And Then I Got Crafty: The Ultimate Teacher's Utility Caddy

Welcome Back! I hope you came here from Part 1, 'cause here we go with the next steps!

I had a specific layout in mind when I began this project - using 12 cans - and it looked roughly like this (without the clothesline):

But then I decided that it looked super bulky and cluttered, and decided to drop 2 of the cans, like this:

Which made me happier. But, even with all the cuteness, it still looks rather massive and possibly not as functional as I had anticipated. So, in the end, I decided to make 2 caddies: The cute magazine rack would stand alone, with all the utensils together in their own caddy. I think the 2 complementary caddies are each really cute, and work well together without having one huge item to leave on the work surface all the time. I think it will serve my tutors better.

With all that said, now I had a problem. All my cans weren't perfectly colored in the right order to make everything symmetrical. Also, the utensil caddy doesn't have any fabric to match the magazine file - and I really want these to match, at least a little. So I ripped off the fabric from one large can and the 2 small ones, and re-covered them with leftover cloth from the file. NOW they coordinate! Time for the clothesline.

Supplies:

Cotton Clothesline
Rit Dye (preferably liquid)
Gloves
Strong dishsoap (like dawn) or laundry detergent

I wanted each of my caddies to have a handle. The file could be gripped with one or both hands, but the tutors are usually quite busy with set-up in the mornings, and will want to grab many things at once without worrying about dropping their file and scattering the contents everywhere. I decided to try my hand at some 4 strand flat AND round braiding, and see how far I could get. Turns out that 4 strand braids are ridiculously easy! And the round one is actually a cheaters braid - not a real braid at all. I'm OK with that.

I cut all my lengths of cotton clothesline first, then dyed just what I needed, so I could save the rest and use a different color later. Both my handles will be about the same length, so I cut 8 strands x 40" each. A rough estimate is to take your desired length of handle, add 1/3, then add some for tying the knots at each end. Make your handles as long as you want!

For the can-wrap, I decided that 6 wraps would look nice and be narrow enough to look good on the shortest can. The point of the rope, of course, is to tightly hold the cans together so they stay together as a unit. We will use some hot-glue later for positioning, but the rope will be doing most of the work. Set your cans up in their general position, then loosely wrap the clothesline as many times as you want it. Give yourself another foot of extra, then cut.

Follow the directions of your bottle or packet of dye. The bottle was all I could find at Walmart, and you actually have more options for making small batches - obviously we only need to make a very small amount of dye for this amount of rope.

I weighed my sections of rope on my kitchen scale, and it only weighs 3oz all together - just under 1/4 pound. Below is the "recipe" I used to dye.

8C hottest possible tap water
1/4C salt (if you're using cotton rope - use white vinegar for synthetic)
2 oz liquid dye (1/4C)
3ish oz cotton clothesline/rope (8 pieces 40" long and one piece around 12' long for the cans)

Fill glass bowl with 8C hot water. Dunk the rope and allow to soak until soaked through. Remove rope and squeeze water back into bowl.
Stir salt into hot water until dissolved, add dye and stir with something you don't mind getting stained. Replace the rope and stir around.
Supposedly, you should stir constantly for 30-60 minutes. Yeah, right. The point is to agitate so that the rope absorbs the dye evenly. I gave it a whirl every few minutes. Definitely use gloves if you plan to touch it while wet.
Rinse off an end in cool water to check the color. When you're happy, rinse the rope until the water is clear. Remember to squeeze the rope to get the dye out of the core. Add a squirt of strong dish soap (Dawn), fill bowl with warm water and wash the rope (you don't want dye coming off on damp palms or onto clothing!) Rinse again. Repeat if necessary until no more dye runs out.
I tied an overhand knot at each end of the ropes, then threw them into the drier on medium heat for about 30 minutes. If it's hot outside, I'm sure it would be faster to hang them in the sun, but it's cool and misty here in Seattle...

If I ever get around to doing 5 more of these, I think I'll bind the very ends of about a dozen strands together with a thin rubber band, then put them into a very loose braid. Anyone who remembers tie-dying will recall that anything tight will resist the dye, but a loose braid should not only keep the ends neat, but also keep them from getting tangled with all the stirring and squeezing.

My blue came out pretty light and a tad dull. I think that's because I used natural-tone clothesline instead of bleached-white, and I could have added a couple more oz. dye for a richer color. In future, I might just get white rope and skip all this dying... it's kind of a lot of work. But, if I did it outside in a bucket, on a clear summer day - it might be more fun.

Braiding Time!

Let's start with the cheaters-round-braid. I watched the tutorial here, but I'll add my own anyway.

Start by untying the knots in one end of 4 of the 40" strands. Secure them together with a stout rubberband and hook them to a chair or doorknob. Think about the strands as front/back and left/right.
First swap the positions of the front/back strands. Then cross the left/right strands beneath them. Cinch everything up nice and tight.
Repeat ad naseum. Not even kidding! Just keep crossing the front/back strands, then the left/right strands over and over again, tightening as you go! I know that there are far more complicated (and beautiful!) lacing techniques used with leather and cord for jewelry, but for this project I am completely satisfied with this extremely simple 'braid'.
I put a rubber band on the other end - we'll finish the ends after putting it together. The overall length is about 30" - exactly what it should be!

Now for the flat braid. It is a tiny bit more complex, but still just the same 2 moves over and over!!

Untie your ends and add a rubberband. Think about your 4 strands as 2 pairs, left pair and right pair.
In each side pair, cross the left over the right.
Then think about a middle pair and cross the right over left.
Repeat
That's it! Side pairs - left over right. Middle pair, right over left Once you get a rhythm going you can do it all in one motion, twisting your wrists clockwise, then exchanging in the center. It's like making a twist with each pair, but swapping strands to keep them together in the middle. I think it's brilliant! Final length about 31".