While perusing an old craft book from the 70's, I came across these string ornaments, which I had to share. They were in the chapter on ornaments to make with kids, but I'm not sure I'd do these little ones. I'd classify this as an older kid project. This is not a complicated project, but isn't quick or easy! These ornaments are a bit tedious and time consuming to make, I think the results are worth it.
Materials:
- string (I used some cotton yarn that I had on hand)
- white glue
- wax paper
- scissors
- various cylindrical items (jars, pencil, marker, flattened toilet paper tube, battery, whatever you can come up with!)
1. Cut several lengths of string, 2' - 3'. Soak the string in white glue for a few minutes until they are completely saturated.
2. Once the string is thoroughly saturated in glue, wrap the lengths around your cylindrical items. If you decide to use a toilet paper or paper towel tube, be sure to wrap it in wax paper first, or else you'll never get the string off. Wax paper is your friend on this project. I used a piece as my work surface throughout the project. Let the string dry. I let mine dry night. **If you want, you could make free form shapes, too.
3. Remove the dried string from your cylinders. You'll end up with a bunch of spirals.
4. Cut the spirals to make separate circles/ovals. Use a dab of white glue to close the circles. I found it works best to let the glue get a bit tacky before closing the ends of the circles.
5. Now it's time to get creative. Arrange your shapes however you'd like. Use a dab of white glue to hold your shapes together. I experimented with squeezing the glue on top and dabbing between the shapes - the dabbing, though more tedious, had better results. I had to go back and snip glue globs off the shapes that I squeezed the glue on. Let dry.
6. You can stop right now if you'd like, or if you want to add a little pizazz, you can paint them with craft paint. Of course I painted mine!! I think it would be a good idea to seal them with some clear acryllic spray so that these babies last.
If you decide to give these a shot, I hope that you have as much fun making these as I did!
