Introduction: Rubber Band Heart Art

So I've always marveled from a distance at people when they enter into a contest on here, and I figured I could give one my best shot. Now, I couldn't figure out what I could do until I realized that the walls in my bedroom were very boring. So I set out on my journey to make them more fun!!! It took lots of thinking and many scrapped ideas to come up with this one. The most important thing is that you like what you're making, so if you want to switch anything like the colors or medium, I highly suggest it!!

In this Instructable, I will be demonstrating how I made my Rubber Band Heart Art:)

Supplies

  • A piece of plywood (any size you like will do, i used 3/4 so the nails could go deeper)
  • Hand saw (any saw works)
  • Tape Measure/ Ruler
  • Pencil/Pen
  • Hammer
  • Small Nails
  • Sandpaper (optional)
  • Black Spraypaint
  • Clearcoat (optional)
  • Heart Stencil
  • And most importantly... Rubber Bands of all different colors

Step 1: Cutting Your Plywood

For the first step, you get to decide how large you would like your art to be. This can be as big or as little as desired but... The larger it is the more rubber bands that will be needed, and the longer it will take.

For mine, I decided to go with a 10in x10in square.

For this step you will need:

  • A piece of plywood
  • Hand saw (any saw works)
  • Tape Measure/ Ruler
  • Pencil/Pen

First, decide how big you would like it to be. Once decided you measure it with the tape measure and mark it with the pencil. Once a line is drawn where you'd like to cut it, grab the saw and begin to cut.

!!BE CAREFUL WHEN USING SAWS!!

If you do not feel comfortable cutting it by yourself or are too young, ask an adult or friend to do it for you.

Step 2: Sanding Your Plywood (Optional)

For the second step, the main goal is to get rid of any rough or sharp edges on the wood. If you want you can leave it the way it is.

For this step you will need:

  • A piece of plywood
  • Sandpaper

Start by sanding the edges of the plywood because they may be sharp or rough from the factory or from cutting. After the edges, you can also sand the corners to make them more rounded and easier to handle.

Step 3: Painting Your Plywood

For the third step, it is time to paint your plywood. I choose to do mine black because I wanted the contrast of the colorful rubber bands.

For this step you will need:

  • Freshly Sanded Plywood
  • Black Spraypaint
  • Clearcoat (optional)

Start by taking all the precautions necessary to use spraypaint. ALWAYS paint in a well-ventilated area, read the can to know how long it will dry and know what to do in case something goes wrong.

I decided to do two coats of the black spray paint to cover all the areas of imperfection and to give it a fuller feel. After both coats dried, I put a coat of clear coat on to give it a glossy look. I wanted this because I feel like colorful rubber bands would look good over a dark glossy background.

Step 4: Making Your Design

For the fourth step, we will be making the shape or design we want our rubber bands to be in. For mine, I decided to do a heart (duh).

For this step you will need:

  • Painted Plywood (make sure it is fully dry)
  • Small Nails
  • Pencil

The first thing I did was lightly draw a heart on the plywood. This outline will be where you are going to hammer the nails into.

Next, you are going to start hammering the nails into the outline. Be careful with this step, if you miss a nail and hit a finger it will hurt a lot.

Step 5: Making the Magic Happen

For the fifth step, we can finally start using the rubber bands.

For this step you will need:

  • Plywood with the Outline Nailed
  • Rubber Bands!!!

This step is my favorite because there are so many different ways you can do it. You could choose to do the colors in order like the rainbow across the design, all one solid color, or like me, where you do everything random with no rhyme or reason other than to have fun.

Kind of Step 6: Hanging The Art

This isn't technically a real step, but I thought id include it anyways. I use Command Strips to hang everything because they are strong, durable, don't take up much space, and are super easy to use.

I hope you all enjoyed my Project!!