Embroidery Floss
–1 each of red, white and blue
Nails with nail head.
Tack Hammer or Regular Hammer
Wood Board
–Mine is a pallet board and measures 14″ x 5-1/2″
Printed Star Pattern (click link to open and print)
Masking Tape
Sanding Block (optional)
Directions:
If your wood board has rough edges, use a sanding block to remove them. I lightly sanded my rough pallet board.
I like to work with an old towel on my surface. It helps keep the board in place and softens the pounding.
Remove the pattern. It is important to pull the pattern UP and AWAY from your board before tearing it off. If you don’t lift it up, you’ll end up with little pieces of paper by the nails that can be removed with tweezers. Not fun.
String your stars. Begin with embroidery floss. Unwind it a bit so it doesn’t tangle (mine usually always does). You’ll be using all six strands. Do not separate. Begin by tying the string to a nail – any nail, anywhere. Double knot and leave a tail. String away!
I begin with a zig zag motion, hitting every other one and then weaving back and forth, up and down. There’s no right or wrong way, and you can fill it in as much as you want. When you’re happy with the fill of the star, return your string to the starting nail (with the tail, the one you tied the string onto)
You will now begin the outline. You can do the inside or the outside outline first, it doesn’t matter. Begin by moving from one nail to the next and completely wrapping your string around the head of the nail and moving onto the neighbor nail. When you return to the starting point, reverse direction and begin the opposite outline (if you started with the inside, you’ll now be doing the outside, etc). When you finish, tie the two strings together in a double knot.
Trim strings. Sometimes I apply a little saliva to my string ends after cutting, It helps smooth them and hide them next to the other string.
Check out my other 4th of July crafts, including an easy kids craft!
Kristin K says
I used to enjoy doing “String Art”! Although, I won’t be creating one for the U.S. I could apply your techniques for a Canadian flag!!! Thanks!
Stefanie says
Yeah, that’s a great idea!! Maybe I should try to figure out a Maple Leaf one! 🙂
Christy Peeples DuBois says
I have thought strung art was so neat from the first time I saw it but have not read how to do it until now. Thanks for sharing and I may have to try it myself.
John Thuku says
I have never tried star string art. This looks like great fun. I can try this with my kid brother and see how it goes. Thank you for the tutorial.
Mai T. says
Looks like lots of work and time needed! It suits really well for my work table decor.
Nina Lewis says
What a clever idea. I’m always on the lookout for things for boys to do — and I think this easily fits the bill.
Thank you so much for sharing this at Grandma Ideas Sharing Time link party. It’s a great post! (I’ve pinned it!)
All the best,
Nina
Mary West says
I love string art! I made 4 string art pieces of superhero logo’s for my sons room!