Ada's Room: Project 2: String Elephant

After llama-ing it up, my next animal of choice was the elephant.  I've seen a lot of string art floating around the internet lately, and thought an elephant would be fun to do.

The String Elephant

Things You'll Need/Total Cost:
Cardstock - $0
Wood - $7.50, I purchased 1/2" x 2' x 4' birch wood which is enough for the two projects, so I split the cost.
Sandpaper - $0
Stain - $7.80
Paint Brush and Clean Towel (for stain) - $0
11/16" Nails (2 packs) - $2.60
Embroidery Floss - $4
Total Cost: $21.90

Step 1:  Draw/cut a stencil. Finding an elephant silhouette was very easy.  I drew my elephant on extra cardstock I had in the house and cut it out for a sturdy stencil.

Step 2: Cut the wood to the size you need and sand the side and edges that will be stained.  My board was 24" x 17.5", which allowed for roughly 1-2" around my elephant on all sides.

Step 3: Stain or paint the wood.  I selected red mahogany stain because I wanted a darker color that would come close to matching the pig.  You can also add a polyurethane layer to make it shiny, but I preferred how the wood looked with just the stain.

Step 4:  This step is probably not necessary depending on how you want to do your elephant.  With a pencil, I traced my stencil onto the stained wood.  I originally planned to paint the inside of my elephant a dark color to really contrast the bright string but my stain ended up being dark enough.  I didn't change my mind about the painting until I had already drawn the elephant, which added a few steps for me.  If you aren't planning to paint, I don't recommend tracing your stencil.  Instead, mark on the stencil where you want your nails to go and use this guideline when you start nailing.  You could either nail around your stencil or mark the wood where the holes should go.

Step 5: If you traced your stencil onto the board, mark and/or tap where you want your nails (I spaced mine roughly 3/4" apart).  Then, go back and erase the pencil marks on the wood.  Be sure to erase with the grain to avoid messing up the look of the stain or paint.  Once all pencil marks are gone, add the nails to make the outline of your elephant.

A few tips for this portion:

• You could skip marking where you want the nails, but I wanted mine to be as uniformly spaced as possible.  
• Birch is a hard wood.  Consider purchasing something softer.  I had 156 nails and my hand (and thumb) was pretty sore by the end of it.  Watching Argentina lose probably didn't help...
• I'm not one to talk, but don't get too frustrated if your nails don't go in perfectly straight.  I took longer than I probably should have to do the outline because I was so obsessed with wanting it to be perfect.  You won't notice a few angled nails once the string is on there.
• Pay attention to the nails you are using.  I tried to toss any nails where the head of the nail wasn't completely flat (some of them had snagged edges), but when I added the string it was obvious that I missed some.  The string got caught on rough edges and would start to fray when I wasn't careful.
• If there is a fly that keeps landing on your foot during this process, don't use the hammer to kill it.  You will hurt yourself.  Just ask Micah to kung foo it out of the room for you.

Step 6: Add the string.  The greatest part about this step is you can experiment and just undo it if you don't like it.  I chose to make mine different colors and found that overlapping the previous color with the next made for the smoothest transition.

This project was easy and turned out well enough that there is a strong chance that I will do another one like it.  I will probably make the next project smaller so it requires fewer nails, though.

Ada's Room: Project 1: The Quilted Llama

Ada Renee is due on November 25, 2014 and I am in full-on baby planning mode.  This time around I don't have to worry about things like creating a baby registry, finding a daycare that costs less than our rent payment (which did not exist until we moved), or finding a new job.  All I have to think about it is how scary having a girl will be and if my belly size will ever surpass Owen's (not counting on it).  I also get to decorate our third bedroom.

If you know me, you know that I will not go "all out" on my baby's room.  I do not paint patterns on walls or go crazy with themes.  I do not do Pinterest.  Owen's room had a very subtle dinosaur theme, but the focal point in his room was the art that our family and friends created just for him.

We want to do something similar for Ada, but decided to do all the projects ourselves and keep it to a very general "animal theme," which was inspired by a pig that I made in junior high shop class (I got a 99/100).  

