Thursday, July 9, 2009

DECORATIVE ROPE DISH WITH ORNAMENTS

You can make this rope dish and ornaments easily and cheaply.
Materials:
1 roll of sisal rope($2.97 at Walmart)
5' pieces of Jute Twine
4' piece of cotton twine
2 straw bale strings
7" disc of cardboard
Small piece of aluminium foil and piece of Cling Wrap
Assortment of styrofoam balls($5.00)
Wood glue, white glue, food coloring, and amber shellac
Tools:
Scissors, 8" stainless steel bowl, and stapler
Steps:
1. Cover a 8" stainless steel bowl with Cling Wrap and set open side down. Wrap one row of 1/4" sisal rope around large end of bowl, apply wood glue on upper edge of rope, wrap another row of rope around bowl. Continue to glue rows of rope around bowl until totally covered(see 1st photo below).
2. Let assembly set 2 to 3 minutes, separate the bowl and cling wrap, remove cling wrap from assembly, pat inside of assembly with dam cloth to remove excess glue(hold one hand behind the area as you remove glue, assembly is still wet).
3. Set assemble(the top part of dish) aside to dry with open side down.
4. The base of the dish is made the same way if you have a smaller dish for form or you can make a cone from cardboard as in the 2nd photo below, the attached drawing gives measurements of cone. Construct one as shown and work it until evenly shaped.
5. Using smaller dish or cone, construct base of dish as in 3rd photo below. place base open side down to dry(cardboard can be removed or left in place).
6. Assemble the top and base, as in 4th photo below, with a layer of wood glue(make sure to center the base onto the top of dish. When dry apply 2 coats of the amber shellac.
7. At this point the dish is complete and can be filled with fake fruit. I made some ornaments to put in the bowl.
8. In the 2nd photo above the ball on the far left and far right are made by gluing(white glue) straw bale twine to styrofoam balls with a section wrapped around and dying with food coloring.
9. The 2nd ball from the left is a styrofoam ball wrapped with aluminium foil and finished with amber shellac.
10. The small ball 3rd from left is styrofoam wrapped with cotton twine and circled with knotted section of twine.
11. The large ball in the center is wrapped with the sisal rope and circled with a single stripe of the sisal rope.
12. The next small ball is a styrofoam ball finished with amber shellac.
13. The large ball 2nd from the right is wrapped with Jute Twine and circled with a knotted piece of same.
14. These are some options for ornaments for your rope dish, so use these or suit your taste and enjoy your new dish.


















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