How to Make a Paracord Plant Hanger

Take some nice bright paracord and make yourself a plant hanger. Paracord is great for indoor or outdoor use and can handle the weight of any plant and pot you care to put in it.

So here is what you'll need for this project:

1 metal ring 38mm
2 colours of paracord 6m of each - I'm using yellow and orange
Scissors
A lighter for sealing the ends of the paracord
A ruler or tape for measuring with
A ceramic pot
Some string or spare paracord for suspending your project while working

From the orange paracord cut 2 lengths each 2m 50cm long. Seal the ends with a lighter to stop them fraying.
Then cut 2 lengths each 2m 50cm from the yellow paracord, and seal the ends.

Take the first piece of orange paracord and find it's midpoint by folding it in half. Take the midpoint loop and put it through the metal ring from the back. Take the two ends of the paracord and pull them through the loop.
Next take a piece of yellow paracord and do the same>
Repeat with the 2nd orange cord and the 2nd yellow cord.
Now all your paracord is attached to the ring and you have 8 dangling ends.

The 8 strand Matthew Walker knot is the most complicated part of the project.

If you want to watch a video there is a great one from the Paracord Guild here - They start tying the knot at 2:14: I've added photos from an example knot I tied that has 8 different colours.
The colour order is turquoise, purple, grey, red, navy, yellow, green, orange.
I arranged the cords out flat in the colour order above.

Starting with the turquoise cord make a loop. Pass the turquoise cord around the back of all the other cords and thread it back through it's own loop.

Next take the purple cord. Pass it through the turquoise loop, then around the back of all the other colours and back through its own loop (ONLY it's own loop)

Now on to the grey cord. Pass it through both the previous loops (turquoise and purple), round the back of all the colours and through it's own loop.

I think you'll be getting the idea of this now.
Each cord you take from the back - pass it through ALL the previous loops, take it round the back of the remaining cords and through just it's own loop.

By the time you have done all 8 cords it looks like you are holding a pinwheel.
Now to start tightening - pull each cord in turn out to the side gently while trying to keep the colours in order.
Once you have tightened up a bit, Take the turquoise cord which is at the bottom and move it to the top.
Next take the purple cord and move it to just below the turquoise. Then the grey to just below the purple and the red just below the grey.
Now everything is in the right position you can continue to tighten, gently working your way round the cords until you have a nice looking knot

It took me a few attempts to get the hang of these knots - so don't despair.

Now that you have learned to tie a Matthew Walker knot, we tie the first one in our project.
With the ring at the bottom and the cords facing upwards splay out the cords so you have 2 yellow, 2 orange, 2 yellow, 2 orange.
Measure 10cm from the ring and grasp the cords at that point. This is where we want our knot.
Starting with the left hand yellow cord, make a loop, pass the cord right round the other cords and tuck it into it's own loop.
Proceed with each leftmost cord - remember the cord goes through ALL the preceeding loops, wraps round the other cords and finishes by tucking into its OWN loop.
Tighten gently, then raise the bottom yellow cord to the top, the next yellow one just below that, then the orange to just below the yellow and the next orange just below that.
Tighten properly and you'll have a Matthew Walker knot 10cm down from the ring.

For this next part I find it easier if I suspend the project by the loop over the pot you are going to use.
Decide how far down you want the pot to be from the ring. For me this was 60cm so when suspended from my outside bracket the pot would be below eye level.
Find somewhere to suspend the project from (I used our open plan stairs) and use a piece of string or a spare length of cord to get the distance from ring to the top of the pot just right.
Arrange the cords round the pot in pairs, 2 yellow, 2 orange, 2 yellow, 2 orange.

The square knot or reef knot is a very easy knot.

Right over left and under.
Left over right and through.
Pull tight.

Tie a square knot in each pair of cords (same colour pairs). Get the knots level with the rim of the pot.

Now tie a second level of square knots using opposite colours of adjacent cords. Make the knots so they are about half way down the pot. You may have to adjust them once all the knots are done to get them level.
You will see that this is forming a diamond shape grid.

While your project is still suspended measure how far down you will need the bottom knot.
If your second level of square knots is half way down the pot - this will be half the pot height plus half the pot diameter. There is no need to be super accurate.

Now untie your suspension, remove the pot and tie that second Matthew Walker knot.
Depending on how much of a "tail" you want hanging down - you can trim the ends and fuse with your lighter to suit.
For the lengths I used I didn't need to trim the cords.

Now you can hang your pot up.
You won't be able to adjust the Matthew Walker knots, but you can tease the square knots a bit to get the position right.

Now you can add a plant to your hanger and enjoy.