diy: woven geometric accessory

right now i have two favorites among the accessory trends out there: anything geometric and anything woven. the other day, as i was reading this article, i fell in love with the black & white triangle accessories that combine both trends.

but as i'm trying to fill my office bookcases on a tight budget, they were more than i wanted to spend. i immediately started thinking of how i could make them. i decided to swipe a few of my little ones' tinker toys (shhh...don't tell!) and use some twine i had on hand to try.

half way through i ran out of twine and had to start using string. then i ran out of string and started using raffia. the good news is, i like the varied materials even better than my original plan of only twine. here's how you can do this project:

total time: 1 hour
patience level: mom in a mcdonald's drive thru (after a day at the zoo)
total cost: $0 if you can use items on hand.

materials:

twine, string, raffia, or a combination of similar natural materials
scissors
3 short tinker toy sticks
3 long tinker toy sticks
hot glue gun and glue sticks

(i have thought long and hard about what you could use instead of tinker toys, and i don't have any brilliant ideas. straws perhaps? i realize not everyone has these kids' toys laying around, and the rest of you probably wouldn't steal from your kids. i'm so sorry if this post falls into the 'blog fail' category because of that!)

{update: my friend laura commented below and suggested chopsticks. duh! yes, use those. thanks laura!}

instructions:

1. begin wrapping the sticks with your twine or other string material. vary the materials as desired, and use hot glue periodically to secure it. continue until all the sticks are covered tightly except the very ends.

2. form a triangle from the three short sticks by laying them on a worksurface. (i used a paper plate). secure the ends with hot glue.

3. prop the long sticks on top, one long stick at each of the points of the triangle, and secure the ends with hot glue. bring the top points together. it's a little tricky to balance everything (especially if you're trying to take pictures with one hand!) but it's definitely doable. the glue doesn't dry instantly, which gives you time to move everything into position once all the sticks are propped up. 

(don't worry, dyson the photobombing dog is alive and well).

4. cover the joints with more raffia or string. again, use hot glue to hold the string in place.

and you're done! a little hand cramping and a couple finger-tip burns, but all in not a bad hour spent. your new accessory looks great and is perfectly on trend. especially next to those succulents.