Monday, April 30, 2012

"Spring" Tassels



I have been eying some trampoline springs at the Habitat Restore for some time.  I liked the shape and feel of them, but nothing came to mind.   A few weeks ago I saw tassels made from large bolts on Market Nine Home and immediately thought of those springs.  I finally went back and purchased the trampoline springs, a small bag of teeny screws, nuts, and washers, and a partial roll of wire. ( I ended up not using the wire.)

I selected small washers and nuts from the bag.   I cut slender hemp twine approximately three times the length I wanted.  I randomly tied the nuts and washers along the hemp with the heavier ones on the ends.





I did not care about conformity as you can see.  I decided that six strands doubled would be enough for the tassel.


Here are the six strands folded in half.



Here is a close-up of the strands.



I painted the trampoline springs yellow, turquoise, and a dark blue-green.  Then I distressed them by dry-brushing them with white and adding a antique gold glaze over the paint.  I sealed with a satin varnish after rubbing off some of the paint. 

It was at this time my husband walked through (actually he hobbled through - he has back spasms) and asked " Did you just take something rusty, paint them, and then made them rusty-looking?" 

To which I replied, "Of course.  I AM a rust goddess!"





As I waited for the springs to dry, I printed some vintage photographs of children courtesy of Karen at The Graphics Fairy.  I have been wanting to use them - they are so cute and I love old photos. I painted around the edges with a Sharpie gold paint pen, used my craft scissors to cut them out, and threw some glitter on them just for interest.






For the front door I used raffia and the twine strands to make a tassel.  I attached a photo of a little boy with his cello. 
(Yes, my front door is distressed red on the outside - right in public!)







Those of you who follow my blog know what is coming next - torn cotton ribbons.  I did not stamp these since I was tearing them into 1/2- inch strips.  Yes, when you tear them this small there are a lot of loose threads.  Just keep running the ribbons through your hands until most of the threads come off.  I don't obsess with getting them all.  Then I simply use the normal way of making tassels - cutting a piece of cardboard the width you want the length of the tassel, wrapping the ribbons around until you like the thickness, tying a string around the top, and cutting across the bottom.  I used matching ribbon to wrap around the top to secure the tassel.  Then shake, shake, shake to make the tassel fluff out.  I slid the hook end of the spring through the loop on the tassel and attached the photograph to the top hook.  I am currently using the tassels in the pantry on the cabinet doors.






















I like the contrast of the little girl wrapped in a winter's coat on a "spring" tassel. The spring is turquoise and the tassel a pink calico.




The yellow spring sports a turquoise tassel and a photo of a girl and her cat.  (By the way one of the cats - Azalee - has just discovered the tassels.  They seem to be excellent cat toys!)

















Yellow tassel on a dark blue-green spring with the boy and his cello used again.




Well, I have accomplished several things this weekend - primed a few tables and drawers, made tassels, and found time to squeeze in some grocery shopping - peanut butter on saltine crackers was getting too boring!  Just kidding - we did take-out.

Stop back and browse again.  See y'all! Follow Me on Pinterest 
Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special
The Graphics Fairy
Sweet Anne Designs - Sweet Sharing Monday




It's OVerflowing

Tip Junkie handmade projects
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The DIY Dreamer

/>

1 comment:



  1. trampoline springs are for the Safety of jumper; these are required in case of jumper falling over the spring area.
    Various new options for pads are made shock absorbent along with being highly dense, these options are designed such that they do not absorb water.
    While buying these, one should make sure that,please visit

    trampoline springs

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy reading all of your comments and will always answer with email. I will try to track you down if you show up as a "no reply" commenter to let you know. Friends are like that!