Hi, in this instructable, I made a rope bridge for a cement water fountain. Using a cardboard template the rope sides are made with simple knots.

Supplies:

Embroidery floss
Card board
Pencil
Ruler
Utility knife
Hot glue
Glue sticks
Original Sculpey oven baked clay
Wire hanger
Acrylic paint
Clay sculpture tools

Step 1: Cardboard Template

I cut out the template and cut short lines in the top and bottom and 3 cuts on each side to hold the strings.

Step 2: Create Boards and Posts

Using original Sculpey oven-bake clay, I shaped little boards. I used 6 boards for this project. After shaping them, I used a dental explorer/probe to etch lines on the boards. Next, I cut a wire hanger long enough to have some stick into the water fountain and some wire above ground to shape the post. Once I smashed the clay on, I used my dental tool to etch the lines.

Painting: I covered them in brown, let then dry, and then put a light coat of grey, leaving bits of brown showing. When the grey was dry, I applied a black wash and set it all aside while I created the string sides of the bridge.

Step 3: Cut Strings

I cut 7 strings about a foot long. Divide them into two piles of 3 and 1 single string.

Then I cut 6 strings about 6 inches long.

Step 4: Little Strings

I put the 6 little strings on the cardboard template.

Step 5: Top Rope

Hook 3 of the foot-long strings on one end of the template and twist them together before hooking them onto the other end.

Take the first little string off the top, tie a knot and then tuck the string into the bottom with the other half of the little string. Repeat this step until all the short strings have been tied.

Step 6: Middle Rope

Hook the single long-string to the side of the template. Use it to tie a knot in the middle of each set of the short-strings. When finished tying all 6 sets, hook the long-string on the other side of the template.

Step 7: Separate the Short Strings and Bottom Rope

First, take one strand of the short strings and bring up and hook on top of the template.

Next, hook the final 3 strands on the last slit, on the side, of the template. Twist and hook on the other side. Notice in the picture how I forgot to hook my single middle string to the other side. Guess, I don't follow my own rules.

Step 8: Tying the Bottom

I set it up with one short single string for the pictures to easier see what I am doing for tying the bottom row.

(The string= the short up and down string)

Bring the string on top straight down
The half of the string that was already down and is under the bottom rope goes over the other half that you just brought down
bring it under the bottom rope
next, send it under both of the short string between the middle single layer and the bottom rope
put it under the loop formed on top of the other half of this short string
pull it tight

Repeat for all of the short strings

On the ends bring the single middle long string down with the top string.

Step 9: Make Another Side

Repeat steps 3 - 8

Making another template is optional. You can take the first off and make the other one using the same one.

Step 10: Tying Boards

Tie a board to each short strand. I used a tiny drop of hot glue to hold it in place.

Lay the second side above the boards and tie the bottom of the second side to the boards using hot glue to hold the string in place after tying.

Cut the excess string off.

Step 11:

Next I put my bridge in place and wrapped the 3 strings around the posts using hot glue to hold the rope in place.

I went around the post one time, gluing as I went around it. Then I cut the strings and used a small bit of hot glue to smash the ends down tight to the rope going around the pole.

I repeated this step for the bottom and top of each post.

A few of my boards did not hang exactly as I want, but this was easily fixed with a drop of glue.