DIY Suspended Tassel Backdrop
By now we sure hope you’ve seen this afternoon’s incredibly stylish shoot, courtesy of the talented Anna Naphtali, Kathryn Godwin of Studio Cultivate, and Vintage Charlotte. In case you missed it, make sure you check out the images here! We’ve got Kathryn Godwin with us to share how she created the yarn tassel backdrop for the shoot, so let’s get down to business:
For this project, you will need:
-Yarn (we used various shades of blues and teal)
-Manilla Rope
-Scissors
-Gold Spray Paint
-Gold Leaf
-Spray Adhesive
Instructions:
1. Spray paint manilla rope gold. Once paint has set, use spray adhesive to highlight certain sections of rope and attach gold leaf flecks for a rich feel.
2. Create a loop with the end of the top, tie a double knot to fix in place with yarn. We cut the ropes to varying lengths from 3″ to 5″.
3. Wrap yarn around the end to secure and cover the rope, tie knot and trim ends.
4. Using a 8×10″ board, wrap board with yarn around 80-100 times. Cut across yarn to remove from board.
5. Tie a loop of yarn around the middle point of yarn bundle, cinch tight. Leave extra string on the end of the cinched knot, to use later.
6. Fold yarn in half at the cinched top knot, comb the string smooth. Wrap a contrasting color yarn about a 1.5″ below the top knot. Pulling the string tight will create more volume with the tassel skirt.
7. Using the cinched knot string at top of tassel, tie to the end of rope, aligning the top of tassel to the very end of the rope.
8. With another stretch of yarn, wrap around the bottom 1-2″ of rope to cover the knot where the tassel is attached.
9. Suspend the tassel strands from a bar with the loop of rope. Spacing the tassels every 3 inches allows for a heaving cluster to gather for a dramatic presence as a backdrop.
Very clever DIY and could be used in a number of ways.
Love this backdrop. Am thinking about duplicating something similar for my daughter’s wedding. I was wondering if you know the thickness of the rope. I want it to look rich like yours and don’t want to use too narrow a rope. Maybe you can pass along where you bought it. Great Job !!!
Love this! Totally going to do this for my wedding. What was the stand that you used to hold these lovely tassels from?
Thanks!
Becky, the rope was purchased either from Home Depot or Lowes- it’s 3/8 inch or 1/2 inch thick. Good luck, and be sure to share photos! Rebecca, I made the stand out of conduit pipe that was painted with nickel finish metal spray paint, and used cheap sand filled umbrella stands that we bundled with canvas.
I attempted this but more as a wall hanging since I wasn’t sure about fashioning a stand but how did you get the rope to straighten out? Mine are still all wavy!
How much yarn is needed? And is the rope cut in varying lengths from three feet to five feet, not inches? I want to make this as a wall hanging in my dining room ~ it’s gorgeous!
Hi. Could you please tell me what size of manila rope did you use?