Wooden Blocks Wall Art

Intro: Wooden Blocks Wall Art

Hi guys!

I've been doing a lot of personal projects this year so my wife challenged me to do something for the house for a change. We saw this wall art a long time ago on Pinterest and we always wanted to do something like this. Since I had purchased a lot of materials anyway we thought it was a good opportunity to finally do it.

I will reveal the materials I used step by step as the project evolved.

STEP 1: Step#1 - Cutting the Wood for the Blocks

First I will start with the wood:

• I used 35m of 44x44 mm pine wood which came in lengths of 2.4m.
• I thought this was the best ratio but I guess if you are using square profiles , anything goes!
• Started by cutting the straight pieces. This again is up to you how long you want to cut them, the longer they are , the heavier the result will be at the end plus you have to keep in mind the proportions that gives you the depth effect.
• I used as reference 78.5mm which later on I had to half in two with an angle. Each piece had 80g so at this point I knew that the blocks alone will weigh 23kgs.
• To make the process repeatable I used an end stop on my mitre saw which allowed me to have equally cut pieces. If you want for everything to look tidy , symmetry is key.
• After all the straight pieces were cut , I readjusted the end stop and also changed the angle on the saw so it matches the new dimension. I believe the angle is about 26 degrees.
• Rinse and repeat...same process as the initial one until all pieces were finished. It is advised to use a new-ish blade so you have as less splinter as possible to make your life easier when it comes to finishing.
• I chose to sand down manually every single piece all around ...all 576 pieces! I wasn't looking for a rustic looks so I wanted the blocks to be very sharp and with no defects.
• Depending on the quality you want to get you can add or remove several steps that involve finishing.

STEP 2: Step#2 - Building the Frame

For the frame I used exactly the same profile as I did for the block.

• On this instance I've mitered the wood to 45 degrees after which I've put a 25x25mm rebate using the table saw.
• I've set the rebate dimensions using my trusted depth gauge
• After the rebates were mate I simply glued the corners using wood glue and clamped them down for a few good hours using 4x 90 deg mitre clamps
• For the base I used 9mm plywood which got delivered cut to size so I didn't have to deal with that myself
• After the frame is glued we proceed with painting it and after it's dried we fix it to the plywood base

• I pre-drilled and counterbored everything to achieve a tidy result

STEP 3: Step#3 - Selecting Design / Painting and Gluing

This is a rather subjective mater.

• depending on what theme you use for your pattern you have to buy adequate colors
• we used acrylic paints and went a little overkill and bought way more than we needed
• please note that nothing could progress until my daughter lifted with her crane the brushes and few of the paints
• for mine we used more than 30 shades variations from basic colors. It's not really rocket science but more of a trial and error process
• using a bigger artistic brush makes the job easier and the process faster
• after the paint is dried we proceed with gluing every block piece to the base. Brace yourselves with a lot of patience as there will be a lot of adhesive dripping in places it shouldn't
• because I wanted to achieve a completely random effect, I had to make sure I don't have two pieces with the same orientation one next to each other
• one thing you should take into account is leaving 4 blocks free where later on we'll drill holes for wall mounting

STEP 4: Step#4 - Preparation and Wall Mounting

• after all blocks have been painted/glued and dried we're going to drill holes in the 4 positions we left free
• these are going to be used as through holes for our wall anchors

• as this is going to be rather heavy , I suggest to use wall anchors of diameter 10mm onwards
• mounting the big frame will be a two man job
• once the frame is in position you can secure it using the nuts and washer provided in the anchor kit
• after make sure everything is tight and secure all you have to do is mount the last 4 pieces that will hide the screws

STEP 5: Final Words and Advice

There are a few tips and useful advice I'd like to pass on:

• don't use too much wood glue as it will spill and make a great mess
• the size I chose to make is about 50kg but you can reduce the overall weight by playing with the proportions. Maybe a thinner frame or no frame at all (wouldn't recommended) or shorter profiles (this would reduce the depth effect perception)
• all acrylic colours get darker after they dry out so bare that in mind
• you will need to plan ahead what colours to paint otherwise you will need a larger working area to store all painted blocks for drying
• please be mindful this a long tedious process and you will get dirty and mess-up all the surrounding with adhesive and paint

I hope you enjoyed the instructions and should you have any questions , please drop me a message.

The full video is available with some nice cinematics on my Youtube Channel:

Comments

[milne50]

very nice - its certainly not going to fall down with those fixings if they are into masonry.
thanks for the write up

[Zedd Hiro]

Yes,it is a brick wall and although the whole thing weighs about 50kilos,believe it or not the 4 wall anchors I used are overkil.The reason I did it anyway is because I wanted a better spread of the load.That will be a feature wall anyway so the project only started.I will have to take it down and cover the wall in something else and then mount the whole frame back up.Will post another instructable one the project is finished.Have you watched the Youtube video?

[moltcraft]

very effective!

[Zedd Hiro]

Thank you but I think the 'process' can be optimized. It took a while to get it finished and the best thing is that I still have all fingers which is a bonus !

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Very pretty wall art! I love the way you used colors :)