Thursday, August 30, 2012

DIY California string art.

We've all seen the string art floating around Pinterest. 
Well, I FINALLY got around to creating some for myself. 
Here's what I did: 

1) First, buy a piece of plywood (mine is 1/2 inch thick) 
and paint it whatever color makes you happy.
2) Print an 8.5X11 outline of the state of your choice and divide it into sections.
3) Next, take full sheets of 8.5X11 paper and spread them out over your painted plywood. 
Using your sectioned off sheet as a guide, draw the big version of your state's outline on
the paper covering your plywood (if you're terrible at drawing and you're way more
tech-saavy than I am, you can just print a giant state outline and put it directly on your board...
I was just too lazy to find out how to print one huge picture over multiple pieces of paper).

4) Hammer finishing nails about 1.5 inches apart all around the outline of your state. 
If you live in an apartment complex, make sure you don't make eye contact with your neighbors
for several days after completing this step, because they're going to want to kill you.

5) Tear the paper off, then tie one end of a spool of string/yarn to one of your nails.
6) Then start wrapping. Back and forth and over and across and up and down, over and over.

And, VOILA! Your state is ready to hang on the wall. 
That didn't even require a tutorial, right?

23 comments:

  1. That is so cool! With my attention span though I don't think I could do this project, lol. How long did it take you to wrap the nails?

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  2. This looks AWESOME. I need one pronto!

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  3. Wow that is so cool, I love it!

    Julia x

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  4. Wow that is so cool, I love it!

    Julia x

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  5. that looks great! However, I'm sure my patience and interest would run pretty thin.

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  6. I did a few canvases of art work with my favorite places too, but I just painted…this looks much cooler! It'd love to try it out with neon string and a white background. Thanks for the tutorial!


    -Alyssa
    The Glossy Life

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  7. I've always want to do this! But had no idea how to print the state out that big! Looks great.

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  8. I love this! I kiiiind of want to make one of missouri, but I also have my qualms with the midwest.

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  9. I think I will have to try this out. But I am going to need to find out how to print my state big because there is no way that I could draw it

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  10. I have never seen this before, but it looks really, really cool. Great craftsmanship too!

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  11. I love your version of this string art... so modern and unique! May not be as fun with a more squarish state... haha!
    Love those little paws peeking into your picture. Is Yoshi as much of a shadow as Doug is? I have to literally look behind me before stepping... as Doug has been nearly crushed several times
    xx
    Here&Now

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  12. this is SO COOL! Being a California girl myself, I love that Cali was the state you did this tutorial for! Looks awesome, I wish I could do that!

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  13. whaaaat? i need to make one of these!

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  14. WOW! This looks aweeeeesomeeee - better than Pinterest, girl!

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  15. I saw it on Pinterest, too, and I thought California would be too hard to do, but you just proved me wrong! Nice job!!!

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  16. This is such a cool idea, I need one of these for Oregon, plus it makes a great gift!!

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  17. I love that so much.
    You have the cutest blog ever.

    ~Michelle
    peoniesandballetflats.blogspot.com

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  18. This is AWESOME!! such a great idea !! I need to do it too!!

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  19. Really cool idea! It looks great!
    ~Jessica
    www.jeansandateacup.blogspot.com

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  20. That is absolutely GORGEOUS!! Oh my gosh, I can't get over it! One day when I build my patience and attention span up- I'm going to have to try that out. I love it!!!

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This is the part where you tell the pups how cute they are.
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