Ombre Macrame wall hanging....

 ....with a copper pipe heart.

(my valentines project)

Being a nostalgic at heart, I love things that takes me back to my happy childhood in Norway.

And being a child of the 70's I remember very well my mums macramé plant hangers in the windows...Macramé was a craze of the 70's all over the world, and if you are still not sure what I'm talking about, it is the art of knotting.

For years this has been considered a passé art...left to the hippie generation of my parents, but in the last few years it has had a bit of a revival, with artists like Sally England and Pippa Taylor of Ouch Flower creating some beautiful and fresh looking

  macramé wall hangings...They've modernised macramé by bringing in touches of neon and techniques like dip-dying into the art...

It looks complicated, but having been taught a number of boat-tying knots by my granddad as a child, I thought: Lets give it a go!

I found a really nice tutorial from May of Himo Art on A pair and Spare, that got me started...

 ....and once I got going, I found that it got easier and easier as I got used to the knots!

So don't be daunted...this is something YOU can make:

I am going to show you how I made mine, using just 4 different knots...

HERES WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Approx. 50 meters of cotton string/rope (I used 6ml curtain string for chunky-ness)

A dowel

Scissors

measuring tape

Dye+salt (if you want to dip-dye, like me)

masking tape

Paint

brush

+

 

....Some copper pipes.

I wanted to make this my valentines project, and originally I was looking for a macramé heart pattern to incorporate into my design, but couldn't actually find one (I did try making one up, but found it too complicated...this is my first go at macramé after all...) But when I saw this lovely macramé wall hanging, with copper pipes at A beautiful Mess, I knew I could make a copper heart shape in my wall hanging instead. Luckily my friends husband is a plumber, and he kindly donated me some copper pipe cut-offs. I simply sanded them down to bring out the coppery shine again!

Anyway....LETS GET KNOTTING!!

The first thing to do is to cut your cord...You'll want an even number of cords: I cut my 50 metres of cord into 18 pieces at just under 3 metres each...

Double them over, then tie to your doweling using

THE LARK HEAD KNOT:

...Pretty self explanatory...like the picture above!

When you have tied all your pieces of string to your dowel, hang it up on the wall at a comfortable working height....use some cheap adhesive towel hooks, if you don't want to drill a hole on your wall... 

 

The next knot I will show you is the

HALF HITCH KNOT:

 

 The half hitch knot is the most commonly used knot in macramé, and the foundation to most macramé designs...

You are basically knotting one strand around another, keeping the strand you are knotting around tight and working across your row of strings from the right to left...

 

When you have finished this row of half hitch knots, but you find that it looks a bit messy (like mine, above)....simply pull on the string you where knotting around, and tighten the knots....

...then manipulate your macramé and the knots back into shape...

We will be using this knot throughout this design...

The next knot I did, was a

SQUARE KNOT:

Doing The square knot you want to use 4 cords:

1. Bring the right cord over to the left of the two anchor(middle) cords, and place the left cord over the right cord.

2. Bring the left cord under the anchors and through the loop formed by the right cord.(Pull tight and you have now formed the first half of the square knot...but for the purposes of showing you, I have left the knot loose in the pictures above)

3. Bring the left cord over and to the right of the two anchor cords and place the right cord over it.

4. Bring the right cord under the anchors and through the loop formed by the left cord.

5. Pull the cords tight and you have finished the square knot.

Repeat this knot in a second row, like I did.

Then I added a row of half hitch knots (as before)

Next I did a diagonal row of half hitch knots.

When doing this, it helps to kneel down and pull the strings down as you work along...

 Then I added another 2 rows of square knots.

At this stage, I decided to dip dye the ends of my cotton (very important) ropes..

I prepared my dye (according to the instructions on the packet) in a plastic bowl, dipped the ropes in, then lifted tem out again half-way, leaving the ends in...

  

 ...This way gravity will help you achieve that gradual ombre effect.

 

  

I left it for 2 hours, then pulled the rope-ends out of the dye, and left to dry.

In the mean time, I cut my copper piping (using a pie-cutter) to size and sanded them back.

