DIY Twine Shapes for Home Decor | Rainbows, Flower Coasters & More

I've seen twine being coiled into placemats before, but I don't think I've seen twine made into shapes like this purely for decoration, so I thought I'd experiment with this idea and see what I come up with. I also thought the natural look of the jute twine would work really well in my living room, and I'm sure it's neutral enough for most people's homes too.

I hope you like my project :)

- Jute Twine: I used 2 different types for this project. One was a thinner 3-ply and the other was a thicker twine. The thicker the twine you use, the quicker you can make a shape, but I like the more refined look of the thinner twine personally.

- Sturdy Wire: I used 16 gauge (1.25 mm) galvanised steel wire

- PVA Glue & Water

- Plastic Cups

- Cheap Paintbrush

- Non-Stick Craft Mat(s)

- Wire Cutters & Pliers

- Scissors

- Marker pen

- Balloon

- Sellotape (optional)

- A Clear All-Purpose Glue: You need something stronger than PVA glue. I used UHU all-purpose adhesive.

- Woven Fabric like Burlap

Put some PVA glue into a plastic cup and add a little water whilst mixing with a cheap paintbrush. You want to make the PVA a bit runnier, but not watery. Pouring cream consistency, not milk.

This mix has to be able to soak into the twine, but also needs some body as the finished shapes need some strength.

You need to first make a central coil of twine at least 3 cm in diameter. To estimate how much twine you need for this, roughly coil the dry twine into the shape you want. Then cut this length and put it into the PVA glue & water mix.

Make sure the entire twine is soaked, then fish it out with the paintbrush and run the twine between your fingers to remove the excess glue.

Then coil the twine with your fingers, as tightly and neatly as you can. If the shape starts to get too large, you can put in onto your non-stick mat and continue coiling whilst it lies flat.

Place this coil in the centre of your mat and then follow the same steps to add 2 circles around this coil, as shown in the photos. You'll need to create these circles directly on the mat, and each one will need be be at least 3 strands wide.

Also note that the inner circle shouldn't be too far from the central coil, as the wavy line of twine we'll be adding next will be the weakest part of the wheel so it can't be too wide.

So soak more twine and add a wavy line between the coil and central circle. Try and make as many points of contact as you can. It can be a bit fiddly, but try and keep the twine lying flat.

And finally add coils in between the inner and outer circles. Estimate the size of the first coil as you did with the central coil, then use this length to cut more lengths of twine for the other coils. You want the twine pieces you use to all be the same length so that the coils will end up the same size.

Once completed, I like to dab more of the PVA mix onto the twine with my paintbrush, especially at the joints.

Leave to dry thoroughly.

In order to add strength to this shape so that it can stand up, you now need to add some sturdy wire.

With this shape, I made a ring of wire for both the inner and outer circles, and then I used some all-purpose adhesive to attach them. I then added a couple of wire 'struts' between the 2 wire rings.

Leave to dry.

Note: If you want to make this into a placemat instead, you would glue burlap fabric (or similar woven fabric) to the back, then on the front you would use twine to fill in the gaps :)

This one is very quick to do, and to begin you'll need to partially blow up a balloon.

My balloon was very pear-shaped, so I first used some sellotape to try and re-shape it into more of a sphere. This was not particularly successful!

Then just cut a long piece of twine - I didn't measure but it'll be at least a metre - and soak it in the PVA mix. Remove the excess glue with your fingers and wrap the twine around the balloon, tucking in the end to keep it in place.

Try and wrap the twine so there aren't large gaps left and it's applied as evenly as possible. I added 2 lengths of twine to mine.

Leave to dry.

First of all, make a coil in the same way as for the flower wheel, but this time try to make it roughly the size of a mug base. Leave to dry.

Use the all-purpose glue to attach this dried twine coil to the centre of a piece of burlap or similar woven material.

Use a marker to draw a finished flower shape around the outside, bearing in mind what size you want the circle in the middle to be if you want to use this as a coaster.

Then fill in this shape with twine. So first you'll want to add to the central coil until the circle is filled, then you'll need to add an outline to the flower shape.

Fill in the 'petal' areas with short pieces of twine, working from the outside to the inside in ever-decreasing arch shapes.

Add a little extra PVA mix to the twine at the end and then leave to dry.

Once dry you can cut off the excess burlap.

For the rainbow, I started by cutting roughly a semi-circle shape out of burlap. Using burlap as a backing for solid areas is useful for strength but also makes the making process a lot easier.

Add soaked lengths of twine to the outside of this fabric shape, and to the inside, trying to keep everything symmetrical. Make sure the gap between these 2 arches is the same all the way along.

Cut short lengths of twine, all the same length, to fill this gap. Then soak them in the glue, remove the excess and put them into place.

Next, make a larger arch shape out of twine directly on the mat, approx. 5 cm from the burlap shape. Again, try and keep the gap the same all of the way along.

Then fill in the gap with twine coils. Once you know the length of twine you need for one coil, use the same length for the rest so they all end up the same size.

Make sure the twine is all thoroughly soaked with PVA, then leave to dry.

Use the all-purpose glue to attach wire to the outer arch and along the base, plus add a piece joining them together.

Once dry, cut off the excess twine across the base to make it flat.

Make a coil roughly 4 cm across, and then replicate this another 4 times. Arrange them evenly as shown in the first photo.

Make one smaller coil to fit perfectly inside the first 5.

Make larger coils to to fit in between the 5 inner coils.

And finally add small coils in between the previous 5.

You can keep going in this same way (adding coils of the same size evenly around the shape) until it's as large as you want it.

Leave to dry.

Use the all-purpose glue to attach wire pieces in a pentagon shape, with joining struts in between, on the back of the shape, and once again leave to dry.

To make this mini container, I found it easiest to make it in 2 parts.

First, I used a length of twine to make a coil on top of a plastic cup, then I turn the cup the right-way-up so it was standing on this coil, and I wrapped the twine a short way up the cup. If you go too far, the twine will start to drop off the cup.

I left this until the sides were mostly dry, then turned the cup upside down again to give the coil a chance to dry too.

Next, I added more twine, starting from where I ended the last piece, moving up the cup a little further, then going back on myself to make a double layer down the sides.

I finished off by turning the cup upside-down again and making another coil on the base.

Leave to dry, then carefully remove from the cup.

Obviously, you should only use battery-powered candles in this holder :)

And there you go - you've now created a variety of ornamental twine shapes, plus a little candle holder and a flower coaster :D

I hope you enjoyed this Instructable!