Thanksgiving Floral Arrangement Basket

Instructions

Tools & Other Supplies Needed
1 Empty Round Plastic Deli or Cottage Cheese Container
Scissors
Wire Cutters or Craft Cutters
Hot Glue Gun (Adult Supervision Mandatory)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Decide how many dowels you want to wrap and weave your cords around. An even number of dowels will result in woven rows that stack up one above the other. An odd number of dowels will result in rows that are staggered. (We used 16 dowels.) Starting at the bottom of the container, use a glue gun to evenly glue the dowels up around the sides of the container.

2. Beginning at the base of the plastic container wrap 4-ply jute cord around the dowels and container. Use the glue gun to secure the jute cord onto the dowels, here and there, until you have wrapped it around to a point that reaches just above the top of the plastic container. Set the spool of jute cord inside the basket.

3. Cut 6 yd. of natural 170# hemp cord. Leaving one end of the cord hanging down inside the plastic container, weave three rows of hemp cord in and out of every other dowel around the basket.

4. Lift the spool of jute out of the basket and place the remaining 170# hemp cord inside the basket. Working off the spool of orange hemp, begin wrapping it around the jute cord using dots of hot glue to tack the orange hemp onto the jute cord, here and there, along the way. Weave three rows of orange hemp wrapped jute in and out of the opposite dowels you weaved around in step 3. Tie the orange hemp cord into a knot behind the last dowel you wove around and apply a dot of glue to secure the knot. Trim off the tail of orange hemp.

5. Lift the natural 170# hemp out of the basket and place the spool of jute inside the basket. Weave three rows of natural 170# hemp in and out of the same dowels woven around in step 3.

6. Repeat step 4, wrapping brown hemp cord around the jute cord.

7. Repeat step 5.

8. Repeat step 4, wrapping green hemp cord around the jute cord.

9. Repeat step 5.

10. Weave four rows of jute cord in and out of the same dowels woven around in step 3. Cut the end of the jute and glue it so it is hidden inside the top of the basket.

11. Repeat step 5, but this time weave four rows of natural 170# hemp cord.

12. Glue a length of tan braided jute around the top of the cords from the previous step, using wire cutters or craft cutters to trim the top ends of the dowels down to a height that reaches just below the top edge of the tan braided cord. Overlap a tiny bit of braided cord over the beginning section of the cord and glue in place Trim of any frayed ends.