i am pretty sure that it was the combination of a trip to crystal bridges, a sunshiny day and a deadline that made this puppy possible.
i was looking forward to creating, but not quite to crafting.
i didn’t want to draw in the lines, but i told you i would….so i did. and then i did what i wanted.
but first up…the craft.
here are my supplies.
- wood-i used a remnant of 3/4″ B/C plywood that was a scrap from bryce’s rock climbing wall. i know nothing about types of plywood, but this one gave around the nail…so maybe buy something better?
- hammer
- embroidery floss- i thought about using twine, but couldn’t find my spool, i still think that would be cool. i think in the blog i got this idea from they use crochet thread. i think they may have been onto something, but i liked the floss just fine.
- nails- i think mine were 1″ wire nails
- a print out of arkansas with an “X” roughly where i live/work/woopig.
- really really cheap craft paint- ironically i chose the same color as the people on the blog did. stupid subconscious.
- not pictured but needed: pencil (to trace the state on the board), tape (to tape the picture down while you trace), paint brush (seriously helps with the painting)
so step one, paint the board. or don’t paint it. i painted mine so i could still see the grain underneath. after it dried i picked where i wanted the state and i taped the sides of the picture to the board. i suppose tape could pull your paint off, so be careful.
then taking the pencil (i used a real deal pencil, i don’t think a mechanical would hold up, but that is your call) outline the state and mark the spot on the map that will be your “center” point. take the tape and the picture off and you have got yourself an outline. or you should, so if it didn’t show up in some places, you may want to go back over them.
once you are traced it is time to get to nailin!
i chose to sit on the floor in my craft room. this may or may not have something to do with the fact that i couldn’t nail in a straight line or hammer a nail in straight to save my life.
the right side is supposed to be jagged. the rest should have been straight. whoops. it took me a little less than two boxes of nails to get done.
so from here i tied the floss around a nail a few times and then snipped the extra off. and got on my merry way.
and i also got all the string into a knot, but it came out. i assume you also avoid this by using a large spool of something over a bunch of little packages, but whatever.
when i ran out of the blue, i tied a green string to it and kept on going. later i just pulled the knot under the other strings and it wasn’t super obvious.
the upper corner came out weird and the top and left side were a pain. i guess that is the pain of living in the corner of a squarish state.
tada…um. it’s kinda rainbow colored and super bright. not something we would put in our house, but over all it turned out okay. any other NW Arkansasians want it?
by the time it was done i was itching to make some original string art. i took a board that i had been scraping leftover paint on and go to work. the beautiful picture below is your before picture. (note to self: STOP FORGETTING TO TAKE BEFORE PICTURES)
and here she is after (and my kitchen). so….
i love it! i can’t wait to make some more string art! when it didn’t matter if it was messy anymore, it was allowed to be beautiful.
the moral of the story: i don’t like to make crafts, i like to create things BUT i feel like by crafting i become a better creator. onward!
also, i am buying a digital camera. this cell phone pic situation just won’t due. i don’t want to admit how long it took to get my pictures off the dang phone. also, the lighting sucks. i will try harder next time friends.
speaking of next time…VOTE!!!
ahoyfriend. 