Yarn is having a moment in home decor. Rather than making yet another yarn wall hanging, give those diamond-shaped weavings you used to make at summer camp a more complex design fit for decorating your space. Beautiful god's eyes, first created by Mexico's indigenous Huichol people, look complicated, but with a little practice, a few wooden dowels and some colorful yarn, you'll be sharing their positive, protective vibes with everyone who enters your home.
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Things You'll Need
4 3/16-inch wooden dowels (6-inches or 12-inches long)
Hot glue gun
Yarn (5 or 6 different colors)
Sharp scissors
Step 1: Glue dowels
Mark the center of the wooden dowels and attach them with a hot glue gun so they are perpendicular.
Step 2: Attach yarn
Tie a knot around the center of the dowels with the first color of yarn (in this case, pink). Trim the end.
Step 3: Wrap yarn in a diagonal pattern
Start by wrapping the yarn around the dowels in a diagonal pattern three times. Then switch and wrap it diagonally three times the other way.
Step 4: Wrap each dowel
Wrap the yarn around the right dowel once, bringing the yarn over the frontside of the dowel and wrapping around the underside of the dowel. Bring the yarn up and over the adjacent left dowel and use the same over-under wrapping technique. Continue this wrapping patten around all four dowels to complete one layer. Continue this pattern until you've reached the desired number of layers you'd like for this color of yarn. With each layer, you'll create a block of color.
Step 5: Attach a new color yarn
Attach a new yarn color (in this case, yellow) by tying the two yarns in a knot and trimming the ends. Continue to wrap the yarn around each dowel until the second section is your desired size. Attach the end with a hot glue gun and trim the yarn.
You can continue to wrap different colors of yarn in this manner to create a simple (but still beautiful!) two-stick god's eye. Continue reading if you'd like to create a more complex god's eye.
Step 6: Add a third color yarn and create a second god's eye
Attach a third color of yarn (in this case, green) to the multicolored god's eye with a knot. Create a second god's eye in a solid color (in this case, blue) that is the same size as the multicolored god's eye.
Step 7: Layer god's eyes
Place the multicolored god's eye over the solid-colored god's eye so that the dowels are evenly spaced. The multicolored god's eye will be in a "t" position and the solid-colored god's eye will be in an "x" position.
Step 8: Wrap opposing dowels
Flip the layered god's eyes over. Rather than wrapping adjacent sticks (as in the previous steps), you'll now be wrapping opposing sticks. This will not only create the new color layer (in this case, green), but it will also bind the two god's eyes together.
Wrap each of the opposing dowels three times in order to complete one layer.
Step 9: Wrap adjacent opposing dowels
After you've wrapped one pair of opposing dowels three times each, rotate the god's eye to the left and begin wraping the yarn around the adjacent right dowel and it's opposing dowel three times each. Continue to wrap adjacent opposing dowels until they've all been wrapped three times each.
Step 10: Cut and glue yarn end
Attach the end of the yarn to the back of the god's eye with a hot glue gun and trim the tail.
Step 11: Add another color yarn
Flip the god's eye over and attach a new color of yarn (in this case, blue) to one of the dowels with a simple knot. Trim the end.
Step 12: Wrap every other dowel
In this wrapping pattern, you'll skip every other dowel, bringing the yarn underneath the dowels you're skipping. This will ultimately create a diamond shape. Wrap the yarn around the dowel you tied the yarn to, then bring it underneath the left adjacent dowel and wrap it around the next left adjacent dowel.
Continue this wrapping pattern until this section reaches the desired size.
Cut and adhere the yarn end to the dowel with a hot glue gun.
Step 13: Add another yarn color
Tie another color of yarn (in this case, dark blue) to one of the "skipped" dowels. This will create an alternate layer contrasting the layer you just created.
Step 14: Wrap every other dowel
Continue to wrap every other dowel, bringing the yarn underneath the adjacent dowels, to create a square shape under the diamond shape you just created. When this section reaches the desired size, cut the yarn and adhere the end to the dowel with a glue gun.
Step 15: Add last yarn color
Tie the last color (in this case, white) onto one of the dowels. In this wrapping pattern, you'll wrap the yarn around each dowel once. Once you've wrapped the yarn around each dowel, glue the end with a hot glue gun and trim the tail.
Step 16: Ojo de dios
If you're using 12-inch long dowels, you can continue to wrap in the alternate square pattern until you get to the last color, then wrap the last color around all eight dowels.
