I finally, finally finished up my largest string art installation EVER. I had an idea one day in the shower (all great ideas come from a good shower) that I should try a face in string. One thing led to another, and it got bigger and bigger, and I finally settled on Marilyn Monroe.
I'm so happy with how it came out! I wasn't sure how it would all work, and I think it's working pretty well... this now sits above my desk, in the living room, which was formerly blank.
Majorly spruces up my work zone & gives me something to look at when I'm brainstorming. The string is navy blue, on 12 Tea stained tablets. I wanted some plant life on my desk but since I'm sadly not next to a window, a vase will fill in just fine. I threw this redwood tree trimming in and it's stayed alive for a while now:
Cute widdle twee. I had finally caught up on my string art orders one week & was able to experiment with my new designs, this is Bluebird 2.0 - much more detail! Available here.
I was goin' for the vintage swallow tattoo... I love that style. Nailed it! Haha... get it, nailed it..
Then I made this "Create" sign for Cassie over at Primitive & Proper, she was the winner of my recent string art giveaway over at Redoux:
Really happy with this fade, that pink is great:
Another lovely fabric:
This one was for my sister as a wedding present:
Their living room is reds, creams, browns...
And I finally got to finish my makeably sign, which I did as a thank you gift for the awesome people over at makeably.com
Just a lil update on the new stuff. Lots has been going on around the house too, we installed a new faucet - I can't wait to show it to you! It's changed my life. Well, the doing-dishes side of my life anyway. We also got the courage to paint a wall navy blue. It came out awesome.
Happy August! Happy Friday! Happy Birthday to my brother! It's all kinds of stuff today. Woot! OK I'm not exactly thrilled about it being August already, but I feel like I make that complaint every month. You'd think after 30 years I'd get used to how time flies, but nope.
Which brings me to today's project, time flew by since we built this & I didn't get to write up a proper tutorial. Until now! We've been working on the living room and needed a bookshelf to fit perfectly. So you know we had to build it:
Yep, that's a bookshelf. We wanted something with clean lines, something simple - the plan to go with simple was heavily influenced by the fact that simple = something we can actually build. I'd never built a bookshelf from scratch, and after looking at 3 million ideas I decided the best plan was to just jump in and see what happens. Don't you love when you've had just enough coffee to make really big, daring decisions like that? Luckily it worked out in our favor. Here was our before situation, our horrible horrible before :
Little by little Ralph and I have started working on the living room. We spend so much of our time in here that's it's hard to leave it until later, even though we should be outside doing retaining wall projects. These are just more fun. After we whitewashed the fireplacewe thought it would stand out more if there was a little color on the wall. A little turned into a lot, and we chose Martha Stewart's "Rhododendron", take a look: (Ignore the towel on the floor, we were preppin' to paint)
Grr... that heater! Originally I wanted to take it off, take it outside and give it a high heat spray paint job, but it's wired in, due to a blower on the top. So that project is not as easy as I thought it would be... someday. I can't stand that spot! Here's the after:
I love it! I've never gone with this type of a green before, but it makes for a very comfortable living room. It's weird too, in the daytime it's more of a soft green, and it night it has a hint of lime in it. It was a bold decision that made us a little nervous at first, but we figured we could always paint over it, right? I'm happy we finished... Here's the other side:
There are normally really ugly book shelves under that window, more on that soon. I think the size of this room really helps with the green, we don't feel closed in at all. In fact, it's bringing the room together in a good way.
Because remember our couch is also green:
Which you might think, take it easy pilgrim - too much green, but the couch is kitty corner (is that the right saying?) the green, so they don't touch at all. When you're sitting on the couch you see green across the room, and when your standing in front of the green wall, you see green couch opposite you. Make sense? I'll have a whole tour soon, we're doing all kinds of projects on this room.
So that's an update, we did this a while ago recently and I've meant to post, but so many other fun tutorials hopped in the way. Stay tuned for a how to on that TV stand in the right of that picture, we built that too.
Gotta few newbies finished up last week, I'm thrilled with how they came out. Here's my new favorite, standing proud on a 9.5" x 16" dark walnut tablet:
People have trouble figuring out the size, so I threw in an object we are all familiar with.
Then, by request, here's the state of Illinois with a star over Chicago, let me just say, these states are some of the hardest string art I've done yet! States are not shaped very nicely, like animals...
Here's an electric looking name for a nursery, "Ruby" is done in a new font I found called "Japan" with the colors fuchsia, gray and chartreuse inter-layered within the letters. I love it!
Here's one that I did for Makeably, as a thank you for including me on their Airbnb project... I made it to match their websites font & logo exactly, and I'm glad it came out nicely:
The stain above is an interesting one, first I stain the wood with a dark tea, then I come back the next day with a concoction of steel wool and vinegar. It reeks while I'm doing it but the smell goes away once it's dry, luckily. The color can't be beat though!
Then another thank you gift, the letter "B" for Karen over at Redoux, for hosting a giveaway for me. Another Dark Walnut tablet, this time with a more typewriter style font. Her choice!
Then last but not least, this is one of the gifts I gave my sister and her husband for their wedding last weekend. She gave me the general colors of their living room and I chose this combo:
So that's the latest in what's been keeping me busy in the string world, I've listened to a ton of This American Life in the process.. it's been great! If you are interested in ordering a tablet for your home, please go to my etsy shop or email me directly to start the conversation.
