Cork Board String Art

I saw this tutorial by Chris of Man Made and I loved it. Also read the little bit he wrote about how string art became popular in the late 60s and 70s. I showed it to my mother and she said that she used to make string art when she was younger but had completely forgotten about it (and she is more of a math person than an art person).

I actually do have a fun thread and nail project planned, but for now I took this basic idea and turned it into something fun that everyone can do with things lying around the house. All you need is embroidery floss, thread, yarn, or even rubber bands, thumb tacks, and a cork board. This is such a fun project for a teenage girl’s room or a dorm.

Here’s what I did.

First, print off letters that you want to use and cut them out. I found that it works better to keep the letters and shapes very simple unless you are working on a large scale.

Lay the letters on the cork board where you want them. Then put thumb tacks all around the edges. Do not push the tacks all the way in yet.

Tie the end of string around the bottom of one of the tacks. Trim the edge so it doesn’t show. I then strung the tread all around the outside of the letter along the bottoms of the tacks. Sometimes you have to get creative and loop around a few times. Try to do each letter or shape with one piece of thread if possible.

Now push the tacks all the way into the board. Start looping the thread around the top part of the tacks now. (There are so many ways you can do this. I liked the way that the letters jumped off the board when I wrapped the string around the tops of the tacks.) You can work with a pattern or wrap randomly. I made sure that there was thread wrapped around all of the outside outlines of the letters.

To finish, I slightly pulled out a tack, tied the thread around the bottom, trimmed the edge and pushed the tack back in.

I decorated the board with pictures of Lyla, a felt bow, and a bow I made out of Lyla’s first scribbles.