"ARR!! Ahoy, ye mateys! It be time to set sail for the high seas! If foraging be yer game, then come hunt ye treasure aboard ye olde pirate ship!!!"






That's right, folks! I made a pirate ship swing toy for my kids. It was a bit of a learning experience and I was sweating bullets but here you are: a pirate ship swing!

I got just about everything from Party City: the Black Luau 72 oz bowl (it only comes in black, so far as I know)



as well as the pirate eye patches.



And pardon the pun, but you WILL be needing a boatload of beads for this one!

First, drill 3 holes in the bottom of the "boat". (I used drill bit size 5/32)




You can't tell from the pic, but there are actually three "circles" inside the plastic bowl that helped me see exactly where I should drill. I guess it came from the mold from which the plastic bowl was made but hey, it saved me from having to do some serious measuring-and I like that!

Next, grab your Rexlace and cut the end at a slant.



This is so that you can lace through what I call "clover beads".

These guys:



Next, you're gonna work backwards a bit. So flip your "boat" over and lace a clover bead through the bottom. This helps to anchor the Rexlace for extra support. (If you know me by now, you know that I use clover beads A LOT!)



Tie a knot at the end, and then pull tight. Cut off excess Rexlace but be sure to leave a little at the end so that it doesn't unravel. You want it a little long but not so long that it doesn't look good. (What I'd give to have a plastic anchor to tie at the end! Ah well!)

Now, you'll notice that when you open up your package of eye patches, they have elastic band on them. Cut and remove the elastic band. CAREFULLY drill (I used size 1/8) a hole in the top and the bottom part of the eye patch. You will notice I got extra eye patches. This is for any mistakes you might have. If you don't need them, you can take them back to the store for a refund, right? It'll save you lots of cussing, trust me.

We are going to work the middle/main mast first.

Pony bead up. (It took me 20 pony beads to get the first eye patch "sail" to clear the "boat" and look decent. This is a BIG TOY!




And tie a knot, add a clover bead and tie another knot. Cut across evenly to prevent unraveling.

Do the same for the top, using clover beads to prevent unraveling.

NOTICE that the MIDDLE sail has THREE DRILL HOLES:



Drill three holes in one eye patch at bottom. Then drill one hole on either side of the boat for support.

Here is a picture of the test run to see how much Rexlace I needed.



And here is the finished middle mast:



To bead, tie a knot, add a clover bead, then loop through the boat then add pony beads.

Now, do the outer masts: bead up, attach to eye patch, tie in knot, clover bead and knot again. Repeat.



Finish each mast off with a clover bead, knot, C clip, knot, clover bead, knot and clip.





...and that's it!

I love it!!! Especially neat how the white beads look like rope. Very clever, I'm sure the "crew" is going to love this toy.

YAY!!! I love your toy Tutorial's! :)
Love this toy. :) Thank you for your wonderful Tutorial's. :)

~Erica~

YAY!!! I love your toy Tutorial's! :)
Love this toy. :) Thank you for your wonderful Tutorial's. :)

~Erica~

That's really cute! Love the way you used the eye patches!
I don't know where to find plastic anchors, but what about those little plastic mugs some websites sell for foraging cups? Like little cups of rum!

bookmarked in case I ever need it :D

OMG..I am sooooo gonna make that too!!!
Thank You sooo verry much for sharing all the steps!!
You ROCK!!!

You are all so very welcome! :)

UPDATE: Late last night, I heard a crash so I got up and Catwoman is fine, she just sounded like she jumped HARD. But this made me think she was up in the swing and I took it down JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.

Well, upon closer inspection, while the swing is secure from side to side, it is NOT quite secure front to back SO I will fix this and post updates SOON on how to correct this problem.

Back to the drawing board...

That should be easy enough though. I had to make adjustments on the 2nd hanging method of the basket swing I made, 'cause it was too tipsy & the girls were not liking that.

Yep! I am just going to drill holes in the "boat", one in the front, one in the back and attach beads the the front and back "masts"....once I get home. At work right now. Sort of. Not busy per se (otherwise I wouldn't be on line, huh? ) but I've gotta be on standby.

*wonders if she can bring toy making parts up here to string up...no drills but just beading & tying knots? Can you tell I'm addicted to toy making? *

quote:

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Originally posted by RChurch

Yep! I am just going to drill holes in the "boat", one in the front, one in the back and attach beads the the front and back "masts"....once I get home. At work right now. Sort of. Not busy per se (otherwise I wouldn't be on line, huh? ) but I've gotta be on standby.

*wonders if she can bring toy making parts up here to string up...no drills but just beading & tying knots? Can you tell I'm addicted to toy making? *

---

It's hard not to be, once you start making toys & accessories the creativity keeps growing, now, just a matter of getting supplies for me, lol. I have a couple I'd like to jazz up a bit and some other ideas brewing.

Terry, get those pics up, bc I LOVE bouncing ideas off of ppl!

Okay, sorry about that, ppl. I did a quick fix last night and for those of you who need a visual/like to look at pics, here's what I did.

On both the front and back sides of the boat, I drilled holes in the middle.




Next, tie a knot at the end of the Rex lace, add a clover bead and then string through the boat. Add pony beads and attach to the eye patch "sail". I went ahead and looped through the same hole as before. Then I attached another clover bead, tied it off and cut across so it would not come loose.



Do the same for the other side.

Your pirate ship should now look like this.



I haven't decided if I want the "rope" to look tighter or not. If you do, just use less pony beads than I did.

(It was late last night, and I was dead tired but I wanted to get this tutorial up for those who wanted to make this.)

So YAY! We are finished. And I hung it up last night and didn't hear any thuds in the night.

YAY!!! It looks good.