DIY Macrame Tutorial - How to Make Your Own Driftwood!

Edit: I will be testing out a few products that will serve as a more eco-friendly alternative to bleach. Stay tuned for updates. Thank you!

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Today I will show you how to make your own driftwood! Please see below for item details and written instructions.

Items Required:
Inflatable pool (I purchased mine at Canadian Tire) OR bucket - I could not find a bucket big enough to hold a few of my larger pieces of driftwood so I used an inflatable pool
Bleach
Fine sand paper (I purchased mine at Home Depot)

I would recommend trying to find branches that have little to no bark left on them. I took a walk through a few parks in the area and found some branches that were suitable.

I found a few longer sticks that I broke into 2 or 3 pieces so that I could use them for smaller wall hangings. Let’s get started!

Step 1 - Clean
Set up your inflatable pool or bucket. Add some dish soap to the water. You don’t have to add an exact amount - just enough so that some bubbles start to form in the water. The dish soap will help to take off any extra bark and oils/residue on the outside and in the cracks of the sticks.

Use something heavy to hold the sticks underwater (I’m using a cooler). Leave the sticks in the soapy water for 1-2 days.

Step 2 - Bleach
Refill your pool/bucket with new water and add bleach for a deeper cleanse. The bleach will help to lighten the colour of the sticks to make them look exactly like driftwood taken right off the beach! I added 2 cups of bleach.

Leave the sticks in the bleach solution for 2-3 days.

Let your sticks dry in the sun for 4-5 days. The sun will try the sticks and bleach the colour further.

Step 3 - Sand
Last step - sand down your sticks so that they are smooth to the touch. I also like to sand down the ends so that the corners are rounded to make them look exactly like driftwood!

I’ll show you the difference between the 3 pieces I sanded vs. the 3 pieces I didn’t. The pieces I sanded are much smoother to the touch and the edges are rounded. The 3 pieces I didn’t sand are rough and the edges are sharp.

Thanks so much for watching! I love to see your work so please feel free to tag me on Instagram or Facebook if you’ve used one of my tutorials. If you like this video please hit the thumbs up below and if you have any feedback please feel free to leave a comment. Don’t forget to subscribe for weekly video tutorials!

Music:
On the Way by Vlad Gluschenko   / vgl9  
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/_OntheWay
Music promoted by Audio Library    • On the Way – Vlad Gluschenko (No Copy...