String Art

About 2 months ago Pinterest went crazy with the newest fad, called string art. The complexity varied: some were simply one letter using only one color of yarn, some were cursive letters using different colors, and some used negative space with string being everywhere on the board but the letters, Each one of these string arts had the same basic concept. You would hammer nails in a wooden board and then use yarn to connect the nails. I decided this would make a great Christmas gift for one of my best friends, and I have always liked giving gifts that I had made because it can show more thought than just buying something from the store. Because I had never done this before, I decided to make a very simple version of the letter 'E' for my friend Emilee. Her favorite color is blue so I found yarn that went from light blue to dark blue to make it look more complex. I started by buy a 8" by 11" piece of wood from my local craft store, as well as the yarn, and a package of nails and white spray paint  (you could use any color that matches your yarn) from a hardware store. I started by using a ruler and pencil to lightly trace a grid onto the piece of wood with 1 inch squares and then drew the 'E' by connecting the lines of the grid. I then hammered nails on the lines of the 'E'  keeping them half an inch away from each other. I then applied two layers of the spray paint to the wood and nails in a well ventilated area and allowed it to dry for 48 hours.

It should look something like this: 
 Next I used the yarn to make the outer later of the 'E':

Then, start making x's through the nails. Start in the upper right corner and go down one nail and one to the left. Then go up one nail and one to the left. Do this until you reach the end of the row and then repeat, only moving one nail to the right instead. 

This should be the result so far:

Once you have covered the entire letter with x's, you continue by connecting nails that are farther apart, for instance moving down one nail then 2 to the left or moving up one nail and 3 to the left. Continue until all areas of the letter are covered with yarn. You can choose how much yarn you want to connect.

Mine ended up looking like this: 

If you don't like having this much empty space on your board you can write a message or attach pictures. If you want to be able to hang it up on a wall, you can also buy an attachment at the hardware store and simply nail it to the back of the board.