string art for a group

[athomeontheprairie]

My dd9 is in charge of supplying a craft for once a month to a group. (This is what happens when I don't show up for a meeting!) She's done really well the last couple of months. This month, she wants to do string art.

Can you help me think through this?

We need supplies for 5-15 people. (We never know how many people are going to show up, or stay for the craft). what do I need to buy? *We've never actually done string art before. I imagine it's simple. Maybe not? I'm thinking of 6" x 6" boards.

Should we have some designs to choose from? Let them make their own? How many colors of string? Is there a way to do this that doesn't use wood but that is still sturdy? (Cork board? Ceiling tile? something else?)

 

Is this too ambitious? We have some other ideas, but I'm trying to let her plan everything. (I'm just the one that will need to take her shopping!)

 

Thanks for your help!

On a related note, if you have some craft suggestions that work really well in a group of various ages/gender, I would love to hear them!

[Tap]

How much time do you have for the class? It takes a bit of time to make one. It will also take quite a bit of prep for each one, so I would not want to prep 15 and only have 5 people show up.

[athomeontheprairie]

How much time do you have for the class? It takes a bit of time to make one. It will also take quite a bit of prep for each one, so I would not want to prep 15 and only have 5 people show up.

if the pictures were small, six-inch by 6 inches how much time would it take . Both to prep and to do the actual activity?

would it take less time if we were using a ceiling tile instead of wood?

would they need to be prepped to help time, there was a smaller image is it something the kids could do in a reasonable amount of time?

[Cinder]

I haven't done any string art recently but I found this website with some ideas that might work for you. I think the hearts, star and feather are cute. I'm thinking you'd want to prep the boards with the nails before the meeting because it will take longer than you think for the kids to wrap the string. I would just offer one nail pattern and let them choose from a few colors of string.

 

I didn't know these could be done with ceiling tile. Would they be strong enough to keep the nails in place under the tension of the strings being wound?

[City Mouse]

Off the top of my head, I would use foam board pre-cut into 8" square and use a bunch of straight pins instead of nails. Have simple outline shapes for the kids to choose from, or they could come up with their own design. Let the kids put the straight pins on the outlines. Then use sewing thread or embroidery floss to make the string design.

[Tap]

Off the top of my head, I would use foam board pre-cut into 8" square and use a bunch of straight pins instead of nails. Have simple outline shapes for the kids to choose from, or they could come up with their own design. Let the kids put the straight pins on the outlines. Then use sewing thread or embroidery floss to make the string design.

I don't know if this is strong enough? The pins would stick up too high and get tippy with the string.  Maybe it would work with double thick foam board? But I still don't know.

[Tap]

I think I saw some premade ones (bare wood with nails) recently at a Michaels or Craft Warehouse.  If they are reasonable priced, then you could buy them and if you take good care with them, return the unused ones. 

 

 

The tedious part is the nails.  Trying to get the placement right, straight up and down, and all level will be quite a bit of prep. Especially if you have to prep for 15 and hardly any people show up.   Each person needs a small ball of thin yarn, thick string or something similar.  So, either each person has to have their own store bought length (spool of embroidery floss, yarn etc) or you will have to roll your own smaller balls from a larger supply. 

 

[Tap]

Here is a project that isn't overdone in our area, and works with multiple age groups/skill levels.

 

Draw your lines on copy paper in a 8x8 square. Photo copy that paper onto heavy copy paper, so you have multiple pages to work from. 

 

8x8 is a size that is small enough that they can make more than one if they want, or spend more time making one very nice one. 

 

[Erica in OR]

You could see if she'd be satisfied with a cardstock and yarn version of string art, like these cards. Paper embroidery is another option that I've been dabbling in using free patterns on the internet, although I'm not sure about doing it with that age group. Some examples are at http://www.stitchingcards.com/section.php/5/1/free-e-patterns.

 

Erica in OR

[Tap]

Hand art that is often a favorite project here.   Drawing hands and doodling designs on them. 

 

Just don't call it henna or some one may reject based on religion. 

 

This is a picture of the beginning steps.   You can either leave the hands by themselves, or fill in the back ground with random patterns. Either looks really cute and the kids seem to enjoy it. 

 

 

[athomeontheprairie]

Here is a project that isn't overdone in our area, and works with multiple age groups/skill levels.

