August 12, 2017 DIY - Stringed Banner

Materials :

• Piece of wood (For a quicker project, you can use a thick piece of cork instead of the wood board and push pins instead of nails)
• Embroidery thread
• Finishing 1” nails
• Hammer
• Scotch or painters tape
• Ruler or tape measurer
• Crazy glue
• Scissors
• Paper
• Pencil

Optional supplies include :

• Needle nose pliers
• White nail polish or paint
• Small Phillips screwdriver

 Step one

Select a piece of wood. You can choose a new board from your local lumber store or create something more rustic, perhaps by using a piece of driftwood found at the beach.  

• Going for a clean modern look? Use some white paint or wood stain for a crisp backdrop.
• If you opted for a more rustic piece of wood, sand down any rough areas.
• Spray on a clear coat if you prefer a more glossy finish.

Quick tip — To create a more ‘natural’ look, use a hammer to roughen the edges. You can also burn the edges of the wood in a circular motion for an even more authentic look.

Step Two

• Tape on your letters/numbers and space out as evenly as possible. This is where a ruler or measuring tape may be handy.

Step Three

Once you are satisfied with how the date or wording looks, begin making marks equally spaced along the outside of each symbol using a pencil. These dots will mark where you will be putting the nails.

• Begin by marking a spot in every corner; then pencil in the rest of the spots using a ruler to assist in making consistent spacing.

Quick tip — The nails need to be at least 0.5 cm apart. Any closer together will make it very difficult to hammer the nails and wrap the thread. The farther apart the nails are, the easier it will be to hammer and wrap. However, there needs to be sufficient dots to properly outline each symbol.

Step Four

Punch through the paper to pre-make the dots instead of nailing through the paper because it could leave unwanted bits of paper.

• This can be done with a hammer and nail or by using a small phillips screwdriver.

Step Five

Okay, remove the paper and start nailing away! If you have delicate fingers like us, try using a needle nose plier to hold the nails in place. This way you won’t hammer your little bb fingertips. The pliers can also be used to tweak the angle of the nails if need be.

• Don’t stress about getting every nail exactly perfect, as long as the heads of the nails look generally straight the result will be just as beautiful. Besides this is meant to be fun!

Quick tip — If  you used white nails like us, chances are some of the paint may chip off.  No worries, as most of us have a white nail polish kicking around. Give it a little touch up and all will look perfect!.

Step Six

Step Seven

• Secure the thread to your first nail using a trusty knot and begin wrapping around each nail. To smooth out any fly away thread strands and help further secure the thread, use crazy glue to tack down any tricky areas. This is a particular useful step for perfectionists!
• It is important to keep the correct tension in the string, making sure it is nice and taut but not too tight in that it would bend or pull out a nail.

Quick tip — If you choose to use a piece of older wood, be mindful of cracks and adjust thread tension appropriately to keep nails straight and secure.

Step Eight

For the actual wrapping and placement of the thread, remember there is no right or wrong way to do this. Go crazy with loads of zig zags or keep it minimal and open. If you like the general look of ours, use one colour to make a border around each number and another second colour links inside. We are all about that white border.

Fini!