Thursday, April 21, 2022

Handwoven Wood Veneer Candleholder

Do you ever get excited about working with a special craft material? Well right now my new found craft material is wood veneer edging! You can find quite a few wood veneer edging crafts on Pinterest. Unlike working with regular lumber wood, you don't need any special woodworking skills! Wood veneer edging is thin - making it easy to work with in creating lots of cool items like lanterns, pendant lights, lamp shades, etc.

I started using wood veneer edging while making some Christmas crafts last year! I created a "Christmas Star" which I thought was really cool and very easy to make! Then recently, while going through my craft stash, I came across what was left of my wood veneer edging roll and decided to make something interesting with it! It's always fun when you don't have to spend any money to create a fabulous item!

I came up with creating a handwoven wood veneer candleholder - something that can be used any time of the year, for any occasion - indoors and out! Woven accents are very trendy and popular - and can be used with any style, too! Just look around! Woven accents work in a variety of decors - giving off a different set of decorative vibes that includes modern, rustic, vintage and tropical.

So let's get started with creating a handwoven wood veneer candleholder!

Materials

Real Wood Veneer Edging
Wood Disc - 5" wide
Hot Glue/Scissors
Ruler
Clothespins/Clamps
Light base with remote

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How to

First, measure the circumference or distance around the disk with the wood veneer edging (17") and cut off.

Determine how high you want the candleholder to be - in this case, between 8-9" and cut four 9" strips. Hot glue one strip on the middle edge of the disc at the 12 o'clock position.

Then hot glue another strip on the opposite side - 6 position.

Continue gluing on the two remaining strips on the opposite sides in the 3 & 9 position.

Cut eight more 9" strips and glue on two strips equally between the four strips.

Once all the vertical strips are glued on . . .

begin weaving the 17" strip over and under the vertical strips.

Reaching the opposite end, overlap the horizontal strips just enough to hide under a vertical strip and glue together. Clamp together until dry.

Cut a few more 17" horizontal strips and continue weaving additional rows over and under, gluing the overlapped ends together.

Continue weaving the horizontal strips over, under and gluing together until . . .

you can't weave any more rows on the vertical strips.

Since just the horizontal ends are glued together, the strips can be equally spaced between rows.

After spacing the strips, glue the vertical end strips together with the horizontal strips on the top row and cut off the excess wood veneer.

And finally, add a wood veneer strip over the bottom row matching the end edges and gluing in place for a finishing look (candleholder is upside down in photo).

The finished piece is 5"x8.5"tall.

The open weave allows light to pass through for ambient lighting!

And even though this candle holder is designed for a single pillar candle, the fun thing about its' use is that you can also use a light display base . . .

that's perfect for vase and mood lighting with . . .

multiple colors and modes. How cool is that!

And it can also be used with a glass container or vase to show off

pretty seasonal flowers, too!

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial on making a handwoven wood veneer candleholder! Up next is our wonderful host for the month - Donna @Modern on Monticello, sharing her beautiful Fabric Scrap Wreath! And be sure to check out all the talented craft bloggers and their awesome craft creations for this month listed below!

Easy Homemade Mother's Day Gifts - Carol @Blue Sky at Home

Round Wood Door Hanger w/ Free SVG! - Niki @Life as a Leo Wife

Dollar Tree Wooden Link Chain - Terrie @Decorate and More with Tip

Homemade Lavender Soap - Ann @The Apple Street Cottage

Handwoven Wood Veneer Candleholder - Gail @Purple Hues and Me

DIY Fabric Scrap Wreath - Donna @Modern on Monticello

Easiest and Cheapest Cake Stand - Tammy @Patina and Paint

Upcycled Plastic Canister - Jenna @The Painted Apron

DIY Fabric Lined Piano Bench - Cecilia @My Thrift Store Addiction

Monday, April 11, 2022

Plaster Cloth Egg Vase DIY

Hello Springtime! As a favorite pastime of mine, I'm always looking around sites and other places for craft inspirations - one of them being HGTV Handmade on YouTube. This particular video features the Crafty Lumberjacks making an adorable Easter Egg Display using plaster bandages.

I was quite intrigued with the plaster bandages craft, so afterwards I did a search for the Crafty Lumberjacks' blog site. For a couple of links I got a 404 codes but finally found their blog featuring them making their Easter egg vases on The Chew, a tv show I use to watch, no less! I read the post and looked at the comments - low and behold, I had left a comment - back in 2019! But I don't remember anything about seeing this technique before! Usually, I will write a craft or technique down in my project book if I'm interested in it. But not this time.

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

DIY Acrylic Tray Update for Spring

4:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me Acrylic Tray, DIY Challenge, reverse decoupage 16 comments

Welcome to this month's DIY Challenge, hosted by Terrie @Decorate and More with Tip! In case you don't know about this DIY Challenge, on the 1st Wednesday of each month, a group of talented bloggers create something based on a theme or material that's selected by Terri! This month's theme is Your Choice!

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Handmade Woven Cord Basket DIY

12:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me Sustainable Pinterest Challenge, woven basket, woven crafts 11 comments

I love making woven crafts! I've made all sorts using different types of ribbon, like here, here and here, newspaper - here, here, here and here, macrame cord - here, here, and here - mostly on upcycle items like tin cans, yogurt jars, books, and picture frames. It's so easy to have whatever you're using to go 'over and under' to create a cool look!

