String art project 2015

7th grade students made curve stitch  projects, commonly called string art.  Here are our steps:

1 I downloaded several templates from various websites as patterns.  Photocopied and set out for students to choose.  They glued them to the back of a piece of posterboard, and glued a black sheet of construction paper to the front.  

2. Once dry, we used push pins to poke holes every where we wanted to stitch.  

3.  Next, students got a section of string. ( I have them get 2 arm lengths at a time)  This string is like kite string, and it comes on a large roll.  Its white, but we will fix that.

3. Students start stitching.  The idea in general is to run a stitch from one location to another some set number of spaces forward.  they both move forward one space, and a "web" is formed.  

4. Since this is not the traditional string art with boards and nails, the process basically means students stitch long lines on the front, and make short trips to the next hole on the back.

5.  The ends of the strings are simply taped down on the back of the board with masking tape.  When they use up the amount they have, they simply come back for more.

6.  The white webs are colored using water based markers.  the string absorbs the ink and with a small amount of water and a brush, they can blend and fill in missing spaces.  This technique cut down a lot on the of task behavior I have had in the past with allowing them to select colored string.

What do you think of the results?  I think they did a great job.