With my copper pipe heart shape ready to go, and my dip dyed rope dried, I continued to knot....

I added another row of half hitch knots at the ends of my diagonal square knots..

 Then straightened the pattern off with a straight row of half hitch knots.

ADDING THE COPPER PIPE HEART:

 

I found the middle two of the ropes, then thread the copper pipes on , like in the picture above.

Then added the copper pipes on either side until it formed a heart shape..

I secured them in place by tying a simple knot under each pipe, then manipulating the knots for the correct positioning.

Next I tightened off the strings by adding another row of half hitch  knots straight across...

 

I then did another row of half hitch knots diagonally across my macramé wall hanging.

The next knot I did was a

SWITCH KNOT:

The switch knot is basically a looser version of the Square knot.

1. Start with 4 cords

2. Tie the first knot like you did with the square knot. Tighten.

3. THE SWITCH: Bring the two outer cords over the anchor cords (The 2 in the middle), so they rest between the two cords. They will now become the new anchors and the previous anchors will be the new set of working chords for the next knot..

4. Tie another square knot over the two new anchors. Tighten.

5. Switch the cords again: Bring the two working cords over and rest them between the anchor cords.

Tie the final square knot. Tighten.

These knots may seem complicated, but will become easier as you get to know them...

The switch knots are looser in appearance that the square knots.

 

I then finished off the switch knots with a diagonal row of half hitch knots, then added another straight row of these to finish off my macramé wall hanging...

I then cut the remaining strings diagonally...

 

Attached some eye hooks to the dowel and threaded some rope through for hanging....and masked off and painted the ends of my dowel...

C'est ca....Voila!

 

I am really pleased with my very first attempt at macramé, even if it is a bit wonky here and there!

I love the dip-dye effect and the copper pipe-heart! 

What do you think??

Is macramé a step too far back in time? Still passé? Or does this modernized version of this age-old craft appeal to you??

Will you give it a go, or does it still seen too complicated?

Please post any comments or questions below!

I love to hear from you all!

xxx

June

Monster high ...DIY artwork for Little miss moo's new big girls room.

So we've finally finished re-decorating Little miss Moo's room: Six months later than we planned, she has finally got her "big girls room"! But before I share the full transformation, I wanted to show you all the new artwork I made for her....

Gone are the teddy's and cute kitty pictures..(See my post about her toddler room)....in with her latest fad: Monster high!!

So I made her two pieces of monster high art for her new Pink walls, much in the same way as I did my Ampersand gold leaf art last week...

But I will show you a quick step by step guide to how I made these using gold leaf and glitter:



Step 1: Make a textured background



 I placed some A3 paper on my work surface, and secured it using masking tape...Then I used the same paint as we've painted LMM's walls with, to tie the art in with her new room décor...

I then used some of LMM's play-dough rollers to add a textured pattern to the paper...

Step 2: The image

Like I said above, LMM is really into Monster high at the moment, so I printed out a monster high image (I added the crossbones for more interest)

Step 3: make some stickers for the gilding



I covered the entire image with double-sided tape, then added another layer of double-sided over the bits I wanted to gild with gold-leaf and glitter....

I then drew out my sticker shape with a pen on top of the tape...

...I then put another layer of double-sided on top of this again, crossing the direction of the tape layers. (Because I wanted to make 2 stickers, but also because this meant it would be easier to transfer the sticker in the next step:

 I transferred the double sided tape (stickers) onto a sheet of baking paper, and put it to the side...

 Step 4: Make a stencil

Going back to the image covered in one layer of double sided tape, I then cut out the image to make a stencil...I basically wanted to make a stencil so that I could easily paint out the shape of the monsters high image in black...

I then placed my stencil on the paper I textured earlier, and dabbed on black paint using a sponge...

Whilst this was drying, I went back to finish my stickers

Step 5: Cut out your stickers

Using a sharp scalpel, I Cut out the shapes of my stickers (Slightly smaller than the stencil, so that there would be a black outline around my gilding...

I then placed the stickers on top of my black painted stencil on the paper...

The stickers will come away from the backing in parts, so I puzzled them carefully together before sticking down...

 Step 3: Add some gold leaf

Peeling away one section of the backing of the sticker at the time, I used a soft brush to gently smooth down a sheet of gold leaf onto the image...

When I had covered the area I wanted (The "skull") with the gold-leaf, I carefully buffed away any excess by using my soft brush in circular motions...

I repeated this on my second picture.

Step 6: Add some glitter.

I got Little Miss Moo to help me add some glitter to the bows:

We peeled away the backing of the bow-stickers, and poured over some glitter...

LMM then rubbed the glitter into the tape, and we tipped away the excess.

That's it: LMM's DIY Monster High gold-leaf and glitter artwork for her new big girls room!! 

 



All that was left to do, was to frame and hang the art...

 LMM is very happy with her new artwork, and proud that she had a hand in making them...

They look great in her new room , as you can see in my Miss Moo's big room reveal post !

 

xxx

June

The Chair.....

 

....The game changer!

 THE EAMES RAR ROCKER

 

Just before Christmas I was contacted by the online retailer One Kings Lane, and asked to do a post about a statement chair in my home...

At the time I thought I'd get an old chair and do it up, but faith would have it that this sparked a big change in my ever evolving taste for design....

 

On our Christmas break in Norway, I spent a lot of time perusing Norwegian interior magazines and discovered some wonderful and inspiring Scandinavian interior blogs, and there was one piece of furniture that kept popping out of the pages at me:

The Eames RAR rocker...

I admit it: I knew nothing about this chair, only that I fell in love with it straight away!
But it was not in my usual taste, and I figured it would also be beyond my reach financially, so I simply put it to the back of my mind as one of those unachievable dreams....

 

 

But it must have been faith, because a few days after we got back to the UK, when I was out doing some guilt free shopping with a fist-full of gift vouchers: There it was!!
...and at a wonderful bargain price!!
My heart started beating so fast, I had to leave the shop to get some fresh air....

Actually I already had about as many chairs as our little home could take...and I knew that Mr would "kill me" if I came home with another chair...So with a heavy heart I left it behind and headed home...

But that night the chair was haunting my dreams, and by the time I woke up the next morning, I had decided: If the chair was still there on my birthday (3 days away), I would get it!! (I figured that Mr could not get angry with me for treating myself on my BIRTHDAY!!!)

So three days later, with my heart in my hands, I went back....and, YES! There it was, waiting for me!!
OOOOH THE JOY!!

My friend gave me a lift back home with my price, and I placed my new soul-mate the only place it would fit, then sat down and stared at it....




No, it wasn't  in my usual taste (my usual taste being oldie-worldly and antiques)....but somehow it didn't look out of place...
In fact, if that chair had feelings, I truly believe it felt right at home straight away!!

I knew then, that this would be the chair that would change the way I thought about décor in my home...



Like I said: I had no idea what sort of chair this was...only that I loved it!!



I loved its simplicity, its curvy lines, the whiter than white plastic(!!) and the aluminium wire base(that reminded me of the Eiffel tower and our honeymoon)...



...I loved the playful shape and functionality of the rockers...



I just loved it!!

But after doing some research through the  One kings lane home décor resource site I realised why this chair had "spoken to me".


The Eames RAR plastic rocker is an iconic classic designed by the golden couple of Mid-century American design, Charles and Ray Eames...

The more I found out about this amazingly creative husband and wife duo and their designs, the more my instant affections for this chair started making sense:

Their names have become synonymous with one of the most important and influential movements within architecture and design, that took place in California between 1930- 1963...
There was a boom of creativity amongst a large group of artist, designers ,film makers and stylists, inspired by Scandinavian minimalism and elements of art deco and art nouveau, that over time merged into a new design aesthetic...




No wonder it appealed to my Scandinavian nature...and I have always had a passion for the geometric lines in Art deco design...

Charles and Ray Eames lead the way and took full advantage of  the development of new technologies and materials during World war 2, and they pioneered  the use of plywood and fibreglass in furniture design.

