DIY Air Plant in a Vintage-inspired Hand-knotted Wire Hanger

by Rebecca Pitts

This Spring, my hubby and I celebrate six years together. And for the sixth year in a row — I expect and imagine he will get me exactly what I want. There is the best trick for this, by the way: you explicitly tell your partner what you’d like. (I won’t share how long this took me to figure out.)

For me, it’s always this at the top of my wish-list: a simple bouquet of peonies not unlike the wedding bouquet I held on that Spring day as we walked the Brooklyn Bridge together, newly wedded, a bit in awe… Of each other and of what we’d just done. Of this crazy city that cheered us on (literally and actually!) as we strolled on by.

My husband doesn’t share in my adoration of a lovely, fragrant bundle of flowers and I certainly wouldn’t judge him for that, but I’d like to project a bit here and declare that a grown person, male or female, deserves something alive and beautiful and ephemeral on their special day. (Game Stop gift cards are good too. But not as good.) In this spirit, I gathered a few of my stand-by supplies (this wire and this ribbon – you can also use this) and picked up a few air plants for (shhh!) a couple of bucks at a local florist (you can buy them online here as well or at a hardware store). The result is a simple DIY hanging plant that’s a bit unconventional, not the least bit flowery, and way more alive than the latest PS4 game.

What to get:

• air plant
• 2 pieces of bendable hanging wire
• an empty glass mustard jar
• ribbon or this twine

What to do:

1. Make a hoop out of each strand of wire. Place one hoop on top of the other, in opposite direction, and loop one end of each wire through the center hole to make a circle hoop.

2. Bend the four long ends of the wire upward to make a hanger.

3. Insert the air plant and adjust the hoop to tighten it.

4. Pinch the four long pieces of wire together about an inch from the end of the wire (at the top of the hanger).

5. Wrap one of the ends in a twisting knot around the other strands of wire to secure all of the ends together.

6. Loop the remaining 3 ends into 3 decorative hoops.

7. Display the plant in a washed glass mustard jar and add ribbon if you’d like.

Rebecca Pitts writes and makes stuff for kids and kids at heart. She is the founder and creative behind Hudson + Daughter and a contributor at Dear Handmade Life.