We decided to create three additional pieces that would have different textures and a variety of animals (we wanted to avoid getting stuck in a general "barnyard" or "safari" theme).  The pig is obviously smooth and hard, so my first inclination was to go opposite and think of ways to do something soft and fluffy, which led me to foam and fabric.  I searched the internet for some inspiration and came across this video.  I thought I could do a similar piece in an animal shape.

The Quilted Llama

I selected a llama as my first project because I love them.  When we hit the lottery, I will own a farm and have a herd of llamas.  They are great animals and are good with children, but you need more than one to keep them happy as they are herd-dependent.  I know this because I Googled it.  Naturally, I want Ada to be comfortable with them and thought this was the perfect way to introduce her.  

Items Needed/Total Cost (items that cost $0 were things I already had):

Cardstock - $0

Regular Density Foam 2" x 15" x 17" - $6 (found in upholstery section, on sale for 50% off)

Sharpie or other marker to draw on foam - $0

Bread Knife or Electric Kitchen Knife - $0

Ruler - $0

Fabric Pieces: $0

Fabric Glue: $3

Foam Board: $1.80

Total Cost: $10.80

Step 1: I found some llama silhouettes to create a stencil.  Since I would be cutting the llama out of foam, I wanted to make sure I could draw one that was recognizable without needing too much detail.  I drew my llama on extra cardstock I had lying around and cut it out.

Step 2:  I traced the llama onto a 2" thick piece of upholstery foam I found at Joann Fabrics with a Sharpie.  Using a bread knife, I cut the llama shape out of the foam.  Some online forums said next to a legit foam cutter, an electric knife is the best tool, so I recommend this if you have one.  The bread knife will work fine if you don't.  Don't worry about having some rough edges, as it will be covered up with fabric.  I found that starting the cut was the hardest part, so try to cut as much at one time as possible.  The hardest part was keeping the knife straight up and down to get a good 90 degree angle.

Step 3: Draw and cut the square pattern on to your llama.  I drew 3" x 3" squares, but you can do whatever size you want.  Try to place your squares so you can avoid having too many odd shapes around the edges that will be hard to cover.  Cutting the straight lines with my bread knife was very easy.  I eyeballed the depth of the cut based on the size of my knife.  You should go about halfway through the foam.  This should be enough so the tucked fabric is hidden, but not so much that it feels like it's going to fall apart.

Step 4: Gather your fabric and start covering.  I recommend having an idea of the pattern/placement of your fabric, if possible.  I did not have a plan going into it, so I had to do a lot of re-cutting and replacing because I didn't like the way my fabrics looked together.  You can combine the squares to make it look less uniform and to help with the smaller triangles that ended up around the edges.  For fabric, I used some old t-shirts to give it a personalized look and filled in the rest with scraps that I scored from the Family and Consumer Science teacher who works with my mom.  

Step 5: Once you have all the pieces placed, start gluing the edges.  Wrap the fabric around the shape like a present, being careful to cover all the foam.  I recommend using a tee-shirt or other type of "giving" fabric when doing the more difficult edges, like the ears, feet and butt.  Also, try to do the more difficult areas first.  The fabric glue I used was not very forgiving and it got really messy when I tried to adjust a fold after I had already glued it.  Doing the more difficult areas first will give you more room to mess up so you don't accidentally get glue all over the completed portions of your llama.

Step 6: To hang: Trace another llama onto foam board and glue it onto the back of your foam for support.  We cut two pieces from a wire hanger (about 2" long) and wrapped it with hanging wire.  We poked holes where we wanted the wire to come through and hid the hanger pieces between the fabrics.  The wire went through the foam and the board backing. It's pretty sturdy and the hanger pieces will keep the wire from tearing the foam.  There is probably a better/more professional way to do this, but we like to MacGyver things up at the Silletto household and this seems like it will work.

 

And now Ada has a quilted llama for her room!  Not to be confused with a llama wearing a quilt.  If I did this again, I may select an easier animal - perhaps a dolphin or whale - to avoid the very tricky legs and ears.

Enjoy!

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Does anyone have any other ideas for soft wall hangings for a baby's room?  Most of the ideas I found online were small quilts, but I'm not sure I could pull off a quilting project.