Cacti are a common (and popular) icon of the desert southwest where I live, and I made three variations:
![Twine Cacti | shirley shirley bo birley Blog](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1574/26448055270_447b7c0b34_z.jpg)
![Twine Cacti | shirley shirley bo birley Blog](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1467/26114353074_941ce37830_z.jpg)
![Twine Cacti | shirley shirley bo birley Blog](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1559/26448054090_d698153a98_b.jpg)
![Twine Cacti | shirley shirley bo birley Blog](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1598/26114352524_ee8d63da99_b.jpg)
![Twine Cacti | shirley shirley bo birley Blog](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1711/26448053860_86b421cfaa_c.jpg)
I started with 30mm pipe cleaner (it's thicker than the normal kind you might find at the craft store), which I bought on Amazon.
Here's a how-to video:
See this project on the Whisker Graphics blog here: Creative Cactus.