Hello! Last week for my Creative Challenge I tried something I haven’t done much of before and that is macramé, motivated by a bag full of jute twine bundles that I found at the thrift store the other day.
The whole bag cost $2.99 Cdn, not much more than you’d pay for one spool of thin jute cord like this. It contained premeasured bundles of cord, in various colours, which appear to have been prepared by someone for a class in beading or maybe even macramé, although I now know this might be a bit fine for most macramé projects. But, that is all to say that, if you like making things, check out the thrift store for supplies. That same thrifting trip, I found another bag that contained different yarns, including one complete and pristine skein of pure alpaca wool that is still available today at $18 Cdn per skein, while I got the whole bag for $2 total.
The choice to try making an owl harkens back to when I was a child and my mother was given, what I thought was, a most spectacular gift of a large macramé owl wall hanging made from thick rope. Although it smelled strongly of barn, I though it was so cool. I have memories of standing in front of it and tracing the individual strands of rope as they traveled through the various knots. Well, that was for as long as my mother could tolerate having that stinky thing hanging in the dining room. I’m not exaggerating — that thing must have been made from rope that had previously been used to rein in farm animals. I’m not sure what became of that owl but the memory of it lingers on.
Thankfully, the twine I found at the thrift store smelled fresh and brand new! I used two of the bundles to make the owl, following this Youtube tutorial. It is intended for beginners, which I am, but I still found myself undoing and redoing sections. There is no talking in the video, so you learn by seeing. I slowed the tutorial down to the slowest speed that Youtube accommodates (you click the little gear symbol below the video to change the setting). All in all, it was a fun learning experience and I like the result.
The tutorial calls for much thicker rope than what I used, so the resulting owl would be quite a bit bigger. Mine turned out to be a cute tiny size that will be perfect to incorporate into vignettes. That said, now that I know how to do this, I think I’ll try it again but with thicker rope.
Thanks for looking. If you’re on a creative journey this year, happy trails. I hope you’re having fun with it. xo loulou
