Salt Shaker Tassel

by Lauren

3 Materials

1 Hour

Easy

Left over salt or pepper shaker.. Some of these are too pretty to just get rid of.. This is a cute way to upgrade...

As you can see, he is a cutie..

Took my drill and made the access area larger

This bit works but not sure of the title of it.. A hard corse stone feel, this Chicken is ceramic.. I also took a drill bit and enlarged the pepper holes on his back..

I had stumbled over a bag of embroidery threads and a book to teach me how to use them... Pashaaaaaww!!! Not going to happen, but they were so pretty and they were really cheap... also could take apart some costume jewlery and ribbons to add some excitement .... icon

But I just want to share the basics and you can dress it up later...

Not going to need this book, but it is a good book... any thing will work and remember this is pretty much the length of your tassel times two...once you go round and round as much as you wish..... slide a nice long, really long, about a foot (I used a braided strand), length of cord under the bunch and tie it on the top in a knot.. then remove from the book. You will have a bundle of threads hanging from your long cord, which will now have two 6" length ends. The thread bundle will still be connected on the bottom... Sharp scissors will be placed in that bottom loop and cut your thread bundle in half..

Hold your threads tight and trim them as even as you can get them.. don't worry, at this stage the threads are wrinkled from being wrapped in the store packaging.. It will take a day or two for the threads to hang straight and you can trim the wild ones again at that time..

I made a loop on the end of a piece of wire, hooked it through one of the 6" lengths of cord at the top of your thread bundle and threaded the straight end of the wire up through the bottom hole in the chicken until the wire came out one of the pepper holes on the top

There will be two 6" ends of the cord you used to tie the top of your bundle of threads, use the wire to hook and pull through one of the ends and then repeat with the other end to the alternate hole. Pull both cords through and tie them in a knot on the back of the chicken.. Or whatever your design of shaker is..

Notice i only had to enlarge two of the holes on the top of the chicken...

I tied the two 6" ends together inside a gold ring of plastic i had.. just because i had it and it was shiny.. You can just knot the two 6" pieces together to use for hanging your tassel..

He is a little wrinkly but that will all straighten out in a day or two.. But now he has a position back in the Kitchen.. I will go back maybe and thread some beads on here and there, Maybe.. icon

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2 of 16 comments

Lauren on Jan 02, 2018

you can use wire to wrap your tassel and thread that through the holes, it is thinner, and then add a bead or two on top of the shaker...

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Marie Grubbs on Jul 28, 2022

Thank you so much for the tutorial. I started collecting S/P shakers yeas ago and I love this idea for tassel tiebacks. Cracker Barrel is a great place to find inexpensive shakers ($1-$2) and they change them out seasonally. I also use crochet cotton from Hobby lobby. It’s a lot less expensive, comes in a multitude of solids and variegated colors, and now there’s even a version that you can crochet to make dish clothes which is a bit of a nobby texture to add variety. I’ve also used 1/8 inch satin ribbon, seed bead strands, and specialty yarns. So many things you can use so you’re only limited by your imagination. 😁

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