Hello Crafters!
Today I am going to show you how to make this super cool bicycle string art to give your walls a little punch of colour 🙂
Supplies You Will Need:
- Piece of wood (I used a 8″ x 10″ piece of wood from the dollar store)
- Your own template drawn out on paper or download my free design here
- Nails (any finishing nail will be great just make sure they aren’t so long that they will poke through the back of the wood) I used 18 x 5/8″ steel picture hanging nails
- Hammer
- Hot glue gun (or regular white glue)
- Assorted colours of embroidery thread
How to Make Your Own Bicycle String Art
Paint the wood
First paint your wood if desired! I painted mine yellow and I will paint the edge after the string art is complete so I can pick a colour that complements the colours of string that I used.
Next take your design template and tape it to the wood so it doesn’t move out of place.
*Note* If this is your own design and you want to use it again I would strongly suggest making a copy of the design because you will most likely rip the paper when you are removing it over the nails. I just scanned my original onto a sheet of white paper.
Now the fun part; hammering things 🙂
Hammer in the nails
Hammer nails into the dots on your template. I made the dots very close together on my downloadable design so unless you have very small nails I would suggest nailing only into every second dot like I did.
Do not hammer them all the way in as you will need to wind the string around them. I would leave about 1/8 of an inch sticking out. Next remove the paper by simply peeling it off over the nails. I had some trouble removing the paper because the nails stapled some parts down so if you need to reach in between some of the nails to grab stray bits of paper just grab some tweezers!
Wind the thread
Now that you have your nails in place it is time get excited about your colourful thread!
To start each new colour of thread I simply tie it to the nail and put a teensy dab of hot glue to make sure it doesn’t come loose. You don’t want the glue to be visible but don’t worry too much because most of the nails will have so much thread wrapped around them that the glue will be covered up.
Once the thread is fastened onto the nail start winding! Be creative with how you want to wind the string. You can do zigzags back and forth between nails or just wrap around each nail as you go for a clean finish. This is the part where you can be creative and make your bicycle art your own!
To end a strand of thread I basically did the same thing that I did to start it; tie it off on a nail and put a dab of hot glue.
Wow! It’s looking like a bicycle 🙂 Now you can add finishing touches to make your project come together. Paint the edge of your wood, paint the heads of the nails, or write an inspiring quote around the bicycle. Use your imagination!
I would love to hear about how you personalized your string art in the comments below, also if you have any questions/comments about this project feel free to leave them in the comments below as well!
Happy Crafting!
