Class Is In Session

Today I will teach my third Indie Craft Lab class! I settled on a paper and string theme for this semester to test the waters working with 4th-6th graders on a variety of Poppy Haus inspired projects. The end goal is for each girl to have several handmade pieces to fancy up their bedrooms. So far we've made the cupcake paper lantern, a striped drinking straw sunburst mirror, and this week we dive into string art. I'm amassing a collection of tiny hammers and brightly colored glue guns, and I'm learning how to pace the class, and how to best present a project to a group of eager crafting tweens. Honestly, it's pretty awesome.  

Here is the prototype for today's string art project, the girls will be making their names- I made "Happy" because I can't seem to get that song out of my head...

Materials/Tools:

5x12x.25" pine craft board (or thicker)
3/4" brass tack nails
Light weight crafting yarn
Tracing paper 
Masking tape
Hammer

First you'll need to make your letter pattern.  Print out and trace or freehand your word. Place on the board, straighten, and secure the paper to the back side using masking tape.

Hammer the tack nails in at corner point and fill in where needed to create a frame for the string to wrap around.  Secure tacks, but do not puncture the back side if possible.

Remove the masking tape from the backside and carefully tear away the paper.

Make a loop knot and secure the end of the yarn to a corner nail.  Trace around the nails with the yarn, creating the out boundary of the letter, then weave in a diagonal pattern, framing any interior letter detail in the process. Secure the end with a second knot.