Zero Waste, Minimalist Christmas DIY Bamboo Table Mats

Christmas is a great time to make gifts and decorations out of nature. Here I am going to make some table mats which can be used at the Christmas dinner table or as a handmade gift. They are simple to make once you get the hang of the knots and if you don't have bamboo you could use sticks from the forest.

You will need....

*Bamboo sticks. My neighbour was cutting down their bamboo trees, but you can buy in a garden shop or collect sticks in the forest.

*Natural twine

*Garden shears

Directions:

Once you have gathered all your sticks, cut the bamboo along the nodes.

Lay out your sticks and get two long sticks that will act as a base. Make these longer than the rest and as straight as you can get.

You will need about 20-25 sticks for the mat, depending on size.

Start with one of the base sticks

Get the twine and measure about 7 times the length of the base stick.

Next tie a constrictor knot onto the base stick, leaving about an inch at the end of the stick.

Start with the twine over the base stick

Loop the shorter twine around the long twine like so...

Then bring the short twine around and under itself...

go around the stick and under the string like so...

Then bring the short twine through the top inside of the bottom loop....

and pull the two strings to bring it all together.

It should look like this and be very secure

You are now ready to go. Wrap the loose string around the long one and then place a stick perpendicular to the base stick.

wrap loose string around remaining string and place a new stick on top perpendicular to base stick

Place the string over the stick on the inside. Then under the base stick to the outside. Then loop over the stick.

bring string under base stick onto the outside to create a loop

Start again with another stick. Loop over the stick always on the inside. Pull through and loop over the stick.

same again with all the remaining sticks...

When you get to the end you can do another constrictor knot.

When the constrictor knot is done you can do another simple knot to give extra security.

Keep the leftover string dangling and start the process again on the other side, on the opposite end, doing the exact same.

When you get to the end you should have two loose long strings. Bring them together and tie a few knots to keep the whole mat stable.

Here is the finished mat. It is durable and beautifully higgledy piggledy just like nature.

Thanks for reading. Check out the video tutorial below...