40 Projects: Himmeli Plant Holder

I finally found an air plant in our local nursery a few weeks ago and bought a little hanging terrarium to put in our kitchen. However, the terrarium had an accident involving a curious 3-year-old. I started thinking about another way to display it apart from just setting it in with another plant and went digging in my supply cabinet. I had some left over copper pipe from my original himmeli project and figured if I cut small enough pieces I could make something small and sturdy that would still show off the plant's fun silhouette. One thing that was brought to my attention is that copper is toxic to air plants so after I had already made it I took it apart, gave it three coats of poly, let it dry, and reassembled. I've added that step into the instructions for you.

1. Supplies: I had a leftover piece of copper pipe. You can purchase these at any major hardware store. They're soft so be careful not to bend them on the way home. You'll also need a small pipe cutter, a sharpie, a ruler, twine or yarn that will fit two at a time through your pipe, clear poly spray, scissors, gloves, cardboard, a well-ventilated area. 2. Measure out how long you want your pipe pieces to be. I cut three to be about 1.25" and three to be about 1.4" but they can all be the same length, too. Make small marks with your sharpie or just do it as you go and place the pipe cutter over the pipe. Gently twist it so it's applying a tiny bit of pressure and then twist your pipe so that the blade cuts all the way around. Then tighten a bit more, etc. Repeat.

3. Cut your twine or yarn so that you have three lengths measuring about 5' long. Tie them all together in a knot in the middle. 4. Spray your copper pieces using a glove and some poly. Follow spray paint instructions. I gave mine three coats with about 15 min. dry time between each. 5. Separate your strands two by two into three sections and thread each section through it's own piece of copper as shown. 6. Separate the two strands coming out of each copper piece and thread one through another piece of copper so that it comes out facing right. Then take a piece from the nearest copper pipe and thread it through the opposite direction so that it comes out facing left as shown. Repeat two more times. Pull the strands up at the top and adjust things. Tie a knot at the top and hang your air plant!

This one may end up in our bathroom where it can get regular moisture all week and I'll be sure to give it a good soak once a week for 24 hours to keep it healthy.

I love how tiny it is! You could easily substitute copper with plastic straws. They'd be just as sweet in a fun color.

As mentioned in my copper himmeli post, I have since seen similar things on Etsy. If you're not interested in making one you could always enjoy someone else's handiwork in a larger size!

-Rachel

40 Projects: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven