Well, recently I'd asked a dentist to write me a letter of recommendation for dental school, and I'd told him I would bake him cookies or something to thank him, to which he said, "No, make me something artsy." I accepted that challenge and while I was trying to figure out what I could make, I considered both of these ideas, and then I thought, "Hey, why not combine them?!" So I did. To make this:
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Both this dentist and I went to Clemson for undergrad, so I figured I wanted to do something that drew upon that. So I decided to do South Carolina state art and use a tiger paw (Clemson's mascot is a tiger and our logo is the paw) instead of a city heart. I was worried about how the string would work being based off the more complex paw (vs the heart), but I figured I would cross that bridge when I got there (it turned out fine). Then I thought it would be cool if I used the glue art concept to write the Clemson Alma Mater on the background. With my idea set, I got to work.
First, I needed a picture frame to put the "artwork" in. I stopped by my local Goodwill and found a good candidate there. I needed a fairly large one because I wanted enough room to be able to get in the details of the paw. I think I ended up with something around 17"x13" but you can work bigger or smaller. After that, I needed a board to fit the frame. Luckily for me, my dad does a lot of woodworking, so he happened to have a spare board lying around that he cut to size for me--the thickness was either 3/8" or 1/2" and that thickness worked out great for me, although you can probably get away with thinner if your frame isn't as deep. Obviously this isn't going to be as readily available for everyone, but you should be able to stop by your local Home Depot/Lowes and get this for cheap. With this done, I was ready to get to work.
Materials:
Frame, Wood cut to fit, small nails (I used 17 gauge x 1" wire brads, but once again, this depends on the depth of your frame/board), string (I used crochet thread from Walmart, I think the thickness was Fine), hammer, spray paint, puff paint, wax paper and/or glass slab (the one that came with the frame), Mod Podge/similar glue product, sealer (optional), paint brush (for glue)
Steps:
1) I started out by finding a map of SC that wasn't too detailed: you'll lose a lot of the minor details like small islands/etc when nailing it, anyway, so don't kill yourself over finding something absolutely perfect. I resized it to fit my board (while allowing for some margins--I didn't want it flush against the frame), then printed it.
As you can see, I had to print it out on four separate pages, then tape them together. After I printed it, I put a piece of wax paper over it and traced the outline. I just figured it would be easier to work with. Then I printed off a copy of the paw and did the same. I tried out a few different sizes for the paw--I wanted it to be big enough to get the details in, but small enough so there was still space for the string to make an impact.
Next, I typed up my Alma mater to fit the board. I wanted it to pretty much fill the board, although I still wanted a slight margin. To add a nice little touch of authenticity to it, I ended up using the official Clemson font, or at least a version of it. Cool, but not necessary if you don't have access to your team's.
2) Obviously, the background came before the actual nailing, so I got started on that. After looking over multiple tutorials on Pinterest, I realized there were different versions of the "glue art." Some people swore by Elmer's glue, while others claimed only puff paint would work. So I decided to put them all to the test.
The top is puff paint, followed by 1 layer of Elmer's glue, then 2 layers EG, followed by Elmer's blue gel glue, followed by a puff fabric paint followed by hot glue.
And the results: As you can see (or maybe not, it's harder to tell from the pictures), both of the Elmer's glues were busts. They stayed pretty flat. The hot glue was thick enough, but lacked precision. Both of the puff paints gave me good results, but I went with the "general" kind versus the fabric, although the latter would probably still be acceptable. I also ended up getting the same color puff paint as my spray paint, which I would recommend, but I don't know that it's completely necessary.
With puff paint in tow, I put a sheet of wax paper over my printed alma mater, and started tracing with the paint. *NOTE* Here, you could use the slab of glass that came in your frame instead of wax paper. They each have their benefits. The paint pulls off easier on the glass, I think, but occasionally little pieces stay stuck to it. On the wax, it's the opposite: the wax paper gets pulled up with some of the paint. Or maybe it was just the type of paint I used. Dunno. You could experiment and find which works better for you.
As you can see from the picture, I accidentally knocked the bottom half and had to redo it later. Tedious.
It takes a while for the paint to dry; at least several hours. I would recommend just leaving it overnight. Also, make sure you have plenty of puff paint. Once it starts to sputter a lot, switch it out for a new one. Trust me. I thought, "Oh, there's still some left, I can keep using this one," and then the paint proceeded to splutter and bubble and generally ruin all the remaining letters I tried to use it on. I think I ended up using about 2 and a half mini bottles of puff paint.
3) Now for step three. Aka the step of tedium aka this step made me want to shoot someone. Once your letters are dry, it's time to pull all of them off the paper. One. by. One. Originally I thought it would be easy, that they would just pull right up. WRONG. I don't know if it was the paint I used or what, but the paint insisted on clinging to the wax paper and pulling little pieces of that up, too. Being something of a perfectionist, I didn't like this, so I would pull up a letter, pick all the wax paper off it, then proceed to the next. Do yourself a favor: grab a glass of wine and pop in a movie while you do this. That's what I did and it made it go much quicker. The good news is that the letters stayed intact despite this. Also, as I mentioned before, there's the option of doing it on the glass, too, which might help. Or you could always try spraying down the wax paper with Pam or something beforehand. I dunno. It might work. Let me know if you try it.
4) Once you have managed to
(the white patches are where I ended up redoing some letters)
5) Hooray! The most tedious stuff is all over with! Once the glue dries (and it shouldn't take that long), it's time to spray paint! Here's a word of advice, and actually do it one coat at a time. I'm impatient, so I didn't. I did like four coats to start, and naturally I wound up with some small air bubbles. It didn't end up being that big of a deal because the string hid most of it, but if you're obsessive compulsive, it'd probably help if you took it a bit slower. Regardless, I spray painted it, then when it dried, finished it off with a coat of clear sealer. Don't know if it was really that helpful, but whatever.
So far, so good. It turned out just the way I wanted, with the letters subtle but visible, almost like an engraving... but reversed.
6) Now that the background is done, it's time to nail some stuff! After letting the board dry completely, tape your wax paper stencils onto the board and get to nailin'. Seriously, there's no real technique or tricks to it. I did mine about a 1/2" to 3/4" apart, but if you're working on a smaller design, you should put them a little closer. In certain areas for more detail, you can also put them closer together.
Also, if you're working on something close together or complex, like the paw, take note of which hands you use to hammer with and which you use to hold the nail with, and try to work in a direction where you'll be able to keep using them that way. I kept having to switch hands in the really cramped sections and it made it difficult.
7) Time fo' some string. This was not nearly as difficult as I thought it was gonna be. Just knot it around one of your center nails, bring it out to the outside, wrap it around a nail, and bring it back in. Repeat until you're done (I just used one long continuous piece of string) and tie it off on your last nail. I put a little dab of super glue on each end to help hold it. It's okay to use the same nail multiple times on the inside (in fact, you'll have to), but only go around the outside ones once. Also, keep it as taut as you can as you're weaving it. Chances are it'll pop off a nail a few times and you'll have to go back several nails, but aside from this minor frustration, it's relatively quick and painless, and rather easy, at that.
If anyone had knocked off one of the strings after I had finished... may God have mercy on his soul. Because I'm pretty sure I would've had to start all over again.
8) (Optional Step) This step is optional and completely based on personal preference. After I was done, I looked at it, and I thought that it needed something else to finish it off. So I went out, bought some purple string (the Clemson colors are orange and purple), and used it to outline the state. Just tie the string off on one of the outside nails and weave it in and out of all the nails on the outside (you made to wrap it on a few, so that it'll keep it's shape). I did this twice, so that there was string on both sides of each nail
As you can see, I started doing it on the paw, too, but ended up deciding I liked it better without.
9) The only thing left to do now is hook the board into the frame. There are different ways you could do this (nail, staplegun, brackets already included in the frame), but I ended up buying some little plastic tabs. I liked them because they were flat enough to not cause an issue if you were hanging the art, and because they could swivel so that I could remove the board if I ever needed to. So I just drilled four holes in my frame and attached the suckers. Very easy, and they held the board in perfectly.
The finished product! I was gonna repaint the frame, but... meh. I was feeling lazy.
Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnddddddd BAM!! Done. Hooray! It was a little tedious at times, but it was fun and I think well worth it. The dentist I gave it to was very happy with it (or at least he was good at pretending to be happy with it). I'm considering making another one for someone else, and I'll update with any edits or new tricks if I come up with any.
It goes without saying that this could be applied to many different states and schools, or even professional teams. It's very flexible.
It goes without saying that this could be applied to many different states and schools, or even professional teams. It's very flexible.
Feel free to comment with any questions! Hope you enjoyed this sarcrafty tutorial!
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