Instagram can be a weird and wonderful place.
It can make you realise how small the world actually is. Often, I feel the people I’ve met via the photography sharing app, are often more closely in alignment with me than those, “in real life” {IRL} whom I’ve known for years.
Sam from Pretty Little Knots is one of these. After meeting up we discovered that we’d grown up within a couple of miles of each other, went to the same pub in our youth, and knew a few of the same people.
Like lots of mums, myself included. Sam has found creativity has brought her an income stream. I find this balance between working at home and being there for your kids fascinating. Creating macrame plant hangers and wall pieces under the guise of Pretty Little Knots.
I’ve fallen hard for the beautiful macrame creations Sam makes and I know you will too. You probably spotted two of Sam’s plant hangers in my recent post Hanging House Plants.
Today I’m bring you an interview with Sam from Pretty Little Knots. You can also win one of her plant hangers over on Instagram right now too.
(Click below to enter the giveaway via Instagram- follow the instructions on the image)
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OFS: Where did you learn macrame?
PLK: Way back in 2006 I spent a year volunteering in Ecuador. One of my placements was in a remote village in the Amazon rainforest, where we would have Artesania lessons with a lady from the local village. She taught me how to knot jewellery from tree fibres and seeds, which we would sell at local markets.
Many years later perusing Instagram, I started seeing macrame wall hangings everywhere and realised I understood how to make them. What I had learnt all those years ago was actually Macrame. I bought some rope, found some driftwood and started knotting! I am also very thankful, and feel lucky that fibre art is enjoying a revival at the minute.
OFS: How do you fit it in with family life?
PLK: After my second child, we made the decision that I would be a stay at home mum. I found that like many mums, I needed a hobby that was just for me: Retaining some of my identity and as a creative outlet.
I work on a part time basis, around my kids. This is mainly in the evenings when they are in bed, and a couple of hours at the weekend. I have a space in the corner of my bedroom where I have set up a mini studio. The macrame rack can be moved around the house too; So I can knot in the living room in the evenings, or in the garden when it’s nice!
OFS: Tell me about the feelings/emotions invested in each piece (why you name them etc)
PLK: I don’t really know why I name them, it just seems right to do so. And so far they have all been female. Usually a name will just come into my head at some point in the knotting process.
A few pieces take quite a while to create, I can get quite attached to these as a little bit of me goes into them. Sometimes I get a bit sad when I have to post them off, but I take solace in the fact that someone has paid to have it on their wall so they must be going to a good home. There is one piece that I sold early on, my first really big piece, I do wish I’d kept her!
OFS: What does your design process look like?
PLK: It is very fluid! I pick out a nice looking piece of driftwood that catches my eye, this will then influence the direction I go in, the width, the length and the thickness of rope. I never make sketches, I usually have a vague image or design in my head, but this always changes and adapts as I’m knotting. I’ve never been very good at following patterns so this fluid process works very well for me.
OFS: Do you plan for the future? Anything you are able to share? (5 years time maybe?)
PLK: I have so, so many ideas and plans but at the minute not a lot of time to put them into action. Workshops, festivals, craft kits, more plant hanger designs, incorporating other hanging mediums such as coloured dowels and copper piping, creating ‘collections’ based around central themes, creating a macrame bag range, cushions… my list is endless!
My priorities are my kids, so until they are both in school it will remain as a part-time thing. I’m excited to have so many ideas to expand when I get the time. It’s such a great time for Creative SAHM’s, and it’s no surprise that more mums are starting up their own online business’s thanks to all the sites that exist such as Etsy, NOTHS and Folksy giving us a platform to sell our crafts on.
Dont forget to enter the giveaway to win a plant hanger made by Sam
Prize Draw T’s & C’s
- Entrants in UK only and must be over 18
- Open until midnight on 28th June 2017
- Instagram accounts must not be set to private
- This prize draw is not associated with Instagram in any way
- Entrants must complete steps in the caption under the photo
- A winner will be drawn at random and contacted by DM on Instagram
Good luck!
susan earlam ~ horror author 
I would love your input