree. But, as mentioned, you’ve got to stay on top of the trends but add a little *something* to make it different, to make it stand out, and hopefully, inspire you all to try it yourselves. And planters are HUGE right now, which is great – the world may not need another planter but sure needs more tending to plants! Also – air dry clay – my fave!! This planter combines two trends actually – the hanging rope planter, and the rope coiled bowl. Fun!

As usual, my DIY is stupid easy (that should really be my tagline by now, no?) and you can make a few at a time – perfect for gifting or keeping them all to yourself! I prefer the latter ;)

DIY HANGING ROPE PLANTER

 

INSTRUCTIONS

01. Roll out some clay to about 1cm and drop into the bowl. Push down evenly until you’re happy with the thickness and the top is level. Then, using the back of your paintbrush, push holes at even intervals through the rim, about 0.5cm down. Allow to dry in the bowl.

02. Once the bowl is dry, remove from the disposable bowl and sand down any rough patches. You may also want to go through the holes again with a pin and remove any blockages. Then paint on a few coats of paint and allow to dry. I didn’t paint inside the bowl, since you won’t see it anyway. Using your rope and glue, guide one long strand along the edge (don’t cut it – it’s easier to wind around if it’s still on the spool). By the way, can I just admit how much I covet a hot glue gun?! If you’ve got one of those bad boys, use it! (Husband, are you listening..?)

Go over the rope layer again and again until you’re happy with the height. I went around twice on the first batch of rows before adding my embroidery floss (see next step) and then went around three times to make it look more even with the layer of ceramic.

03. Thread through your embroidery floss in the colour of your choice (how sunshiney happy is this yellow though??). Go over the ropes and through the holes until you’ve gone full circle. Cut the floss and tie a knot. You can see in the above photo I kept the floss quite loose while threading so I could tighten and adjust it once I’d gotten to the end. Cut off the excess. (Also – how cute is my new gold tipped needle?? ADORE!! But I digress…)

04. Moving onto the next rope layer, continue gluing and sticking down the rope like in Step 02 and adding another layer of embroidery floss as in Step 03, only this time you won’t be threading through the holes, but between the rope. Keep repeating these layers until your desired height.

NOTE: On the last layer of rope, in a quadrant, leave 4 evenly spaced areas unglued and thread the floss underneath these areas. Tie off the last bit of floss and tuck the last bit of rope inside the bowl, gluing it down. To help the rope ‘handles’ stay up, stick two paintbrushes through the holes while the glue dries on the rest of the rope. Eventually they’ll hold up on their own.

05. To make the handle ropes, thread long strands of rope under each glue-free spot. Turn the bottom end of the rope over onto itself, glue and tie embroidery floss around and around to secure. Glue to finish. Do this for each of the four handles.

06. For the top of the ropes, tie together forming a long loop. Go over the knot with more embroidery floss and glue to attach.

And that’s it! Cute, right? They’re perfect for air-plants or a little succulent inside a small plastic pot. These add such a spot of sunshine to the room – such a happy, bright little vignette :) I hope yours bring you as much joy! Happy DIY-ing!

♥ Dani