Easy String Art Images Ariel Mickey Mouse Face String Art
With so many of us still stuck at home, it's important to continue to keep busy and find fun things to do. So, I decided to craft it up with my very own Mickey string art!
You probably all know about string art. It's not a new thing, and it's been a fairly popular crafting trend for a while now.
String art is wonderful because you can really make it whatever you want it to be! Whether you want a butterfly, a heart, or a Mickey, you can do it with string!
It's very simple, too. You start out with a board, and then you hammer your nails into your desired shape, and then thread string through the nails for your fill color!
There are a few nuances to it, despite what it boils down to. Today, I am going to show you how I made my Mickey string art. I'll even throw in a few bonus ideas if you want customize your own!
What You'll Need
Here's what you'll need. Photo by Leah Sikes
- Board (whatever size you want your finished piece to be)
- Nails (I used 1 1/2 inch finishing nails)
- Hammer
- Embroidery floss
- Paint (optional)
I have just a couple notes on the items you'll need to get to make your Mickey string art.
For my board, I used a piece of scrap plywood from my parent's backyard. It's about 1/2″ thick and mostly a perfect square. I didn't measure it, but it's around 9″ square.
Because it was scrap wood, it had some imperfections and coloring changes. So I decided to paint it. Keep in mind if you paint, it will take a bit longer to get your final piece.
The nails I used worked perfectly fine, but you might find you want a slightly larger head on the top to keep the thread from slipping. You might also need shorter or longer nails depending on the board you use. Just see what works best for you.
Painting
You can skip this section if you've decided not to paint your board.
Really, painting is very straightforward. Get a brush, your paint color, and go to town. Lay out something so you don't get paint everywhere.
I ended up doing three coats of paint, with only one coat on the four edges. The third coat was because the template I used for Mickey got some ink residue on my pretty white paint, and I had to cover it up.
My board, after I finished painting it. Photo by Leah Sikes
I also got really tired of waiting for it to dry, and sped up the process with a hair dryer.
Make Your Template
Before you start hammering the nails in, you have to have your shape down!
My first thought was to use a plate and a cup to make perfect circles for Mickey's head and ears, directly on my board. That didn't work as well as I wanted.
First, I tried laying my shapes directly onto the board. Photo by Leah Sikes
I found I was going to need to tweak it too much, and experiment with my plate sizes a little. Plus, getting it symmetrical was going to be a pain.
My next idea was to cut my template out of a brown paper bag. This worked much better because I was able to change the shapes slightly if I needed to, and I folded the paper in half to get Mickey's head perfectly symmetrical!
I still used plates and cups to get circles, but you can use whatever you have around the house.
My first template was a bust. Mickey's ears were too small, and it felt too round, somehow.
My first template, which is not quite right. Photo by Leah Sikes
The second time around, I made his head smaller and ears a little bigger. Then, I squished the ears just a smidge. If you look carefully, a lot of the Mickey heads don't have perfectly round ears!
I was much happier with my second template.
My second Mickey head was just right! Photo by Leah Sikes
Lay it on your board, and very lightly trace it. Oh, and be careful that your paper bag doesn't transfer any ink onto your board. It happened to me!
Very lightly trace onto your board. Photo by Leah Sikes
Nail It In!
Start hammering your nails around the outline you just made!
I started at a point, and then just tried to evenly space them as I went around. It really doesn't need to be perfect.
Make sure you put a nail in the points for a nice, defined shape. Photo by Leah Sikes
And don't worry if you bend a few nails! Trust me, I did.
Many nails will go to the nail graveyard. Photo by Leah Sikes
Make sure you put nails in all the points on your design so you get a nice, well-formed shape at the end.
Also make sure your nails don't go through the back of your board.
The finished, very smudge-y, piece. Photo by Leah Sikes
By the end, my fingers were super dirty from handling the nails. I was getting black smudges all over my white board.
Cleaned up nicely! Photo by Leah Sikes
It came off easily with a wet paper towel!
String It Up!
Now for the colorful part!
Tie your thread onto one nail, and begin weaving it throughout your nails.
Tie your string onto your first nail and start threading! Photo by Leah Sikes
You just need to loop it around the nail and drag your string back to another nail.
Zig zag your way around the nails. Photo by Leah Sikes
I tried to make sure each nail had at least one loop on it before I started double looping, for the most part. However, if you want to do a border around your pattern, you should probably do that first.
I ran out of string before I created my border. Photo by Leah Sikes
I actually ran out of string before I did my border, but I found some more that was almost identical in color. It's slightly lighter, but you can hardly tell. Plus, the slight change kind of makes for a fun layering effect.
Creating the border, in a slightly different color. Photo by Leah Sikes
A couple things to keep in mind:
- Keep your string tight as you pull it from one nail to the other
- Don't do keep the string right at the top of your nail, especially if it has a small head like mine do
- Try to have some variety in the directions you pull your string
And make sure you stay within your shape! It's easier than you'd think to pull a string and go beyond the nail boundary you've created.
Stay within the boundary of the nails—it's easy to accidentally go outside the nails. Photo by Leah Sikes
Once you're done, tie off your string just like you did at the beginning. And that's it!
The final product! Photo by Leah Sikes
Bonus Ideas!
Here are few ideas you could do to change up your Mickey string art!
- Go heavier on the string, and totally fill in the color. I wanted to really get the string look, so I didn't fill up all the empty space. Just remember you'll need a lot more string!
- Make a line across the middle of your Mickey head, and two ovals below that. It'll look like a little Mickey head with his signature red bottoms, black body, and yellow buttons!
- Add a bow and do that in a different color to make Minnie Mouse!
- Put a small heart or small Mickey head inside your big Mickey, and leave it empty of string. It'll make a cute cut-out effect!
All in all, there are lots of ways to customize your art to make it your own. There are even several ways of achieving the exact same outcome. So just have fun with it and make some beautiful Disney magic!
I want to see your finished pieces! If you decide to make some Mickey string art, be sure to show us over on our Facebook page.
And, if you're looking for even more fun Disney projects to do at home, subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed!
Related:
- 7 Great Disney Activities While You Social Distance
- How to Make Mickey Pizza
- Bake Cookie Fries Just Like Beaches and Cream
Source: https://www.wdw-magazine.com/how-to-make-mickey-string-art-at-home/