Line as Element: String Art

Can you make a curved line using only straight lines? This project builds on the Op Art project we just completed and continue our quest to understand line as an element of art. 

Each of my virtual students should have a piece of colored mat board and a couple different colors of yarn.  You'll need to make notches along the edges, about 1/4" deep. If you cut 12 notches on one side, then you'll need to cut twelve notches on the side that touches it at a right angle. In fact, let's keep it simple and make the same number of notches on all four sides. If you have a rectangular board, the space between each cut should be longer than those on the short side. Do the math.

Pick a color of yarn and put it in the top side notch, with the end in the back. The picture above shows it starting on the left. You might want to tape it to secure it. Then stretch the yarn along and tuck it into the bottom, far left notch. Bring the yarn out the front of the mat at the notch right beside the one you just used, so it comes out of the second notch from the left, on the bottom.  You don't want to waste a lot of yarn by wrapping it the whole length of the board, just think of it as making a stitch: down one and up the next.

You'll stretch the yarn to the notch second from the top on the left side and then bring up the notch directly under it. Continue the pattern, by pulling it down to the 3rd notch from the left up the fourth, and then back to the next notch on the left side.

If you are right handed you may want to start your project on the upper right notch and go to the bottom, closest to the right, but the idea is the same: move over one and down one, until you've used every notch.

When you finish using all the notches on those two sides, you'll notice that all of your straight lines made net that makes a curve along the edge.  

Try doing the same thing with the same color yarn, with the opposite corner by rotating the board  180 degrees to bring the top to the bottom and the left to the right, keeping the colored side of the mat up.

This ends up with an diagonal football shape. You may want to choose a different color yarn and do the other two corners, to create a balanced finished piece. This can be a frame by tucking corners of a photo or drawing behind the string, or it works as a stand-alone work of art. Either way, you've managed to do some magic by making curves from straight lines.