I adore houseplants.

It may not look like it, given the stunning number of casualties my love of house plants has produced over the years, but I do adore them.

I sometimes forget to water them, I never think to fertilize them, and some of the poor things suffer, root bound in too-small pots for ages waiting for me to notice.

But I love them.

In an attempt to help us get settled in our new place, I’ve been sneaking stray plants in whenever I can. Succulents planted in broken teacups, an air plant nestled in a traditional Kwak beer glass, and now a spider plant suspended in the air…

…in a macrame inner tube plant hanger.

I just couldn’t resist. I posted my prototype last night on Twitter and Facebook to ask if this was a ridiculous idea or totally badass, and I got a 99% response of “badass,” with one respondent weighing in with “badassculous.”

Want to make your own badassculous inner tube plant hanger? Read on, friends. Read on.

Ingredients

You need:

3 busted road bike inner tubes
A ring of some sort – I used a 1.5″ D ring
4 binder clips
Scissors

Preparing your inner tubes

Snip the valves out of 2 of your inner tubes, then fold each in half and secure with a binder clip. Carefully cut up both sides of all 4 halves, stopping about 1/2″ from the binder clip.

At this point things will be a bit chalky because of the talcum inside the inner tube. Without removing the binder clips, wash your inner tubes with hot, soapy water. Dry with a towel.

(You can refer back to this post about cleaning inner tubes if you have any questions.)

Next, cut each strip in half lengthwise again, so that you have 8 inner tube strips dangling from each binder clip.

Cut open and wash your 3rd inner tube, then cut several long strips about 1/4″ wide from it. You’ll use these strips to tie the macrame knots.

Adding the ring

Carefully remove the binder clips, and thread everything through your ring. You should still have about an inch of intact rubber in the center to hold everything together.

Gather the 16 strands together with a gathering knot.

(Andrea from MacrameForFun.com will teach you everything you need to know about gathering knots.)

I used gathering knots for all of the knotting in this plant hanger, because it made a smoother look. Alternately, you could just tie overhand knots.

Making the basket

Measure down 15″ from the knot (12″ for a small hanger), and gather the strands into 4 bunches, securing them with binder clips.

Tie a gathering knot at each binder clip.

Separate the bunches, joining 2 strands from each bunch with 2 strands from its neighboring bunch. Measure down 4″ (also 4″ for a small hanger) and mark with binder clips. Tie gathering knots.

ONLY FOR LARGE HANGER: Repeat this process one more time.

Finish by tying a gathering knot around all 16 strands, about 3″ below the last set of knots.

Hang yer plant

Put the plant in, and hang it from something. You’re done!

What do you think? Is my brain totally addled from four days of being snowbound with no one to talk to? Have I finally lost it? Or is this a legitimate thing you would actually make?

Happy snowbound crafting, everyone!

Want more inner tube crafts? Check out my ebook Crafting with Inner Tubes.