So naturally I was excited to see a diy woven Easter basket on Pinterest that I was interested in! Clicking on the link took me to marthastewart.com where I saw the tutorial for making one. The cool thing about making this basket is that it uses a cornstarch container as the mold. And of course I had an empty cornstarch container in my stash just like the one used. And you know I had to make a woven basket for this month's Sustainable Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop hosted by Julie @ @Sum of Their Stories. The blog hop for this month is all about Welcome Spring Crafts!

The original tutorial comes from one of Martha Stewart's contributors, Anne Weil @FlaxandTwine. She is a very creative and talented lady!

Baskets and Spring go hand in hand. Did you know historians believe that the word “Easter” derives from “Eostre,” the pagan goddess of spring and fertility. Drawings of Eostre often depict her holding a woven basket on her arm. Perhaps that's where Easter baskets originated. Nevertheless, we all love baskets and making a woven one is sure to please just about everyone!

I'm sharing my take on making a woven Easter basket based on the tutorial by Anne Weil. I must confess that since very few items are needed to make this basket, I thought it would be a breeze to create! But in reality, I spent more time on it than I do for most of my craft projects. In fact, I found it very time consuming and was not quite satisfied with my results. I'll tell you more about that as we go along.

Supplies

Cornstarch Container (3.5"x3.5")
Macrame Cord (3mm - 109yds)
Yard stick
Masking tape, scissors
Bobby pin/hairpin

Instructions

First off, the original tutorial called for a ball of hemp cord. There was a link to that but it was no longer available and I couldn't see what it actually looked like. When I think of hemp cord, I think of a rather sturdy but thin type of twine which doesn't look like what was used. I went on Amazon to see its' list of hemp cord, but nothing really looked like the type pictured in the basket. Most were thin - although there was a hemp rope, but I didn't want to use a rope. So, since I already had lots of different color macrame cords on hand - I picked out a lavender shade to use.

Next, the instructions said to cut nine groups of four cords, 25" long, taping five groups down vertically, placing each group about 1/2" apart.

Then measure one group of four cords, 30" long for the handle and place in the middle of the remaining four cord group, horizontally and tape down.

I somehow misread (my fault - senior moment) the directions and made 10 - 25" long four cords groups, plus the 30" long group (handle) which I placed horizontally in between two groups on one side and three on the other side. I didn't realize my mistake and left them there in place to weave each group in a over and under pattern mid-way across the vertical group. I must say this extra group of cords didn't crowd the basket shape or weaving. In fact, it helped to fill up space between the groups.

Next, move the woven cord groups close together in the center to tighten the weave. Then take the cord from the original 109 yd roll and lay across the bottom of the horizontal cords at the left side end. Then begin weaving that cord (working cord) over and under the cord groups around the woven cords.

Continue to weave the working cord around the woven group base. After several times, place the woven cords on top of the mold which is the bottom of the cornstarch container.

Continue weaving around the mold - over and under - as before, forming the shape of the woven basket.

As you move around the mold with the working cord, be sure to tighten the cord and pull and straighten the cord groups.

Once you reach the end (top of the mold) leave enough working cord to weave another group (four) over and under into the weaving pattern along the entire height of the woven basket.

To do this, I started out using a darning needle, but it was difficult to pull the cord through the eye of the needle without separating some of the strands of the cord.

To finish the top of the woven basket - first take the longer group of cords and drape across the top of the mold. Then take the group of cords to the right and take it behind the handle cords, draping down in an arc. Be sure to keep the cords together and in line. Then take the group to the right, curving behind and around, down into the first arc.

Continue creating cord arcs as you move around the top. I used a hairpin to group the cords together to insert behind the previous arc. It was easier for me to pull them through that way.

When reaching where you began, tuck the last group of cords through the arc created by the first group. Then begin tucking the ends of the group cords under or behind several of the weaving cords.

I used a bobby pin to insert the group cords behind the weaving cords which were quite tight in places. And I had to tuck each cord under, one at a time. It took me what seemed like forever to do this. I wanted it to be over and done.

And be sure to leave the longer cords out to make the handle.

Since mentioning the handle, the original tutorial called for twisting the handle cords together in two groups. I tried that but the handle seemed too flimsy so -

since I had four cords, I decided to make a four strand spiral knot handle - with the two middle cords as anchors and the two side ones as tying cords. But to do this, I had to lengthen the tying cords. So I cut off most of the left - right cords leaving a couple of inches and replace them with longer (108") cords (tying them in knots to the leftover portion of the previous cords) inside the basket. These would have been the tying cords and the lengths would get shorter and shorter while the anchor cords remained basically the same length. That wouldn't be enough using the 30" length for making a spiral knot handle.

To begin making the spiral knot, take the left tying cord and pass it over the anchor cords and above the right tying cord.

Pass the left tying cord above the anchor cords and through the loop formed by the right tying cord.

Pull on both tying cords to tighten the knot and you've completed a right half square knot. A spiral knot is basically two right half square knots . . .

tying them over and over making sure you are always tying the half knot in the same direction to create the spiral design.

While making the spiral knots, if you twist the spiral knots closer together, a somewhat new look will emerge for a chunky more sturdy design. Perfect to use as a handle!

Measure the finished spiral knot handle to the basket securing the cords inside by inserting them under a couple of working cords and tying in knots, cutting off excess cords. Then trim the ends of the tucked in cords. And then, straighten and flatten the arcs before removing the mold from the woven basket.

I love the look of the basket, but in retrospect, I would use a much sturdier, stiffer cord to maintain the adorable shape of the woven basket. Mine doesn't look like the one pictured on Pinterest or in the tutorial. A stiffer cord would make the weave look much neater, too.