Saturday 16 February 2019

Macrame plant hangers


Hello! I have been totally getting into macrame at the moment and thought I'd show you some of the plant hangers I've been making!


The first plant hanger I made was at a class I attended and it's made of some very retro chic mustard coloured braided rope. The rest of the plant hangers I made at home and I used undyed 3mm three-strand cotton rope; I bought two spools of 250m of rope so I had quite a bit to use up! 

I will preface this post with saying that while I kept some notes as I made these hangers, this post isn't meant as a tutorial. Please do feel free to use my notes to make your own hanger but just keep in mind that I'm new to this craft and so I might not explain everything in really enough detail if you're just starting out as well.





The mustard hanger uses a 6cm ring and has four sinnets. The teacher for the class cut the rope prior to the class so I'm not sure how long each rope was at the start. After looping the rope through the ring I did a gathering knot which was 5cm long and then 5 square knots. Leaving a 10cm gap, I did 13 half-square knots to make a spiral. I then left a 13cm gap and did 3 square knots, followed by a 6cm bead, and then another 3 square knots. After another 13cm gap I did a Josephine knot net, left a 5cm gap, did 3 square knots, left another 5cm gap, did a 3 square knot net, and then finished with a 5cm long gathering knot. The tail on this hanger is about 40cm long.

The pink pot is from Kmart and I'm currently using it to grow succulent babies! 





I made this plant hanger for my mum, for her birthday this month. This plant hanger is based on the "honey bee plant hanger" from Macrame: the craft of creative knitting for your home by Fanny Zedenius. 

I used four 360cm ropes for this planter, which is a little longer than Fanny's pattern suggested. I didn't use a ring like Fanny did so to make the top loop of my hanger look a little neater I covered it with larkshead knots in a sort of buttonhole clasp design and then did a gathering knot underneath that. I did 17 square knots, then two picot square knots, 6 square knots, another two picot square knots, and then another 6 square knots. I left a gap of 10cm and then tied Josephine knots to make a net. Another gap of 10cm is next, and then a 6 round 4-ply crown knot, and lastly a 5cm gathering knot.

In Fanny's original pattern, there are two sets of six picot square knots with beads in the middle. I did two sets of two picot square knots per sinnet to try and suggest the look of dragonflies instead. The rope I used wasn't ideal for the picot square knots as the rope untwisted a little on the picot "wings"; next time I would use a braided rope. But I did learn how to make the four-ply crown knot to finish off this plant hanger and I really like how it looks!

I didn't realise this pilea peperomioides had a damaged leaf until I saw these photos - opps! The pilea and the pot are both from Bunnings. 













This next plant hanger features a black quartz pendant and black metal tube beads. I really like how it turned out! To attach the pendant I added it to the middle of the cords as I tied the gathering knot; I also looped the cord of the pendant into a u-shape so that it isn't able to just slip out of the gathering knot.
 
This hanger also has 4 sinnets and starts off with a wrapped loop and a 5cm gathering knot. The black quartz pendant hangs 15cm below the gathering knot. I did 25 half square knots to make a 13cm spiral then left a 10cm gap. Next I did alternating square knots and beads, finishing with another square knot (4 square knots and 3 beads total). After another 10cm gap I did 8 half square knots to make a 5cm spiral. I skipped another 10cm and then made a single square knot net. I left a 6cm gap and did another single square knot net. I then finished after another 6cm gap with a 5cm gathering knot and a 14cm tail.

I purchased the Marble Queen pothos from Waldecks and the pot is from Bunnings. 

 

This next hanger also has 4 sinnets and starts with a wrapped loop. I did a 4cm gathering knot and then 25 half square knots to make a 12cm spiral. After a 15cm gap I did an overhand knot and then 5 square knots. I left an 11cm gap and did 2 square knots to make a net, left another 11cm gap, and did another 2 square knots to make another net. I finished off with a 1cm gathering knot and left a 20cm tail.

I believe this cute white and pink pot is from Kmart and the Aglaonema Lipstick is from Bunnings.
 

This amethyst pendant plant hanger was also for my mum as her favourite stone (and her birth stone) is amethyst. I found this amethyst slice pendant at the craft store and I just knew it would be perfect for my mum's birthday present. I made this hanger up as I went along and I didn't make any notes, but below is what I can gather from the photos! I think I started this hanger with 450cm ropes for the long cords and 180cm ropes for the short cords.




For this amethyst pendant hanger, I started with 11 lengths of rope to make 18 cords for the majority of the hanger and 4 shorter cords to attach the pendant.  I did a wrapped loop and a gathering knot making sure that the 4 shorter cords were in the middle. I did 30 half square knots with the 4 shorter cords to make a long spiral and then left a 5cm gap. I threaded the two middle cords from this group of four through the loop on the pendant in opposite directions and then folded them upwards to lie along the 5cm gap. I then covered up the gap and secured the loose ends of the spiral cords with a gathering knot.

With the other cords, I made four sinnets of 18 square knots to begin with. I didn't record how long the gap between this and the next knots was, but then I did a square knot, threaded on a bead, and began another spiral. I did 25 half square knots to make the spiral and then left another gap before making a net using a single square knot. I left yet another gap and then finished off with a gathering knot.

This Syngonium (Podophyllum, I think) started off as a cutting from a friend and the pot is from Bunnings.
 


This little baby hanger is one that I made at a crafternoon with some friends; isn't it the case that small things are always cuter?
 
I believe we made this hanger with 2m ropes. I didn't wrap the loop for this hanger so I just started with a 2cm gathering knot. I did 3 square knots, left a 17cm gap, did 8 half square knots to make a 5cm spiral, left a 4cm gap, made a square knot net, left a 5cm gap, and then finished off with a 2cm gathering knot. The tail on this hanger is uneven and is between 10-15cm.

The grey ceramic pot is from Kmart and the pilea is from Plant Haus.
 

 



This plant hanger is my first attempt at a two tiered one. I used an amethyst pendant on this one plus some pretty copper metal tube beads. The ropes for this hanger were 5m to begin with and I used 12 ropes to make 24 working cords which I knotted into 6 sinnets.
 
This planter has a wrapped loop and then a 5 cm gathering knot. The amethyst pendant hangs 20cm below the gathering knot. I did 28 half square knots to make a 14cm spiral and then left a gap of 12cm before doing a square knot, adding a copper tube bead, doing another 6 square knots, adding another bead, and then another square knot. I skipped 7cm and then made a single square knot net. I left a 6cm gap and then did another 3 square knots. I then did a 3cm gathering knot and made 12 half square knots to make a 9cm spiral. I left an 11cm gap before doing a square knot, adding a copper tube bead, doing another 6 square knots, adding another bead, and then another square knot. I left a 7cm gap and then did a single square knot net and then left a 6cm gap and doing 3 square knots. I then finished off with a 5cm gathering knot which left a 42cm tail.

The Pink Princess Philodendrons are from Bunnings and the pots are from The Reject Shop.



I have another macrame project almost finished and ready to show you, but I hope you liked seeing these ones today! Also, if you manage to decipher these notes enough to make a hanger of your own, please tag me on Instagram (I'm teaandcraft there too!).

- Lisa xx