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Friday, September 20, 2019

Fall String Art

Hello Friends!

I wanted to share a Fall themed string art project I made recently...


Our local library hosts a Craft Therapy class each month and this was the class for September. They provided all of the materials and a variety of patterns. I choose the pickup truck because I just love them. 


I only had time to pound in all of the nails and string the window, tires and bumper at the library and brought the rest of it home to finish.

Now I have to admit this wasn't my first try at string art. I have done it in the past but have been underwhelmed by the results. I decided to do things a bit differently this time and put my own spin on it.


I decided that I was going to add depth and dimension by doing a few things different from what you normally see.  Most of the time the string is very high up on the nails resulting in a flat looking design. To help overcome this flat look I decided to string up specific areas and push them down about three quarters of the way down on the nails and build up which created depth where there normally wouldn't be any. You can see this in the grey rims which make the black tires stick out more. I also pushed the white window strings down about half way.


You can also see the depth on the pumpkin as I started off with the stem which was pushed 3/4 way down on the nails; next came the light orange body of the pumpkin. The final step for the pumpkin is another way chose to make this string art different. I took a darker orange and created an outline which helped to bring the design together, add another layer of depth and created a tidy finish for the design.


The third thing I did to set this string art design apart from traditional designs is to vary the amount of string I used for each portion of the design. I used heavier amounts of string on the fenders, less on the body of the truck. This helps to create different values of red from less intense (on the body) to really intense (on the fenders). By doing so this created another type of depth on the finished project.


The final difference which I explained on the pumpkin was adding the outline which helped give the overall project a polished finishing touch. You can see to help add definition I used a brown thread to define the fenders adding another layer to create depth and dimension.


The original project was supposed to be centered on the board but of course I don't often follow directions ;) LOL...  I knew I wanted to add some type of sentiment so I positioned my truck just a bit lower than center to allow space for whatever I decided to add to the finished plaque.  I die-cut the letters Welcome Fall from Ebony Starstruck Foiled Paper from Rinea. It gives it a bit of shimmer without detracting from the string art.

I am just thrilled with how it turned out and I hope you like it as well.





4 comments:

  1. Hi Roni. I agree, string art is often underwhelming, but the way you have done this is awesome. What a cute truck!! And I love the pumpkin. Very cool techniques for toning and highlights. Love it. Hugz

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  2. It’s very fun! Never thought of seeing a truck as string art! Love the dimension!

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  3. I love that you didn't keep the truck centered! Great piece of string art Roni. It was great to see it on the Cafe wall!!!

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  4. Fantastic! Thanks for the tips! I love the depth! Inspired to play on my own.

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Thanks for your thoughts and comments!