Basic method for god’s eye
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, April 16, 2005
In case you missed last week’s column, here are the written instructions for making a basic god’s eye. If you want to see a photo illustration of the instructions, you’ll need to get a copy of last week’s Craft Corner, which appeared in the April 10 edition of The Herald’s Travel &Leisure section.
Step 1: Lay one dowel or craft stick across the other to form cross, wrap yarn or twine around center of cross two or three times in a criss-cross to secure, ending with yarn coming around top cross bar from front to back.
Step 2: Pull yarn down over left-side cross bar so that yarn is tight around top bar.
Step 3: Wrap yarn under and over left-side cross bar and pull yarn tightly to center of cross and down to bottom cross bar; yarn will be over top of bottom cross bar. Wrap yarn under and over bottom cross bar and pull tightly to center of cross and up to right-side cross bar.
Step 4: Repeat routine of pulling yarn over top of next cross bar, under then over same bar and pulling tightly toward center of cross, over and over until yarn reaches end of cross bars or until god’s eye is size you desire.
Leave at least -inch of dowel exposed at end of each cross bar so yarn won’t slip off and unravel.
Finish off and secure end of yarn by pulling through to back of god’s eye and pull tightly, then pull up to front and back down to back over the dowel and pull tightly; repeat several times until yarn is secure. End with yarn on back side and use a dab of glue to secure end of yarn.
What you’ll need
* Yarn, fine rope or twine
* Wooden dowels or craft sticks
* Scissors
* Quick-dry tacky glue
* Hot-glue gun
* Craft mirrors
* Small photo frames
What you’ll need
Plain masks in various styles
Specialty feathers, faux butterflies and silk-flower leaves
Rhinestones, beads and sequins
Hot-glue gun
Combine god’s eyes to vary decorations
In last week’s Craft Corner, we gave you the basic instructions for making a god’s eye. This week we’ll offer a couple of suggestions for use, as well as how to make a six-sided variation of the basic eye.
Let’s begin with the six-sided variation of the basic god’s eye. It’s simple to do, you just need to add one more dowel or craft stick to the mix.
Place the three dowels or sticks on top of each other so that six equal sections are created, then secure the dowels or sticks together by wrapping yarn or twine around the center (where the dowels/sticks intersect) several times to hold them in place.
Follow the basic steps for wrapping the yarn or twine around the dowels/sticks to form the god’s eye; the only difference is that you’ll be wrapping around six crossbars instead of four.
You can use a single color, or for even more variation, use several coordinating colors, such as the cream, yellow and orange shown in our sample.
To finish the ends of the dowels/sticks, add a bit of quick-dry tacky glue to the wood and wrap with single strands of yarn or twine, let dry a few minutes.
To make fringe, cut four to six long lengths of yarn or twine and tie them onto the dowel/stick end close to the main body of the eye. Pull the ends of the yarn toward the end of the dowel/stick and smooth the strands over the wood as evenly as possible.
Cut a single long length of yarn or twine and wrap it around the other lengths of yarn/twine to secure the fringe in place. Trim the yarn/twine to the length desired for fringe.
To make a hanging photo frame, you’ll need two basic eyes joined together.
Attach the top eye to the bottom by running a single strand of yarn through the main body of each eye, close to the end of one crossbar on each, and tying off.
Cover the place where the two crossbars meet by wrapping with multiple strands of yarn or by creating a series of fringes (as shown in our sample) using the method described above.
With a hot-glue gun, affix lightweight, clear plastic photo frames to the center of each eye, and make a hanging loop by tying a single strand of yarn around the top crossbar of the top eye.
Our triple-eye hanging mirror can be made by following the above instructions for joining multiple eyes together, the only difference being that you’ll be joining three eyes instead of two.
To finish, use a hot-glue gun to attach craft mirror pieces to the center of each eye.
Note: We recommend using hot glue to secure the photo frames and mirrors to the yarn as it holds fabric faster and better than quick-dry tacky glue.
