Giant Friendship Bracelet Project
I grew up making friendship bracelets in the early 2000s. It seems full circle that my life as a fiber artist would lead to me knotting one as an adult! The only difference is that this time the project was 3ft x 5ft instead of small enough to fit on your wrist, and I used extra chunky macrame rope instead of embroidery floss.
Want to make your own?
If you can make a friendship bracelet, you can knot a giant wall tapestry.
Here are some quick tips:
I used 12mm rope from Niroma Studio. (Some of the colors I dyed myself using RIT dye!)
I attached the tops of the rope to my stick using a clove hitch knot. The tails are hidden behind the thick stick.
I butterflied the bottom bundles of rope so that I could pull out more length as I needed it instead of having a tangled mess.
I used a pattern from https://friendship-bracelets.net/patterns - you can filter patterns by number of strings and number of colors to make it easy!
I didn’t pull my rows of knots completely tight together - I didn’t mind the spaces between them and it helped add volume to my project.
You can see footage and learn more about this project in my YouTube video below.
My number one question is: How do I know what length of cord to cut so I don’t waste rope?
A: I don’t have a straight answer because it depends on so many things. The standard rule is to measure 4x the length of how long you want your finished piece to be for each cord. However, it also depends on your pattern and the colors you chose. If your pattern has a lot more white knots than blue knots you will need less blue and more white. I remember I overestimated and ended up with quite a lot of extra rope in some colors. I tried counting the knots for each color, made a sample knot to see how much material it took, and then multiplied that by the number of knots - don’t forget to add extra material for all the times that the knots pass inside knots of other colors though. If you are extra organized and mathematically inclined this might work for you!
It’s probably better to overestimate instead of underestimating. If you do end up with extra material you can make lots of other beautiful projects with the scraps like tassels or use them in weaving!
