Rope Trick

This post once again is about what I found on Pinterest but here is the website that pin came from.  Here is my adventure

I wanted a more bowl like rope bowl so I picked a glass bowl.  I covered it with foil because I didn't want the hot glue or the other glue to stick to the bowl. 

So I started with a small circle in the middle on the bottom of the bowl.  This sisal rope is not as flexible as it looks.  You have to wrestle with it in the beginning but it does get easier as you go.

Here is the circle getting larger on the bottom of the bowl.  I used a glue gun to glue the rope in the beginning.

Here  the bowl starting to take shape.

All done wrapping.  I wanted measure to see how deep the bowl is.  After I finished I realized it's a bit deeper than I wanted. 

This is the finished bowl and the look inside.  It looks pretty neat at first glance. 

Out of the whole package of rope that I bought at Lowes, this is all that's left.  I think I might have enough to make another very smallish bowl.  Of course I have not yet but I will get around to it eventually.

I used hot glue to make sure that the rope stuck to itself, but the glue doesn't seem to be a strong as I would have liked so I watered down Mod Podge and took a really crappy paint brush and painted the whole inside and outside with the it.  I think it got two coats on both sides.  It's really stiff now.  I wanted it to be.  If you don't want yours that stiff, don't do as many coats or nothing at all. 

What did I learn?

1. Not everything on Pinterest is as easy as it looks.

2. This is a great idea, but the sisal rope is very scratchy even after the Mod Podge.

3. Use a different kind of rope for the next bowl or basket.

4.  Hot glue is not the end all be all.  Be careful when using it; it drips between the layers and doesn't hold as well as you think it will.

5.  Never cover the bowl with foil when using hot glue.  Eventually it will stick and you will have a basket or bowl with bits of foil stuck to it.  Using a wire form like the author did is best.  I had to scrape my bowl (the glass one) with a razor blade to get all the bits that stuck to it and then put it through the dishwasher.  I don't know what is the best way, but I'm thinkin' the foil is not. 

6. Keep trying, it's a fun project with lots of possibilities.