Macrame Wall Hanging w/Bones

Hey ghouls and creeps! This project is my second attempt at macrame, and although it took a while for me to finish, I will say I’m pleased with the end result! I love the soft textures of textile wall decor (spoken like a true BFA graduate with a concentration in fiber art), so it only makes sense that I find macrame so appealing. I purchased the bones from the Dollar Tree last Halloween, and was thrilled to incorporate them into this piece! In the end, I think this will complement our bedroom wall above our bed very nicely. I made the length shorter than originally intended to allow for a headboard eventually. Feel free to adjust the length to your preference! Let’s get started!

I rated the Macrame Wall Hanging w/Bones as being moderately difficult. If you have experience with macrame, you will probably find this project far less challenging than I did! Some skills and techniques covered when making this project are: basic macrame knots, cord, and dowel painting, and spray painting plastic bones.

Step 1: Prep: Begin by painting your dowel with acrylic paint. I applied my paint with a 1″ foam brush, and it worked really well! After your dowel is completely covered in paint, allow the paint to dry following the manufacturer’s instructions.

While your dowel is drying, cut all your heavier macrame cord until all four spools are cut into 82″ lengths. Cut twenty-three 82″ lengths of your 1mm macrame cord.

Then starting in the middle of your dowel, tie one 1mm cord piece to the dowel with a lark’s head knot(we’ll call this the center cord). Take four pieces of the heavier cord and tie them to the dowel, also with a lark’s head knot, so that two cord pieces are on either side of the center cord. Then take two 1mm cord pieces and tie them on either side of the cord bunch. Continue this pattern of two heavy cords, then one 1mm cord until you’ve run out of 1mm cord pieces. After that, continue adding heavy cords to either end until all cords are attached to the dowel. There should be about three inches of visible dowel on either side of your wall hanging.

Don’t forget to add your hanger! Simply cut a 70″ length of 1mm cord. Then tie the ends together, and tie to either end with a lark’s head knot.

Step 2: Macrame: Starting in the center of your cord bunch, tie thirty-two square knots. For every square knot set, I started with right over left, then left over right, and finished with right over left.

Once finished with the first row, find the center of the row and pick up the two cords on the right half of the center square knot. Pull the other two cords from the neighboring knot to the right. Then make another square knot group, making sure to leave a one-inch gap between the first and second rows. Keep alternating back and forth on either side of the center when making square knot groups so that they remain centered. There should be twenty-seven knots in the second row. Repeat these steps for the remaining rows. Here are the knot counts per row: three: 23, four: 21, five: 16, six: 13, seven: 10, eight: 5, nine: 1.

Now that you have all your square knots finished, we can move on to the half-hitch knots! Taking the cord just to the left of where the square knots end on the top row, angle the cord so that it points just past the bottom square knot. Then take the cord just to the right of this cord and tie two half-hitch knots. Continue moving to the center of your piece, tieing two half-hitch knots per cord. By holding the first cord at an angle, right along the edge of your square knot cluster, this technique gives this section a nice finished look.

Once you’ve reached the center, inverse this process by shifting to the other side. Take the cord just to the right of where the square knots end on the top row and angle it to just below the bottom knot. Repeat the previous side’s steps (just in reverse) to completely enclose your square knots.

Starting at the third from the bottom row of square knots, separate these cords at the piece’s center from the rest! Using the same technique from before, take the cord furthest to the left and point it four inches below the point of the first half-hitch knot row. Tie two half-hitch knots per cord until you reach the center.

Repeat these steps for the other side. Begin by taking the cord furthest to the right, then pull cords to the left to start making your knots! Tie two half-hitch knots per cord until you reach the center. Finish the bottom point by tieing your “angled” cords into a half-hitch knot.

You’re finished with half-hitch knots, now you just have a few more square knots to go! You can do it! Along the edge of your first line of half-hitch knots(the ones surrounding your square knots) tie nine sets of square knots on each side. You’ll later be pulling the two center cords of each knot to attach your bones!

Using a rotary cutter and a cutting mat, set the piece on the mat and comb all the cords so that they are flat and straight. With the help of masking tape, mark your cut line so that the point is 5″ from the bottom of your macrame knots and 9″ from the bottom of the dowel on each side. With the help of an acrylic ruler cut along the bottom of your tape line. Set the cord you cut off aside, so you can pull from it later!

Step 3: Bones: This step is completely optional! I felt the need to paint my bone embellishments because I wanted them to match my cord. In addition, they were this super weird greenish-taupe that just did not look good! Set up your painting booth outside and spray paint all surfaces of your bones until they are evenly covered. Place them in a safe place to dry completely.

Once dry, use some of the 1mm cord that you cut off the bottom of your piece. Alternating bone sizes, hold each bone parallel to the center cords of your outside square knots. Then with your other hand wrap the 1mm cord around the center of your bone. Tie the cord ends behind the bone, and wrap each cord side around the bone twice. Tie the cord ends twice behind the bone to secure. Repeat these steps until all outside square knots have a bone embellishment.

Step 4: Painting: Place a drop cloth on your tabletop. Then place your piece on top of the drop cloth. Using masking tape, tape off the bottom 4″ of the piece.

Take your fabric paint or acrylic paint and thoroughly apply paint to the fringe on all sides of the cord below the tape line. After allowing the paint to dry for about one to two hours remove the tape and separate the fringe so that it doesn’t stick together. Hang the piece in your shower and allow the paint to continue drying.

Once dry, hang up your new wall art! This piece has visual texture to drool over, could be considered edgy/alternative with that band of black paint, all while being a little closet-goth with the bone embellishments hiding among the cording. I absolutely love this piece, and hope you enjoy it too!

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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!

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