Seagrass Rush Cord, Pre-Twisted, Large 2.2 lb Coil, 4 to 5 mm

Seagrass is a natural grass twisted into a firm cord, and this is a lot of it in one coil: 2.2 lb, about 4 to 5 mm thick. It is for full-size rush-style chair seats and benches, the jobs where a 1 lb coil runs short before the seat is full.

Working with it:

• Weave it dry, straight from the coil. If a stretch is stiff or kinked, mist it lightly with water; don't soak it.
• Tack the first end to the inside of a side rail, then wrap the four rails from the corners toward the middle in the rush pattern.
• If the seat is wider at the front than the back, fill the front corners first with short lengths until the opening left is square.
• Pull every wrap snug and push the rows together as you go, so no wood shows between them.
• Join a new length with a square knot and hide the knot inside the seat, between the top and bottom layers.
• As the seat fills, stuff the pockets between the layers with cardboard or spare cord, so the finished seat stays firm and keeps its shape.

The color starts green to wheat and mellows with light into a softer, warmer tone. Like any natural fiber, it varies a little in thickness along the cord and in color from coil to coil, so order everything for one seat, or one set of chairs, at the same time.

Seagrass is for indoor furniture. Keep the finished seat out of rain and constant damp, vacuum it with a brush attachment, and wipe spots with a barely damp cloth.

One 2.2 lb coil is a little more than two of our 1 lb coils, which covers an average chair seat. A larger seat, around 14 x 16 in, a wide stool top or a bench takes more, so order a second coil at the same time.

At about 4 to 5 mm, this is a fairly heavy cord. It fills a seat with fewer wraps than thin cord and gives the bold, rustic rush look. To match an old seat, measure a strand with calipers, or count the wraps in one inch along a rail and divide 25.4 by that number to get mm. For a finer cord, choose our 1 lb seagrass coils in the smaller sizes.