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

  1. Sand the wood.
  2. Paint the board with acrylic.
  3. On the same size as board, draw the shape on paper
  4. Tape the template on the board
  5. 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.
  6. Rip the paper off theboard before adding the string.
  7. Tie string on one nail and loop to the opposite side. Loop in a figure eight motion.
  8. Keep going till you fill it up.