Thank you all so much for the sweet response to our first 'Hip Hip Hooray for holidays' project that we posted yesterday. We're so happy that you're enjoying our blog adventure for little people.
If you are just joining us, here is a direct link with all the details for Me and for Tamar :)
Welcome to my second project - string boards!
Materials list:
♥ Hammer
♥ Nails
♥ Yarn (colour of your choice)
♥ Aluminium foil
♥ 30cm X 30cm sheet of wood - we used ply wood but any wood is fine. Any size of wood will work for this project too - I'm just giving you the size that I used :)
This is a really easy project and my Bella thoroughly enjoyed making both patterns that I'm sharing today. The best part is that the yarn can be snipped off the board at any time and a new pattern created. You can also use string if you don't have any yarn handy.
Step 1: Decide on the size of your string board. I'm sharing two different styles today, but basically the boards I'm using are 30cm X 30cm (approximately 12" X 12"). You can do any size though - the concept is the same for other sizes.
Step 2: Cover each board with aluminium foil or alternatively you could paint the board. If your board is nice (not all spray painted and crazy like the ones that I started with) you might even prefer to leave it natural. I'm sharing the circular shape first. Use a large dinner plate and draw around the edge with a pencil.
Step 3: Start hammering in some nails at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 9 o'clock. Then fill in the gaps with more nails - more or less evenly spaced - until you are happy with the spacing. I used 64 nails to fill in the circle but any amount of nails will work, so long as they are evenly spaced. If you want to do the design shown in the first photo, ensure that you finish with an even number of nails.
Step 4: Tie the yarn onto a nail to begin - leave a small tail of yarn for tying off with later. We'll call this nail 12 o'clock.
Step 5: Take the yarn from the 1st nail (where you tied it on) across to the 3rd nail. Loop it around the 3rd nail and then back to the 1st nail. Then across to and around nail 5 - back to the 1st and then continue counting and looping around ever 2nd nail until you are back to the original nail.
Step 6: Tie off your yarn using the tail that you left dangling in step 4.
Step 7: Repeat these steps again, but this time start on the opposite side - 6 o'clock.
Repeat the process again at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock to complete the design.
We decided to do a square string board too. For this I drew up a 25cm square and hammered in nails at 2.5cm intervals. Although you can do any kind of pattern, Bella thought it would be fun to do a random weave of yarn. This is a great option for smaller children too, if they don't want to work on an actual pattern.
Display your projects :)
I hope you enjoyed the project :) I'll be back later with a sneak and project list for tomorrow's post.
Don't forget to pop over to Tamar's blog and peek at her second tutorial too! She's sharing the cutest idea for puppets today.
