I love string art. I remember making one in elementary school. It was the first time I used a hammer and was really proud of my ability to pound those nails straight. After I loved the process of adding the string and creating a design of concentric circles. It was the 70s and the artwork did not live past the decade but I longed to make another one. So a few years ago, my daughter and I made one together from recycled wood from an old fence. She created a few more and even sold them to neighbours.
This past summer I tried it at art camp. Made a few mistakes such as not ripping the template off the board before the string. Providing early elementary kids with a complicated design. Need to stick with simple shapes such as circles and hearts.
Materials:
Board ( any size)
Nails
Embroidery thread.
Hammers ( if you are in London, ON. I would be happy to lend you our hammers for a nominal fee)
Steps
- Sand the wood.
- Paint the board with acrylic.
- On the same size as board, draw the shape on paper
- Tape the template on the board
- Hammer nails at every line intersection. Then nail halway between the first two nails and so forth until they are aabout a 1 cm apart.
- Rip the paper off theboard before adding the string.
- Tie string on one nail and loop to the opposite side. Loop in a figure eight motion.
- Keep going till you fill it up.
