No interiors photo seems complete at the moment without the addition of something woven. Be it placemats, laundry or storage baskets, the trend is dominating homeware magazines, Pinterest and Instagram.
We particularly love the woven bowls we're seeing in all shapes and sizes, from large fruit bowls to small jewellery dishes. Some people have even been hanging a selection of woven bowls as wall art (we implore you to do a Pinterest search ASAP).
The trend has filtered down from designer to high street, where there are some lovely bowls available to buy on Etsy, Trouva and The Little Market.
But they are on the pricey side. Luckily, though, we've found out how you can dupe the look of woven bowls, and other lust-worthy woven objects, using rope.
Buying a two-tone rope means the weaving is already done for you: the result looks intricate with no effort. So here, without further ado, are three woven things you can make using just one £5 rope.
Materials
You can find woven rope available to buy cheaply in most hardware stores and even supermarkets. It may be branded as washing line, mooring line or climbing rope – ignore it all as it’s going to be your beautiful new bowl! Choose a rope no thicker than about 6mm; any thicker and it becomes hard to mould into shape.
You can buy just about every colour imaginable – from the plainest cream to the jazziest yellow – but we used this pink and white rope from Homebase, £5.24. We also tried black and white.
Choose a dish to model your bowl around. We used a Pyrex dish but any cereal bowl or round dish will do.
Strong glue, £1. This glue is perfect for this project; it’s extra strong, fast-drying and dries clear.
For the earrings: Pair of hooks, 99p
DIY Rope Bowl
How To
1. Place your bowl upside down on a flat surface.
2. Using the nozzle, place a thin line of glue about 15cm from the end of your rope. You don’t need to use a lot of glue, the less the better.
3. To start the first and tightest coil, fold the end of the rope in on itself in the centre of the bowl. The aim is for the glue to bind it with the next line of rope. Again, you want the minimum amount so it doesn’t spill out.
4. Twist the rope around itself with one hand, using the other hand to keep it down flat. Pull on the excess rope to make it slightly tighter if needed.
5. The glue is fast-drying and holds the rope together while you continue the next section. We only glued 15-20cm at a time.
6. Continue until the ‘flat’ bottom of the bowl is complete. If you place one hand flat on the top of the bowl, the rope should follow around the curve of the bowl nicely. Remember to pull gently on the excess rope to ensure it’s tightly bound.
7. Continue around the bowl, rotating and gluing.
8. We stopped 3 inches below the top of the Pyrex dish, so as not to make the sides of our bowl too high. The glue held our bowl together really well and was already beginning to dry and harden. If you did feel yours needed a little more support, you can place glue in-between the layers once coiled.
9. Using fabric scissors, neatly cut off the end of the rope. Add a small drop of glue to the end and pinch the rope between your fingertips. This will stop any fraying.
10. Leave your bowl to dry for an hour. It should be hard to the touch and with some gentle persuasion, come off the bowl. This is why sparse use of glue is best.
11. Should any glue be left on your bowl, we can confirm this comes off in warm soapy water!
DIY Rope Coasters
How To
Once you have the technique down, these are a doddle.
1. Follow the same instructions for the bowl, working on a flat surface.
2. Stop when your circle gets to 4 inches (11cm) in diameter.
3. Repeat another three times, to complete the set. Leave to dry for 40 minutes.
DIY Rope Earrings
Rope earrings are officially having a moment. These are perfect for summer, and that colourful holiday selfie.
How To
1. Use the exact same technique, stopping when your circle is 2.5 inches (or 6cm) in diameter.
2. Use scissors or tweezers to open the circle on the earring findings, and simply hook these at the top centre of each earring. Close the circle with scissors to secure.
The total cost for one bowl, four coasters and a pair of earrings = £6.23. Now that’s a bargain of a craft project!
Model: Jasmine at Savalas Models
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