... and No Nails String Art

One of our good friends has just become a Grandmother! (Remember Lants who made the Pink Furry

Headboard?!). Her daughter Abbie has had a beautiful baby girl called India and I wanted to make something extra special and personal for her.

I'd seen lots of projects on Pinterest using nails and a wooden board to make string art. I love the effect but didn't have a suitable piece of board (and wasn't sure I could be dedicated enough to bang together all the nails that would be required!!). I do however have LOTS of blank canvases and an idea struck!

Materials:

• Blank Canvas (I used one 50cm X 20cm)
• Wool (I used a variegated type to get a colourful effect without having to change strands!)
• Tapestry Needle
• Awl or Piercing Tool
• Baking / Tracing Paper
• Marker Pen
• Letter Stencils or a word or image to trace
• Masking Tape

I started off by typing the word "India" into a Word Document, choosing a font that would look good, as well as having even straight lines (I think this works best with the straight lines of the string). 

Having marked out the space that I wanted to fill on the baking paper, I enlarged the word so that the letters would appear on the screen the size I wanted (9cm) and traced them directly from the screen (the light from the screen really helps!!)

I attached the baking paper template to the canvas with masking tape, and began to pierce holes evenly around the outline of the letters. After removing the baking paper, this is what you're left with:

I then threaded through the holes, ensuring I came out of each one at least once. The aim is to create a good spread across the letter, but trying to keep it random.

After finishing, I decided the outline needed to be more prominent, so I back stitched around each letter.

And that's all there is to it! I'm hoping that Abbie and India love it - cos I really, really do!!!! 

I think this would work well with simple shapes and pictures as well as words. especially with Valentine's Day coming up... What would you use it for?

We are linking up to these parties!

6th February 2014 - Update: this post was featured here at A Conquered Mess