 

 

The Eames moulded plastic chair was originally designed in metal for a prototype entry to the 1948 Low cost furniture design competition organized by the Museum of Modern art.
In 1950 the Eames' changed it to fibre-glass, but Ray was never  happy with this finish, and unfortunately didn't live to see the matte finish he had envisioned, thanks to the advances of materials like recyclable polypropylene...

The original  was THE VERY FIRST industrially produced plastic chair,
and in the words of Eames Demetrios (Charles' grandson):

"The chair that Charles and Ray were designing, is the chair that's made tomorrow"



The Eames' , true to their Scandinavian influences, focused on usability and functionalism in their designs, and the moulded plastic armchair was a prime example of this: With a range of different wire bases, they designed a chair that was versatile around the home as well as for the office.



My RAR plastic rocker is one of these evolutions of that first moulded fibreglass that the Eames' designed...

Since 1956, the Eames's iconic chairs (like their 670 Lounge chair: THE icon of modern American design) has been produced and sold by Herman Miller, :
And so reads their introduction on the Herman Miller store website:

"Plastic, plywood,Play...The fertile, curious minds of Charles and Ray Eames invented the modern American furniture vocabulary."



So my Eames RAR plastic Rocker symbolises to me,
 not only a change in my décor taste, but also how the Scandinavian sensibilities of mid century design helped influence a change in the way furniture was designed and manufactured forever,
 through  Charles and Ray Eames visions and persistence, making design more accessible to people!



 The Eames' never stopped innovating and making the world a more beautiful and comfortable place...including my front room!

I feel like I have discovered another room in my aesthetic universe...a room that takes me back to a childhood filled with mass produced functional furniture...
...growing up in Norway in the 70's, I have never really appreciated the beauty of the design that surrounded me...
Until this Chair came into my life...

So thank you Eames, for opening my minds eye to the nostalgia of mid-century design...

Have you got a piece of furniture that has changed your perception of beauty and home décor??

xxx
June

 

 

Monochrome Graphic print cushion...

....an Easy DIY

 

Today I want to show a very easy way to DIY your own print on a cushion cover...

You really wont believe how easy this is!

I have had a love affair with graphic prints for a while now, and with the introduction to our living-room décor of the graphic art I made last week, I wanted to update my cushions to compliment it...

So when I came across this little "colouring in" book in Tiger (a bargain at £1!!!), stuffed full of wonderful graphic prints, I felt inspired!!

I chose some prints that appealed to me and enlarged them on our printer....

 

Then I simply stuck the image to my work-surface with some masking tape, then placed a pre-cut (to the size of my cushions) square of fabric over, and tacked it down smoothly using more masking tape...

 

As you can see from the image above, the print shows through the white fabric.

Then I used a ruler and a Dylon fine nib fabric pen and simply traced the pattern onto the fabric..

I found that it took the risk of confusion away if I dotted the beginning and the end of each line first...that way I could quite quickly ,using the ruler, trace over each line with the fabric pen...

 

When I was finished, I covered the drawn out patterned cloth with a piece of cotton and ironed for a few minutes to set the ink...

Then I used my mini sewing machine and stitched the cushion together...

(If you want to make this a really, really easy project, why not buy some plain cushion covers and draw a design on these....and skip sewing all together)

I love this simple make...

...You could even take it one step further, (if you would like to add some colour to the prints) and colour in the shapes in the patterns with some fabric paint.

 

But I liked how by keeping the pattern simple and monochrome , the cushions works like accents to my décor...

...Like this big one with a "star"- pattern...(The little cushion was made using fabric paint that I stamped on in the same way that I made the artwork above)

 

...and this round one, also just made by tracing one of the patterns from my Tiger "colouring book"...

The grey and white chevron cushion I made this morning by simply masking off the pattern on the fabric using masking tape and then painting on some grey fabric paint...

I am really pleased with how these simple DIY cushion covers have turned out...they have given my living room décor a more modern feel, and the sparseness of the patterns on the white cushions have helped lighten our space....

....and all for less than £15 (fabric and the pens + the round cushion fillers)

So keep your eyes peeled for patterns you like, and YOU can make your very own printed cushion covers...

Please let me know what you think of my DIY cushion prints by leaving a comment below...I love to hear from you all!!

xxx

June