| |

DIY String Art by April Wilson for #LoveYourLifeFriday

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

One of the most popular DIY craft projects right now is string art. It seems like every craft store has kits for sale. I’ve had my eye on a kit from my local craft supply store for a while, but finally decided to buy the supplies instead of a kit and make it my own.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • embroidery floss (or thick string)
  • mini nails (I used 1/2 inch)
  • piece of wood or pallet sign
  • paint (optional)
  • hammer and needle nose pliers
  • paper template

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.   DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.   DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

This would be a fun project to do with your kids over spring break when the boredom monster sets in!  Each child could do their own initial to make a personalized wall hanging for their room. Just a tip when choosing your pattern – the wider the template the easier it is to fill in. A shape like a block letter, heart or flower will be easier than a script letter or something with lots of curves or jagged edges like a state outline. If you search “string art templates” on Pinterest you’ll find tons of ideas!

If you want the background of your sign or piece of wood painted that should be your first step. Since I wanted to use white string for my design I painted my pallet sign with turquoise chalk paint.

Lay your template out on the wood/pallet sign and center it. If you are doing this project with your kids you may want to put a few pieces of tape on the template to hold it in place.

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.   DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

Now you can start hammering the nails around the outline. I found that holding the nail with needle nose pliers is easier on your fingers!  You want to leave about half the nail sticking out so that your string art stands out from the background.

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.   DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

Continue nailing about every 1/2″ all the way around your template. I didn’t measure and I know that mine are not all perfect, but you really can’t tell in the finished product.

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.   DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

Once you have nails all around the template you can tear the paper away. You might end up with a few small pieces of paper that stuck under the nails, these came out quickly with a pair of tweezers.

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.  DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.  DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

Now you are ready to start stringing. Choose where you want to start and tie a tight knot in the string around a nail. Don’t cut the excess off until you wind the string around a couple more nails to make sure your knot is tight enough.

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.  DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

Begin filling in your outline by stretching the string across to another nail and wind it once around that nail. Continue back and forth in a random pattern until you are happy with how the design is filling in.

Once you have the inside of your design filled in go around each nail on the outside edge to create an outline for the shape.

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.   DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.   DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

After you outline the entire shape tie off the string with a tight knot, cut off the excess and you are ready to hang your creation!

DIY String Art by April Wilson for Love Your Life Friday at karenehman.com. Click here for tutorial with pictures.

***********************

 

Similar Posts

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *