String Art Necklace

Intro: 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.

STEP 2: Wrap the String

Choose a color string.  Wrap it around one peg of the jig or tape it to the board to secure it.

Choose the number of pegs to skip for your first necklace link.  For this one, I skipped four pegs and wrapped the string over the fifth peg.

Keep skipping pegs and wrapping the string in a pattern you like.

When finished, secure the other end of the string by wrapping it around a peg or taping it to the board.

STEP 3: Add Glue

I chose fabric glue from the craft store so the necklace would stay flexible and hold up to sweat and oils from skin.

Apply glue thoroughly with a paintbrush; it works well if you dilute the glue with some water and soak the string.

Make sure to squish the strings against each other on the pegs; you'll want them as close as possible so they adhere to each other.  For this one, I slid a bamboo skewer under the string and pushed the bottom up while pushing the top down.

I'm impatient.  I use a hairdryer to dry the glue and help heat set it.

When it's dry, gently scrape each point up from the peg using your nails.  Be careful; you may have to scoot the points up slowly and go around the circle more than once to get it all the way off.

Once it's off, note where the overlapping strings need more glue.  Add more glue.

Once it's off the jig, don't just turn the hairdryer on.  The string will fly off the table and onto the floor.  Don't ask me how I know this.  Hold it down with a skewer or something else that pins the string down, and THEN turn on the hair dryer.  Squish the overlapping strings together with your fingers.

You'll want each string link to be flexible but strong enough to hold its shape.

STEP 4: Make More Links

Make more links.  It might go faster if you get your mom to help.  I had mine help with the colored links, since that necklace was for her.

Try different size jigs, different colors or thicknesses of string, and different patterns.  Variety is nice.

Be aware that the larger the inside opening of a link, the more likely a link is to get pulled out of shape when the necklace is attached.

STEP 5: Attach the Links

Use metal jump rings to attach the links together.  You can make some offset; vary the pattern.

Make sure the string links can lay flat when the jump rings are all vertical.

 If you have enough links, you can simply attach a clasp to your necklace.  If you don't want the string links to go around the back, tie a bit of string or ribbon to each end so you can tie the necklace on, or use wire with the ends bent into a clasp like I did.

Comments

[darrenhall]

Wow that's really unusual - almost like lace for the new millennium - cool INST.

[space4money]

I love it!

Beautifully done

www.lovejewelries.com

[SaintSalvage]

Silly question.... how about trying this project with wire?

[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.