String Art with a Mason Jar Vase

Happy Mother's Day!

String Art, its a very interesting craft to me and I've always wanted to try it.  I decided to finally have a go and this is my very first try at it.  It's not perfect but I like how it turned out.  I want to make more now! lol!

I made this little creation for my Mama for Mother's Day.  She loves purple, so nine times out of ten, I'm going to use purple if I make her something.  She also loves hummingbirds, so that's why I chose the hummingbird for my string art.

You will need the following items to re-create my project:
A piece of wood cut to 8 1/2" x 8 1/2", sanded smooth
String art pattern of your choice
1 box of 1" 15oz nails
Hammer
Sand paper (very fine like 220)
2 shades of purple paint
Foam paint brush
Painters and washi tape
Vinyl for words (Cutting machine to cut out words)
1 bundle of purple embroidery floss
1 bundle of green embroidery floss
Crocheted Daisy with leaves
1 Mason jar
1 hose clamp large enough to fit your jar neck

I painted my board with two coats of Lilac Mist acrylic paint.  I let that dry well and then lightly sanded it to distress.

As I said, this was my first time to try this art so I just went to Pinterest and read a few posts that I could find that described how string art was done and went from there.  I did not find any that was step by step detailed.  This is trial and error for sure, you'll see, keep reading!

I found my pattern by Google-ing hummingbird pattern.  Here I taped on the pattern with washi tape and laid the jar down for placement.

Now to hammer the nails in using the pattern.  I found it did not work on carpet, so I went outside to the patio and that gave me a very sturdy base to hammer against.

You will want the nails close, but not too close to each other.  I found that if they are really close, its hard to get your fingers and the embroidery floss going all around as you need to.

Here I have all the nails in.

NOTE:  DO NOT do this!  I discovered that if you just tap the nail in to make a hole and then remove it all the way around your pattern and then take the pattern away, THEN hammer in the nails into each hole,  its LOTS easier.  Trust me, getting the paper pattern off with all the nails in it is NOT easy and then you've ruined your cute little pattern you could have re-used!

Ok, so here's the actual string art part of it.  I made a slip knot and slipped it around the first nail and then started down the trail wrapping the string around each nail as I went.  I made the straight line of the string on the outside and then back again on the inside.  This made the outline first.  Later I went back and did the back and forth zig zags to fill in the center.  NOTE: After I tied my very last knot, I added a bit of clear craft glue to the knot so it would be sure to hold and not come loose.

After lots of work, I got the paper pattern removed.  Next was attaching the metal hose clamp.  Sorry I couldn't take pictures of this step, but it was attached using a wood screw.  Be sure to check for placement with your jar before adding the clamp.

Now to stencil on the word "hello".  I used my Cricut machine and the Alphalicious cartridge to cut out "hello" using vinyl.

I used a darker purple paint called Purple Pansy for the word.  I took my sponge brush and with very little paint on the tip of the brush, I tapped lightly until the word was covered.  It was almost like dry brushing.  The less paint the better because otherwise your paint will seep under the vinyl where you don't want it and your letter will look distorted and there will not be crisp clean lines. I learned that lesson a long time ago.

Now here is where I thought the word looked too low down and I had lots of blank space to fill, so I added the little flower.  See, more trial and error LOL!  I'm a card maker, not a string art designer. Haha!  This is a whole different process of creation!  I had the little crocheted flower and leaves in my stash.  I added a few more nails in a curved line to create a stem for the flower, then added the flower and leaves by using a bit of craft glue to hold them.

I like how it turned out for my very first try at string art.  Practice, practice, practice.....right?  All that matters is my Mama liked it and thought I did good, so its good!

More String Art at the links below:

Halloween String Art
String Art with Mason Jar Vase
Doggie Paw String Art Memorial
Flamingo I posted on Instagram

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch