String Art Necklace

I loved playing with a spirograph as a kid.  This necklace takes little more than string and fabric glue to recreate the look of the sirograph drawings using string art techniques.

Step 1: Make the jig for wrapping string

Trace a circle on cork board or foam.

Mark dots at equal points around the circle.

Shove toothpicks, bamboo skewers, or little nails into the dots.

If you're using toothpicks or bamboo, it would help to coat them with a little melted beeswax; brush it on with a paintbrush, then re-melt it with a hair dryer to smooth it out.

Comments

[twighahn]

gold thread and copper thread

[nanaverm]

Tres' cool! I do this on paper, called spirelli, but this is incredible! Thank you for this instructable.

[poofrabbit]

Hey congratulations on being a featured author! I wanted you to know I used this project last year with 150 campers, and they LOVED IT!! :)

[alisonb]

These are beautiful

[MicioGatta]

Using polystyrene and white yarn, I could do xmas decorations with my pupils at school next december. Thank you for the great idea!!!!!

[skimmo]

they look like tattoos

[auntylulu]

Mega Cool!
Yay for "ADD" people
keep it comming!

[calinschki]

Wow! Gonna try this today!

[kerikins]

Yay!!! Another ADDer here! I love to see what so many deem as problems to their advantage!!! Multi -tasking and thinking way outside the box! Where would we be without BIG thinkers? Without cars,electricity,phones...you get the idea. Everything in this world began with a single thought...You are an inspiration! As far as your views on autism I completely agree. Temple Grandin would be proud!
Keri p.s I am writing your comment about making more stuff in my journal it's really good!

[quinchles]

Neat! I thought of doing something like this a while ago, but couldn't figure out how to make the thread stiff. I guess I should try it now with the fabric glue :)

[piratecupcake]

I absolutely love this! And I am thinking of different ways to vary this to make gifts for people, it would look cool as a book mark I think but is it sticky? Or once the glue dries is it not sticky? (I have never used fabric glue before)

[margann]

Way cool! I think they would make great earrings.

[mooseinakilt]

Really awesome idea! How fragile would you say the end product is? That's my only fear is that I'd destroy my work too easily.

[supersoftdrink]

If you use fabric glue, it's pretty resilient. I can crumple the links into a ball and they spring back into shape.


I'm not sure it would hold up so well if I used something like starch instead.

[mooseinakilt]

Thank you very much :) That's reassuring! I'll have to post up a pic when I try it out.

[KreaKatri]

Wow, really really nice!
They look amazing, and just think of all the possibilities with different types of string, and how you assemble them.
It might also look good in sort of a "cluster" where they are partly on top of each other.
Can't wait to get started :)
Great thinking!

[amstewart]

Could you also use liquid starch? My grandmother used to crochet ornaments and then used liquid starch to make them hold their form. She would keep them pinned down or otherwise held the way she wanted to them to stay and then soaked them in it. Then she would just leave them a few days to dry completely.

[timothymh]

I would imagine this would also work, but I have not tried it.

[Madrigorne]

I am going to make them out of unbundled scsi cable and then attach them all over a dress, or my coat, or my hat, or my barrettes, or all o the above...also my purse.... These are so amazing. I will prolly use silicone sealant to goob them together instead of fabric glue - as they won't soak in the gluey goodness. I wonder if I could do this, and then also include LEDs and a batterypack... oh this will be fun...

[Kaelessin]

I could see these taking off quite quickly! The main image looks really steampunk too which I like. These would make great pendants too no?

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

I was thinking exactly the same thing...

You could also use these to decorate a notebook or something.

Oh dude... dip 'em in clear Plastidip!!!!

[Kaelessin]

excellent plan!

[edwoodard]

If I'm not mistaken the Victorians used to do something similar with the hair of their dead loved ones. cf. Antique Road show. Ya can't make this stuff up, folks!

[blopez]

As you mentioned, someone will be selling them. Check out Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/30297081/multi-coulour-spiro-necklace-circular?ref=sr_gallery_16&%3Bga_search_query=spirograph&%3Bga_search_type=category&%3Bcategory=jewelry&%3Bga_page=&%3Border=&%3Bincludes%5B0%5D=tags&%3Bincludes%5B1%5D=title

[hammer9876]

Very creative. The fact that it is something I can make from the things I have around the house just awesome. I, too, was just fascinated by spirograph. I think I still have mine stuffed away in the closet. Too cool to throw away.

[bptakoma]

Awesome! I lovedall those hours with the spirograph too. These could also be donereally big for wall art or mobiles, maybe use acrylic medium or paverpol with rope. Or use wire. Wonderful -- keep sharing the great ideas.

[framistan]

Your string idea seems to be something i can use on an instructable i am almost done with. I am building a big studio-microphone but the faceplate grille looks REALLY BAD.... and your string-weaving idea i think will really help me. here is a picture of what i am building and you will see how bad it looks. Thanks because now i will be able to re-do the grille and it will look GOOD when i get done. Weaving wires is not as easy to do as string looks.

[darrenchittick]

I like what you've done with this. I think it would be stellar if you changed up the shape of the final project so it wasn't just a circle of shapes, but so it had that plus a 'strand' of smaller shapes that hung straight down the back or the front or both or... so many choices! Brilliant work!

[terig]

This is gorgeous - I can't wait to make it! I, too, loved spirograph, so this is gonna be awesome!

[myraelise]

I am going to have to try these. I'll just add that to my list of hundreds of projects! Wish I had thought of it!

[eulaliaaaa!]

Do you have to skip an even number of strings? I am just wondering because for some things it has to be either an even or an odd number...

[MonicaBerry]

It's a division problem, if the total number of pegs is divisible by the number you're skipping, then some pegs won't be used.

[eulaliaaaa!]

Thank you very much.

[KayakChickee]

Could you use spray starch instead of glue? I wonder if you used it at least for the first part before you took it off the pegs. I'm going to have to investigate this option. Great tutorial!

[Kryptonite]

That's awesome! The end out product of them all put together is very smart of you to come up with, and looks brilliant! You could probably sell them on etsy if ou wanted.

[Lettucehead]

I love it! I tcould make this on my knitting loom! But does it actually have yarn in it?

[supersoftdrink]

All the black is thin yarn. :) The colored stuff is embroidery floss.

[onrust]

Beautifully done........ but you must know that.

[justa_person]

This is the coolest form of jewelery I've ever seen! Thanks for sharing :)

[abbyholverson]

These are AWESOME. Any chance you sell them? :)