My niece just turned 1 and I wanted a special gift that will stay on photos and in memories for a long time. Decided to make a swing for their balcony that would be quite safe. I remembered a swing i used as a child. It had many wooden dowels thet fit loosely on the rope but held a child pretty well. (parents still have to advise but she won't fall without much effort) Then I saw those horse swings and decided to do a hybrid. Later I found a swing i thought of. There are a few project I based my on.

Needed items:

-big wooden board (I got 1,5m x 1m 2cm thick),

-wood glue (preferably the one that fills the gaps for better grip),

-long plastic rope (aproved for swings, I used the one with core),

-long wooden board (I bought 2,5cm x 5cm in diameter but if i found a slightly smaller one i would use that instead),

-transparent high gloss spray paint,

-jigsaw with a saw for details,

-sandpaper 200 grit,

-dremel with drum sander tip and drill,

Step 1: Templates

I found a 3D horse project on TinkerCad site I altered it, then printed out on a few pages, taped together, cut out. I decided that it still had too long of a base so i trimmed it and it looked perfect. Then when my niece was at my place I sat her on a piece of paper and marked how wide she was so the seat for swing was the right shape and size. With a little bit of time I draw a seat the right size. I will add the templates to this tutorial in a few days.

Step 2: Woodworking

I bought a big wooden board about 2cm thick and long piece of wood about 3cm by 5cm in diameter. I traced the templates and cut the parts out using a jigsaw. Then cleaned the edges with a Dremel, and rounded the sharp edges. With the longer boards that will be the sides and back for a swing I rounded them in a semi-circle so they looked nice on the rope. I also bought 2 wooden balls to use as spacers, and an old wooden dowel as handle.

I drilled holes in everything like you see in the pictures.

Step 3: Finishing

I sanded the wood smooth, covered the parts that will be glued later. Sprayed everything with quite a few layers of high gloss transparent wood lacquer (I used over one full can of spray paint)

Step 4: Gluing

I glued the horse head to the seat in the notch you see on the template and then a handle in the big hole in the horse's neck. (remember the holes at the ends should be facing up, and it sould be glued to the horse just in the middle so it is symetrical) a drilled the hole a little too big so I put glue on the dowel and horse and also little pieces of wood that I stuck into the bond from both sides of the head. When it all dried I cut the parts of the wood shards that were sticking out, sanded and put a coat of paint in the joints.

Step 5: Rope

I prepared 2 pieces of rope that thread through the wooden pieces, at the ends I tied knots also under the wooden balls to even out the back to the sides and front (should have bought more of those wooden balls or added wooden dowels upright). Then i did loops at the top of both ropes. I will probably also add metal parts so that the rope wont cut on the metal hook on the balcony.

Step 6: Finish

Now you can melt the plastic rope ends so they don't rip. And you can try the swing out. We are done. Good luck making :D