How to Make Burlap Nests

Are you not dying right now over the beauty of these nests!! I have become quite obsessed with these burlap nests and if you know me, you know I love getting messy when I am crafting. Isn’t that the fun part!!? These burlap nests work great to stand along, add these Primitive eggs, or on a wreath. So lets just jump right in and learn how to craft your own burlap nest!

Lets start by grabbing our supplies. You will need:

Burlap cut into random sized strips and squares (I save my scraps from other projects, they work perfect for these nests!)

mod podge

water

plastic bowls (2 per nest)

Patience

Yes, I know! I just heard myself typing that and chuckled. I have zero patience but these take TIME to dry. Sad face! It’t worth it in the end though, I pinky promise!

If you read my post on how I made my String Art you know that that this bottle of Elmer’s glue is actually mod podge! Don’t get fooled by the photo and try using elmers glue, it will not work!! Why, you ask? Well its washable..adding water thins it out and the glue loses its ability to stick. How do I know? You guessed it, I tried it!

I cut strips about 1 inch thick, and ones about 2 inches thick and then cut them up into smaller sections. This is one project where you want the burlap to fray giving it a more natural bird made this nest feel!

Next take a bowl and add mod podge into it. Add a little bit of water just to thin it down. We are going to dip our burlap strips into the mixture and we want it to be thin enough where you don’t soak up all of the glue on one strip.

Can you tell how liquidy it is in that photo?? Think of it as a stoup (Stew+soup=Rachel Ray lingo) Not super thing but almost. I know, I know I am really helpful right now! Really you can make it as thick or thin as you want. I just make it thin enough that it kinda soaks into the strip..then I wipe it off with my fingers so there isn’t a ton of extra on it. I don’t like to waste my glue!

Now flip a bowl upside down and we are going to start laying pieces of burlap on it to form our nests. These red plastic bowls are my favorite ones to use for this project. I have tried other ones and the shape was off. These fit 3 eggs perfectly and create a great size for the nest.

Just lay strips over the bowl and keep working your way around.

Make sure you cover any open spots. It will make your nest more durable but really its your call on how you want it to look. Side note: see how there are drips on the edge of the bowl..if you have a ton of drippage (I like to make up words, you can read about it in my About Me) just pour it back into the bowl with your mixture to reuse it. This is another reason I love these red plastic bowls..the lip curves up so it holds any liquid that squeezes off in the next part and wont leak all over your work area!

I like to do long strips around the sides, not the whole way around, but just a few. I like the way it looks when it dries! Kinda messy, kinda fun!

Now grab your second bowl and place it over the nest and smash it on. Now for the fun part..we wait! And wait! And then wait some more! Lord give me patience, because I have NONE!

I sit something heavy on top of the bowls while the nest is drying to help it keep its shape and to make sure the burlap is drying to the other pieces.

Then let it sit for about 24 hrs to dry. I know right!?  You just fell out of your chair! Don’t hurt yourself. Maybe make some eggs (here) while the nests dry! Brilliant idea folks!

Then when they are dry, take the bowls off of the nest carefully. Sometimes they can stick. You could even line the bowl with plastic wrap if you wanted to, but I have never done it. And wallah! You have yourself a pretty snazzy burlap nest!

I like to throw a few extra pieces of loose burlap and twine in the center before I put my eggs in, just to give it a fuller look.

Get the full tutorial for these funky primitive eggs here!

What will you be using your nest for? I would love to hear your ideas!!