There have been questions about the "The Girl With The Pearl Earring" string art on our dining room wall that I've been meaning to answer. I don't remember where I originally read about the masterpiece pattern sheet from momantai, because the minute I saw it I gasped and ordered (in that order). I have seen so much simple, yet gorgeous string art all over the web, in retail spaces like Anthropologie and at last year's Little Winter handmade market in Portland. It was on my list to attempt, so ordering this pattern sheet seemed a fantastically easy and logical kick in the pants to get me started. I emailed the company because I could not make a bit of sense from their website, and Ulrike quickly emailed me back and told me what to do to place my order. Easy!
I struggled to find the perfect place to put this art, but finally decided on the dining room wall, where I originally had the embroidery hoop art. I still have those, but they were never meant to be permanent pieces of "art" in the dining room. The eye is drawn immediately to this wall upon entering our house, and I knew subtle would still work great there. Plus, when dealing with 300 or so tiny nails, I don't recommend putting this art somewhere it will be run into!
The tiniest of nails will work. I actually ran out and continued on with dressmaker pins (shorter, stronger than the pins I use for quilting, and the silver heads blended with the tacks). You tape the pattern sheet to the wall, (pick your design first), hammer in the nails to follow the pattern of your chosen design, wrap yarn or string around each nail, in order, following the design, then carefully remove the paper from behind the design. Take your time doing this step, use tweezers, gentle pulling, a few chosen words, whatever works. It is definitely worth slowing down for this step. Step back and admire your "masterpiece"! The whole process took me about 2 hours.
