Making to screen my patio from the road and the neighbors. When I first imagined doing this, I wondered how I would attach the cords to the top of a 12 foot wide porch. A week after we moved in, I noticed a long pole up in the rafters of the basement, which turned out to be the old handrail that was on the basement stairs before the owners remodeled. 12 feet long. It was meant to be. I hung it using drapery tie back hardware and attached the initial cords using Larks Head Knots. Started with an open mesh pattern so we could see the sky and tree tops and then added in more cords to do patterns with more coverage on the lower half. As I am working it became apparent that I need to anchor the sides as well as the top because when a storm kicks up the whole thing blows in and out. On the one side I can tie horizontal cords to the metal patio support but on the other side I had to drill into the brick and secure a strip of wood with eye screws to tie the cords to. I am just making the design up as I go, trying different patterns to see what looks best, changing things up when I get bored. I started out standing on a ladder, then moved to a stepstool. Now I am either standing or sitting on a tall stool. By the end I was sitting on a short stool.

I started with 9 yard cords but as those come up short I heat fuse additional cord to the short ones. Those joins seems to be working well which is one of the advantages to using synthetic cord. Of course, cotton rope feels nicer to work with but this needs to stand up to the elements. I am using the 4mm size.