Stringing in the Future

As I sat down to write this post, I realized that I did something very naughty. I promised that my next installment of dorm room decorating would edge on the more practical side. But I lied.

It’s out of pure selfishness that I have changed what I will post about today. My last few posts have really been on the text-heavy, nitty, gritty details of how to prepare for college life. 

So instead of boring you out of your mind about more practical posts, I have decided to give you and myself a reprieve.

Today’s post is about incorporating string art into your dorm. Like so….

Now I know what you might be thinking, as I did the first time I saw this, that it’s hard. But let me tell you, it’s not. I am about the most impatient perfectionist out there and even I could do this little project.

So let’s get started!

Materials you will need:

1.  Acrylic Paint – it dries quickly and is the perfect craft paint

2. Wooden frame

3. Embroidery floss

4. Stickles

5. Wire Nails #18 x ¾ (Home Depot)

Step 1:  Paint the wooden board two different colors. One for the middle and one for the edge of the frame.

In this case I used Yellow Acrylic Paint for the middle and a Light Green for the edge. If you choose to go with the oval that has a slightly fancier trim around it, you may need a smaller brush to dab in the hard-to-reach spots. Q-tips might work well for that part.

Let the paint dry before moving on to the next step.

Step 2: Place your chosen picture onto the board and hammer in the nails around the negative portion of said picture. (Make sure, before you start nailing, to have some cushion underneath. I used a laptop case, newspaper and a couple placemats.)

 

The flower is the negative portion and the filler on the inside of the flower is the positive portion.

 Luckily, my mom owns a Cricut. Now, you don’t absolutely have to have a Cricut for this project to work.

A.  If you don’t own a Cricut simply print out a picture online (or if you are a very talented drawer feel free to free-hand it) and use the positive. This means cutting out your image as you normally would and putting the nails around the outside instead of the inside (the negative).

B.  If you have a Cricut, lucky duck you! Simply use the negative portion of your image and nail around the inside. For this project I used a Cindy Loo 10” flower. But you can make it any size you want.

As a side note, the curvier your image, the closer your nails will have to be to get inside the curves. As shown above.

Step #3: Tie your floss in a knot around the first nail head. You can begin anywhere you want. I started by outlining the edge of my flower with the pink floss. Once done outlining the piece of the image, start zigzagging your floss.

Remember: There is not wrong or right way to weave your image. Whatever floats your boat is the right way to go.

Continue the process throughout your image with however many other colors you want. If you want to add another color just tie it in a knot on a nail head and begin the process again. 

It doesn’t matter if you have a million strings attached to one nail head. If you can fit it, then you should do it.

I continued with the darker pink and the green for the stem.

Step #4: When you have finished stringing a certain section just tie that string in a knot again. Don’t worry about having a knot here and there in the process. Most of your zigzagging will cover it up. Just try to cut the knot strings a little short.

When the stringing is finished you can add Stickles on your nail heads to cover them up. It added a cute little shimmer and really finished off the project. I put green Stickles around my stem, light pink and dark pink for my flower.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed today’s project. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave one and I will get back to you as soon as possible.