Hi everyone! First off, I want to say a HUGE thank you to all the kind comments about my Plastic Tablecloth Wreath. And secondly, I want to say how fun and surprising it was to see my humble little wreath over on Apartment Therapy‘s site. A HUGE thank you to Sarah Rae Trover. You can check it out for yourself here.
Okay, now on to today’s little craft. A few weeks ago, I was contentedly pouring over the pages of the Makeovers issue of House & Home (one of my very favorite magazines, incidentally), when I spied a small piece about string art. Do you remember string art? Awww, string art and Spirograph. Many of my childhood hours were spent creating valuable “works of art”. It was always fun to see how the final design turned out.
Anyway, I was inspired and thought it would be nice to try a simple string art project for my fall porch. Nothing says fall like pumpkins, so I decided that’s what I would make. You will not believe how easy this project is.
I started with a spare piece of plywood from my scrap wood. Really, you can use any wood for this project. I considered nailing together a few odd sized boards like I did for the backdrop of my mirrored wreath, but when I realized I had the perfect size on hand, I went with that instead.
Next, I chose to stain my board with a dark walnut stain. I did a small bit of sanding, especially the edges, prior to applying the stain. While the stain was drying, I sketched out the shape of the pumpkin. Then I figured out where I wanted my nails to go and marked those spots with an “x”.
After my board was dry, I taped my drawing to the board to act as a guide. Then I hammered a nail everywhere I had placed an “x”. I hammered right on top of the paper. Once all the nails were set, I simply pulled away the paper leaving my design (in nails) on the board. One quick note: Make sure you use nails that have a wider nail head so that your string or yarn does not slip off.
Next come the fun part. I chose to use a burnt orange yarn for this project. It was on sale and I’m using the same yarn on another project, so it was the perfect choice for me. Of course, you could use any color you wish.
I started at the bottom of the pumpkin and wrapped the yarn around the nail a few times and then tied it in a knot. Then, I traced the pumpkin design with my yarn, stopping at each nail and twisting the yarn around the nail to secure it. I found it was easiest to work in a bottom to top, right to left, sequence, meaning that, starting at the bottom, I wove the yarn up the right side of the pumpkin first and then went down the first groove. I kept the yarn taut, but not too tight.
I ended up making two passes around the pumpkin. This gave a little more depth and thickness to my pumpkin.
Once finished, I simply tied off the yarn and snipped the ends as close as possible.
This would be a fun and pretty easy craft to do with kids. And you could do just about any design. Imagine a black backdrop and white yarn or string. It could make an awesome spider web for Halloween. Now, you’re coming up with ideas, right? I told you this was fun.
This guy is happily ensconced on my front porch. String Art. A fun and easy craft project.
I’m hoping over to Centsational Girl to link up to Kate’s Fall Craft Party. Come join me for the fun!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh I do remember string art. This turned out awesome! I’ll bet it was fun to do, too.
I remember string art! It also brought back memories of those cards with holes punched in that you’d lace a string through.
This is really cute, Kristen! So many directions you could go with it, as well.
Okay…. love this fall project too. It is a good thing that I have almost no fall decorations, because you are filling up my mantle with your ideas, LOL!
~ Kimberlee at The Spunky Diva