 

Draw your lines on copy paper in a 8x8 square. Photo copy that paper onto heavy copy paper, so you have multiple pages to work from.

 

8x8 is a size that is small enough that they can make more than one if they want, or spend more time making one very nice one.

Does this have a name? Do they draw the image, then add concentric circles? Then color?

[athomeontheprairie]

You could see if she'd be satisfied with a cardstock and yarn version of string art, like these cards. Paper embroidery is another option that I've been dabbling in using free patterns on the internet, although I'm not sure about doing it with that age group. Some examples are at http://www.stitchingcards.com/section.php/5/1/free-e-patterns.

 

Erica in OR

This might be a good possibility! Thanks

[Storygirl]

I helped with a craft at DD's school that was a string art project. It wouldn't have been my choice, but I think the kids liked it. We used a square of cork and small (3/4" ?? white nails). The parent who prepared it brought papers with simple shapes photocopied onto them (this was for Halloween; one of the shapes was a bat; the other was a pumpkin, maybe?). The kids put the paper onto the cork as a template, hammered in their own nails, and then could tear the paper template off of the cork if they didn't want it on there. DD chose to keep her paper template as part of the design.

 

Frankly, it was a pain to supervise. The person who created the craft actually put herself in charge of the food table after telling a few other parents what to do, and somehow I ended up heading things up without really knowing what I was doing. The kids all had fun, though. Before the kids entered the room, we pre-counted the number of nails she thought each child needed and stacked them on the cork boards, along with the strings. I think we had about 30 kids, but only had 8 at a time working at the craft table, so we had to keep moving new craft materials to the table when the groups switched. It would have been so much easier for the craft supplies for each child to be already sorted and in a plastic baggie. It was tedious to count out all of the nails under time pressure and it was a pain to keep the nails from rolling off the cork boards when we moved each new stack of materials to the table for the next session.

 

The biggest problem is that the kids hammered the nails right through the cork and were dinging up the school lunch table until someone ran and got some plastic protector sheets from somewhere.

 

There was a limited time for each group to be at this station before moving on to another activity, and some kids didn't finish, but they seemed content to finish winding up their project at home.

 

The cork boards we used were small. Maybe 4x4 or 5x5.

 

This was for fifth graders.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Storygirl

[Carol in Cal.]

What I would do instead:

 

Valentines.  Because it's seasonal and it's a LOT easier.

 

Purchase list:

Heart shaped doilies in assorted colors

White cards OR white and pearly and red cardstock

Red, white, and gold tissue paper

White glue 

Small flat paintbrushes

Assorted felt markers for writing messages

Glue sticks 

Scissors

 

If you have torn or cut tissue paper, you can place it into position on your cardstock and brush over it with 50/50 mixture of glue and water, and it will stick, kind of like junior modgepodge.

 

Gluing down doilies works better with glue sticks.

 

Here are the doilies I've used in the past:  http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=3106&Category=

 

Pink ones:  http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=2784&Category=

 

I love teaching fiber arts to kids, but I think string art is ambitious due to the needed prep work.

 

I'd be more inclined to teach spool knitting, assuming you can get someone to give you a bunch of old wooden spools to doctor up.  

At least then you'd only need to use a few nails per child.

 

And then I'd teach macrame.  Really simple, maybe a choker or the techniques to take home and make a belt.  All you'd need for that is the string, a clipboard, and a pair of D-rings per child.  Plus scissors.  Easy peasy!

[Carol in Cal.]

Forgot to mention--in March I'd probably do paper weaving.

Woven placemats can be really complex, and you can make them at all different artistry levels.

If you have a laminator and can seal them afterwards, so much the better.

 

The basic idea is that you take two pieces of construction paper, cut parallel strips into one from one short edge to one inch away from the other short edge, then cut the contrasting colored piece into one inch wide strips from one long edge to the other and weave them in.  You secure the end intersections with a glue stick once you have this woven together.

 

Start with that to teach the technique.

 

But then you can vary that by cutting wavy lines and wavy strips, or varying the widths of the strips, or cutting them on a diagonal (that is fairly tricky but the old kids could make it work if they had experience with the standard ones.)

 

You can also use this as a backdrop for a large overall design, like a big heart, or a shamrock, or a sunflower, glued onto the top of the woven piece when it's finished.