How to Make a DIY Elephant Macrame Keychain

Make an intricate macrame elephant keychain. Use it for your bags, purses, or keys to avoid losing them! You can also use it as a stocking stuffer. Macrame Tita shows us a straightforward tutorial with easy-to-find materials—cords, beads, and a ring. Making them is as mediative as the elegant creatures.

Materials:

• 15mm Ring
• 100cm Yellow Waxed Cords, 0.5mm
• 40 cm, 0.5 mm, red waxed cords
• Cloth
• Pins
• (1) yellow bead
• (2) 6mm bead
• Lighter
• Scissors

Directions:

Using a yellow cord, fold it and securely make a knot around the ring.  With another two cords, repeat the process besides the first knot.

Then, prepare another cord. Pin the ring on the cloth. As you level and pin another cord on the base of the three knots on the right side near the ring.  Tie the fourth ring on each tail of the three knots tightly.

With the same process, use another cord for a second layer beneath the first line layer. But this time, make the ends a little longer. Continue making the third layer with another cord longer, forming a half triangle.

For the fourth cord, use a red waxed cord in the same process. With the same red cord, repeat the process using the right end of the cord tail but this time, stop when you reach the center. Then, repeat the process with the left red tail cord until you reach the center.

Notice how the keychain is moving; secure the center with a pin. Slide and tuck the two red tail cords at the back of the chain upward. Now, grab another yellow cord and do the same knots as the yellow cords. With your eighth and ninth yellow cords, make two knots around the left tail of the last yellow cord. Repeat the two knots on the left with another two yellow cords on the right side.

Find the center for the main tail cords and insert a yellow bead. With the two surrounding tails on each side of the bead, tie knots to enclose the center bead in an inner motion. On both sides, take the close tail of the bead and the end tail of the main cords together in a knot. Knot some more with the tail, ends alternating with two tails in between.

Repeat the process until you make two layers of knotted braid curves around the bead. After that, use the two knotted cords knot with one tail on both sides to make a clean V knot encompassing the knotted braid curve. Separate the tail ends into two sections from the middle.

With the two center tails, knot them twice for a clean look. At each end of the main tail cords, tie one knot with new yellow cords.

Starting there, knot each end moving to the center. Creating to clean V knots. On each main end, tie five knots each.  Next to where you attached the five knots after the tail, place two 6mm black beads on each side, making the eyes. Starting from the center tails, knot another curve enclosing the eyes on each eye.

Flip the keychain over, cut the excess red cords at the back, and burn the edges for a clean look. Facing backwards, knot the two tails of each corner of the eye and start knotting from each center, moving around both eyes to the front. Do the same process until it spirals and makes the cone-shaped trunk.

When you reach the end of the trunk, finish with a tight knot and cut the excess tails. Burn the ends to make a neat finish. For the enormous ears, make knots around two tails from the ends.

Do the same process until you reach the bottom ear. For the successive layers, do the same, however, alternating from the first layer of knots, forming a curved ear. To make clean ear ends, from the last end of the top tail, knot all the way across the edges to the bottom ear.  Repeat the same process for the other huge elephant ear.  Cut off the excess tails near the edges and burn them with your lighter to finish neatly when you are done.

How to Make a DIY Elephant Macrame Keychain