"Spring" Tassels

I have been eying some trampoline springs at the Habitat Restore for some time.  I liked the shape and feel of them, but nothing came to mind.   A few weeks ago I saw tassels made from large bolts on Market Nine Home and immediately thought of those springs.  I finally went back and purchased the trampoline springs, a small bag of teeny screws, nuts, and washers, and a partial roll of wire. ( I ended up not using the wire.)

I selected small washers and nuts from the bag.   I cut slender hemp twine approximately three times the length I wanted.  I randomly tied the nuts and washers along the hemp with the heavier ones on the ends.

I did not care about conformity as you can see.  I decided that six strands doubled would be enough for the tassel.

Here are the six strands folded in half.



Here is a close-up of the strands.



I painted the trampoline springs yellow, turquoise, and a dark blue-green.  Then I distressed them by dry-brushing them with white and adding a antique gold glaze over the paint.  I sealed with a satin varnish after rubbing off some of the paint. 

It was at this time my husband walked through (actually he hobbled through - he has back spasms) and asked " Did you just take something rusty, paint them, and then made them rusty-looking?" 

To which I replied, "Of course.  I AM a rust goddess!"

As I waited for the springs to dry, I printed some vintage photographs of children courtesy of Karen at The Graphics Fairy.  I have been wanting to use them - they are so cute and I love old photos. I painted around the edges with a Sharpie gold paint pen, used my craft scissors to cut them out, and threw some glitter on them just for interest.

For the front door I used raffia and the twine strands to make a tassel.  I attached a photo of a little boy with his cello. 
(Yes, my front door is distressed red on the outside - right in public!)

Those of you who follow my blog know what is coming next - torn cotton ribbons.  I did not stamp these since I was tearing them into 1/2- inch strips.  Yes, when you tear them this small there are a lot of loose threads.  Just keep running the ribbons through your hands until most of the threads come off.  I don't obsess with getting them all.  Then I simply use the normal way of making tassels - cutting a piece of cardboard the width you want the length of the tassel, wrapping the ribbons around until you like the thickness, tying a string around the top, and cutting across the bottom.  I used matching ribbon to wrap around the top to secure the tassel.  Then shake, shake, shake to make the tassel fluff out.  I slid the hook end of the spring through the loop on the tassel and attached the photograph to the top hook.  I am currently using the tassels in the pantry on the cabinet doors.

I like the contrast of the little girl wrapped in a winter's coat on a "spring" tassel. The spring is turquoise and the tassel a pink calico.

The yellow spring sports a turquoise tassel and a photo of a girl and her cat.  (By the way one of the cats - Azalee - has just discovered the tassels.  They seem to be excellent cat toys!)

Yellow tassel on a dark blue-green spring with the boy and his cello used again.




Well, I have accomplished several things this weekend - primed a few tables and drawers, made tassels, and found time to squeeze in some grocery shopping - peanut butter on saltine crackers was getting too boring!  Just kidding - we did take-out.

Stop back and browse again.  See y'all!  

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

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