Make Your Own Nature Tapestry!

If you follow me, or anybody, on Pinterest, you'll know that wall hangings are huge right now. Weaving is such a cool and technological art and can be done super inexpensively, like here. I made this tapestry last weekend when we were out camping for Joel's birthday, and I was even able to bring it and hang it on the wall at home, and the best part- I didn't have to buy an expensive loom, I used just nails and the ground to create the framework for this wall hanging.

SUPPLIES:

For this project, all you need is a couple common camping supplies, and a bunch of random stuff you find in nature. I went on a hike to gather supplies, it's basically a crafting workout when you mix exercise in. Bring on the bikinis!

• Nails, or spikes
• String (I used rainbow hemp that my awesome friend brought)
• Random materials from nature- Bark, moss, marking tape (that I found on the ground), sticks, etc.
• Two strong sticks that are around the same length, but longer than the finished width of your tapestry.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Create a rectangle in the ground the size you want your finished tapestry to be.

2. Put an even number of nails along the top and the bottom.

3. Starting at the top left edge, wrap the string around the nail a couple times, and then down to the mirrored nail at the bottom, and up to the second nail, all the way to the last nail. Wrap around the last nail a couple times to stabilize.

4. Weave the two strong sticks into the string, one at the top of the tapestry, and one at the bottom. Over the first string, under the second, over the third, etc.

5. Fill out all the strings with the random materials you found on your hike. Make sure you are weaving your materials in on opposite strings. If your first item started on top of the first string, then your second item must under the first string, and then your third has to start on top again, and repeat.

6. When it's all filled in and you're satisfied with how it looks, take the two ends of your string that you wrapped around the nails, and tie them around the top strong stick.

7. Tie a hanger string to the top strong stick.

8. Carefully slide all the strings off of the nails.

9. Adjust the strings until it all fills out naturally, and voila! You're very own super personalized and unique memoir, nature wall hanging tapestry!

Any cool camping crafts you've tried and loved? I'm all about painting rocks and Joel loves finding the perfect stick and carving it and embellishing it until it's perfect. I'm also thinking I wanna master a nature wind chime before the summer is over! 

Hope you try this out, and hey, if random nature isn't your thing, feel free to use fabric or yarn or wool roving instead. Weaving is one of those crafts that make people really impressed, it's a good trick ;)

XO_BITS

PS
This is BITS' 100th post! Thanks for reading along and keeping me inspired! Can't wait to see where the next 100 posts take me!