Has the neon bandwagon stopped at your house? I hopped on a while back with these:
Then it rolled through again and I made these wrapped branches.
My wrapping streak started on one of countless trips to Home Depot to pick up supplies for who knows what project around here. I spotted rolls of masonry twine in the string/rope/chain section. (Ah, that’s right, we were shopping for cable to install our shade sail.) Well hello, shiny neon delight!
I knew what I’d do with it, and I thought I was being all clever using a non-traditional material from the hardware store. Such a crafty genius. But I’ve since discovered that you can buy neon embroidery floss at Michael’s, so my twine is hardly a revolution. Maybe a year ago before neon was plastered all over everything you can think of. What can I say? I like to latch onto the fading tail end of a trend, long after the entire world has embraced it and everyone is about to overdose on a good thing…or a used-to-be-good thing….No wait, I’m pretty sure neon is still good…Right?…For like five more minutes…
If you’re not neoned out yet and want to make some electric colored branches of your own (or if you prefer another color trend and want branches wrapped in, say, mint or coral), here’s the lowdown.
(1) Gather your supplies: branches, string, craft paint, scissors, and the magic ingredient: double-sided tape. Some good tunes or TV would probably help, too.
(2) Trim branches to your desired size and shape, but don’t over do it. I had to ditch some pieces that I’d denuded until they were barely distinguishable from a chopstick. That’s no good. You want your branches looking like branches, so be sure to preserve some of the forks and twiggy little bits (technical terms). They amp up the contrast between the natural form and the outrageous color, which is what makes this project interesting anyway. At least to me.
(3) Style trimmed branches where you intend to use them–in a vase, laying on a shelf, whatever. [Hmm, I think that's the first time I've ever used 'style' as a verb. I feel like such a poser. Do people still say poser?] You want to see how your branches fit and work together (or don’t) before you spend time wrapping and wrapping.
Gather more branches than you think you’ll want and leave some untouched until you get to this step. That way if you find that the curve of one of your branches just isn’t going to sit right or that you’ve trimmed them all a little too short, you’ll have more stock to choose from.
(4) Paint your branches a matching or similar color to your string. Here’s why.
See all those dark bits of this unpainted branch peeking through? You may be left with this since it can be tricky to cover all the joints and tips of your branches. Disappointing. I was not feeling that look, so I cheated. And you can too. Just paint your branches first to minimize contrast.
See? Same branch, same little bits are exposed, but they’re way less prominent. Of course you can skip this step if you prefer the aesthetic of some natural branch color peeking through (or if you’re lazy — hey, I get it).
(5) Tape up. Double sided tape is the secret here. I planned to buy spray adhesive to coat my branches, but impatience got the best of me and I already had double sided tape on hand. It’s probably for the best since I always end up with a sticky disaster when spray adhesive is involved. (Seriously, what is the trick there?) Besides, the tape allows you to work in smaller segments which means you can easily stop and start if necessary. And it was quite necessary in my case, as you mothers of toddlers might guess.
So add a piece of tape to one end of your branch. It probably won’t stick very well until you wrap it into place. That’s why you want to work in small segments. Use tape pieces that are long enough to keep you from adding more every two seconds, but not so long that they get in the way if they start dangling. I found that two to three inch pieces worked well. Also, you don’t need to wrap your tape around the branch; just run it along one side.
(6) Start wrapping! You want to end up at the bottom of your branch or whatever the most discreet point will be (e.g., hidden in a vase or behind a tchotchke) since it’s easier to make a starting point look good than an ending point. That last little tail of string may stick out at the end. (Unless you’ve figured out a more elegant solution than me, in which case please share.) Here’s how to get started. (Please pardon the blur.)
Lay the end of your string about a half inch or so along the length of your branch (stuck on the tape, of course), then loop the string over the tip of the branch before starting to wrap around and around. As you wrap, you’ll secure and hide the cut end of your string. Then just keep wrapping and wrapping. I found it easiest to spin the branch with one hand while guiding the string with the other; I did not pick up the roll of string.
When you get close to the end of one piece of tape, add another. Then keep wrapping. And wrapping.
(7) When you come to a fork, run your string and tape out to the far end of the twiggy branch and wrap your way back to the main branch.
As you wrap your way down to the main branch, you’ll enclose the string you ran to the end. (And running that string straight is better than twisting it around a few times like you see in the picture. I undid that later.) When you make it back to the main branch, you may have to play around a little to find a wrapping pattern that covers the joint adequately without getting too lumpy and overdone. This is where the craft paint makes life easier. Having a layer of color there will help you stop obsessing about covering every last fragment of branch and allow you to just move along darn it. If you’re anything like me, that is. After you have zenned out on the repetitive wrapping motion for a while, you’ll come to the end of your branch. Tape the end of your string in place. Congratulations. Repeat for any additional branches. Then just style those babies and stand back to admire your ingenuity. Nature discarded these branches and you made them beautiful. Well done.
PS — Making wrapped cups or vases (like the pink ones at the top of this post) is even easier than wrapping branches. No pesky forks or twiggy bits to worry about. Just throw down some double sided tape and get wrapping! I put tape all the way around the top and the bottom and just added a couple vertical pieces.
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Linking up with The 36th Avenue, Bowl Full of Lemons, DIY Showoff, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Fox Hollow Cottage, Addicted 2 Decorating, and It’s Overflowing.