I've mentioned my Paper Crane obsession before, but I just kicked it up a notch. A while back I did a few sneak peaks on the facebook page of my finished paper crane chandelier, and now it's time to share how it's done! I'm really happy with how it came out, and decided to swap the bulbs out for nightlight bulbs, as it makes a great accent light in our living room. The cranes send angular shadows on the wall behind it.
You'll need:
Old Chandelier Frame - anything you can tie strings of cranes to will do.
Embroidery floss in your color choice and a needle.
Paints: Primer & Top coat color
200 Paper Cranes - I got mine in this etsy shop, but you can also make them if you're amazing.
Embroidery hoop - just the inner complete circle - (if you need to add hanging room)
Super Glue
Long Extension cord or wire by the foot & a plug kit.
Wire Nuts - 2
Tape: Masking and Electrical
Sawhorse (optional, for hanging the light)
Wall Anchors & Screws (if ceiling mounting)
This project is more time consuming than it is difficult, most the steps are fairly easy. So here's my light fixture, it's one of those 1980's ceiling mounted fixtures:
I've liked these for YEARS but hadn't thought of a use yet. I got this for $4. I love that the glass comes off so easily, and the frame is ready for whatever use you want. Disassemble your light:
I decided to keep the wiring and the ceiling mount, because even though I'm turning this into a plug in light, I thought it would look nice to mock install it on the ceiling, instead of using a hook and chain. The wiring looked very clean, so I didn't need to replace.
Once you've taped off the wires and the sockets, start priming. I hung mine from a sawhorse.
First you prime, then you paint. You know the drill with spray paint. Nice thin coats, and REMEMBER! Recoat within ONE HOUR or AFTER 24 hours... it's crazy that this rule actually matters, as if the paint had some sort of built in timer. I re-coated about every 15 minutes.
Blurry pic, but you get the idea:
Now - I wanted more than 6 strands of cranes hanging down mine, so I decided to use an embroidery hoop to add a ring at the top of my chandelier. These simple and cheap babies are wonderfully useful:
After finding the right size, I rested it on the top and painted it green with the rest of the fixture.
Now while your top coat is drying, time to string up your cranes. Since I bought mine (from origamiyyc) I saved a ton of time here. I know, cheating, but look at it this way - I supported another DIY'er, huh?
I wanted an ombre effect, and found that I had 50 of each of four colors. This doesn't divide evenly into 12 strands, but since I imagined semi uneven strands anyway, I divided like so: 6 strands at 16 cranes each, 4 strands at 17 cranes each, and 2 strands at 18 cranes each. If you stay consistent with the color order, you'll get your ombre.
Just take your needle and thread, with a LONG piece of floss (folded in half, just like sewing!) and string them up through the bottom of the crane, and out the back (top) of the crane. A double knot at the end was enough to hold the first crane, and since the floss is so thick the cranes stay up on their own. Thank goodness! I can't imagine a knot after each crane.
Do this as many times as you want, I wanted a very full look, so I did 12 strands.
After those are done, you'd better get to wiring up the light. You DON'T want to deal with that after you have attached the birds. I didn't need much wire, so I just chopped the end off a 12 foot extension cord:
Since I'm not rewiring, this connection was pretty simple. I matched the ribbed side of the wire, to the ribbed wire in my fixture, connected with a wire nut and wrapped it up in electrical tape. And vice versa. If you are rewiring, you can revisit the Jute Wrapped Chandeliertutorial for some wiring tips. General rule is smooth wire to black wires and ribbed wires to white wires.
I sort of bent the rim of the part that mounts to the ceiling, because I needed the wire to pass through somewhere since I'm not actually hard-wiring this to the house.
Now, earlier you may have wondered "How did he attach that hoop the the fixture?" Fantastic question, and here's the scoop. To hold it in place I just used hot glue, but I knew that wouldn't last forever on metal, so the trick is in the crane strands that tie to the fixture:
I tied the floss around, then crossed over and back under, a few times. Doing this on each of the six arms creates a secure tie. Later, we will super glue the floss to the hoop, which will secure all the knots. Here's a close up:
So just continue on, tying your crane garlands to your light.
Once you're done tying, it's important to come back and add a dot of super glue to your knots. For some reason embroidery floss knots come loose over time, and once you've trimmed the excess string, retying will be impossible!
A lil dab'll do ya. Now plug it in, admire it, take some photos....
When it came time to flush mount to the ceiling, I held the fixture up and marked where my screws will go. I used the 2 existing holes in the mounting plate, but will be using long screws and drywall anchors to install them. Just drill a hole in your ceiling, install your anchor, then put the screws through the mounting plate and into the anchor. Done.
My last step will be hiding the wire, but that part is boring so I figured you didn't need to be subjected to that... hah. And now for some fun photos:
Looking straight up:
So that's it! Took me about a day, lots of breaks and a lot of back to back episodes of Bob's Burgers on Netflix while I made the garlands. What do you think, will you give this project a try? I love how it came out, hope you do too! Here's the cover image if you want to pin it for later:
Enjoy & good luck! Send photos if you try it, I'd love to see all the different ones you all make! For more lighting projects, head to my Project Gallery and scroll down to "lighting".
