String art is getting more popular at the moment. I've been wanting to try it for a while now, I just needed an excuse to give it a go. A friend and I make gifts for each other each Christmas so this was my excuse. However I didn't get to see him until April so this post had to wait.
It took me a while to decide what picture I wanted to try with string art. I didn't want my first string art project to be something really complicated but I also wanted it to look good, as it was a gift. Trying to find something that my friend would like, that wasn't too complicated, was difficult. He loves wolves so I was determined to make a wolf.
I think I spent more time trying to decide on a picture to try than actually making the thing. I also spent ages trying to find some wood. So I ended up buying a chopping board... may not have been the best idea though as I will explain in a bit.
So what I used:
-nails
-poster paint
-thin string
-chopping board
-paint brush
-hammer
-sandpaper
-pencil
-paper
I drew the pattern on paper first so I knew where abouts to put the nails on the board. Then I painted the board with two coats of black (however as I decided to buy a chopping board I had to sand down the board first because it had a coating that would have affected the paint). After the paint dried (I left it overnight) I cut out the drawing so that I could use it as a template for the nails (again this was a mistake, I will explain later). I actually didn't hammer in the nails I gave that job to my partner... who struggled because chopping board wood is very hard, who knew?! So the nails had a tenancy to bend whilst being hammered into the wood. This is very annoying to a perfectionist like me so I'm very glad my partner was doing it...
The problem with using paper as a template is that paper sticks to poster paint. Again - who knew? So I had to try and peel the paper off between all the nails that had just been hammered into the wood, not an easy task I'll have you know. It ended up needing a wet sponge.
Eventually after removing all the WHITE paper from the BLACK background I started to add the string. I pretty much just made the string part up as I went along. I have never seen string art being made before so it was all just guess work on my part. Some parts of the design were very tricky, such as the legs of the wolf, but on the most part it was OK. I did find myself undoing chunks of it that I wasn't happy with first time round, but all in all I think it went quite well. I think the trickiest part of this was trying to make teeny tiny knots in the string invisible whilst keeping the string tight around the nails. If there is a knack to this I do not have it, I did find this very frustrating.
The end result, however, is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself... even with the bent nails. I would happily have this piece of artwork in my home.
I want to make some more string art as I love the end result. Obviously now I have some mistakes to learn from and now I have more of an idea of how to lay the string out. Also as a gift for Christmas my Grandma gave me my very own handy and pretty hammer,without even knowing I was getting into string art.
What a perfect excuse to make more art!
