Pins, Nails, and String

I'm slowly and surely becoming a Pinterest addict.  Though my pins are few I like looking at other people's boards and typing in key words like "crochet" or "cute dresses".  Some times I'm sorely disappointed but other times I find wonderful new things.  I also love that the pin links back to the page of origin.  This means that my long list of bookmarks is being condensed in a visual way and as I'm a visual person that's excellent news!  The biggest and only substantial board I have at the moment is Things to Make.  The plan is quite simply to make some or all of these things.  Then I will create a "Things I've Made" board and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  I am proud to announce the warm and fuzzies start now!  I've made something from the list and am going to share it with you!

Here is what I pinned,

It's not so much the phrase but the method I wanted to try out.  Since this was my first attempt I didn't want to be too ambitious so I started small.  There was some scrap wood left over from a shelf we built so I grabbed a 5"x 9" piece, sanded, and stained it.

wet stain

sanded edges

My sanding job was embarrassing and lackluster.  You can especially tell in the second photo where the scratches in the wood really shine through but once dry they're less obvious.

The next task was to decide what to put on it.  I thought I would start with one word and the first thing that came to mind was "VOID" because the word would be spelled out of the void left by the string.  Aaron said this was very 'meta' of me.  I took that as a positive review so I decided how big it would be, sketched it out, marked crucial nail spots, and started hammering away.  For the nails I used wire nails size 3/4 x 18 they are small skinny and still have heads so the string won't be able to slip off.

105 nails later here's what I had.

nail forest

Just rip the paper off and voila!  Can you see the VOID?  It's okay if you can't, it will become clear in about 5 seconds.

Now for the string!  Here I used doily thread for its slender width and muted color.  I tried to connect each nail to every nail within it's range.  I don't think I succeeded at that endeavor but I came close enough and in between.  Most have multiple tethers to the same nail but who cares.  The final product is pretty neat.

It's hanging on our wall now and the coolest thing is walking by and seeing it at different angles.  The nail heads catch light differently depending on where you're standing and the lighting of the day.  This is an aspect I did not foresee but am happy to discover.

Lots of ideas are flowing through my head now of ways to transform this project.  Could I do silhouettes? Colors? Maybe string the letters themselves?  So many possibilities!