String Art-Part Four- Curves and Wings

After months of work, I have finished my gigantic string art project. 

The last stage of the Hylian Crest design was the wings and triforce.

The triforce is created by making parabola curves using the sides of the triangle. Follow the pattern below for each corner, on each of the three triangles.

For the wings, all you have to do is start at the top inside corner and make rays. Inside corner to top outer corner, down one nail, back to the inside corner. Then to the next outside nail, down one, and back. Just keep following that pattern until you get to the inside bottom of the wings.

The final piece is to finish the curved part of the wings. You can use a similar technique to make any curve or even a full circle. You start the string at one end of the curve, then move to the middle nail, over one, then to the second nail of the curve. It's easier to understand if see it then read it, so here is a diagram of the pattern. Basically, you start at one side of the curve and eventually end back at the center of the curve.

For this design, I actually continued a bit after the center to finish the straight side of the wing shape. If you wanted to make a complete circle you follow the same basic pattern. Pick a point to start, move the nail directly opposite and the continue from there.

So without further ado, here is shot of the full, completed design.

This ended up being a much larger project than I expected. Not in size, obviously because I chose that when I started, but in time and materials. I ended up using twice as many nails as I expected and making runs to the store for more thread, both the blue and gold. All together I used 5 skeins of the blue embroidery floss, between a third to a half spool of the silver, and around two and a half spools of the gold thread.

For the most part, everything went according to plan. I had a few issues with loose nails. I know I mentioned in a previous post that I had a much easier time with some nails than others. I don't know if using a different type of board for the backing would have been easier or if I just need more practice with hammering. When I was working on the wings, a couple of the corner nails came loose and caused me to have to redo that section.

To fix it, I put a small amount of glue on the nail, then hammered them back into place. After the glue dried they seemed much more stable.

For now, it is propped up on a bookshelf in our dining room but the plan has always been to hang it behind the couch in the living room. The question now it, what's the best way to hang it, to ensure it doesn't fall and hit our friends in the head. We are considering simply screwing it straight to the wall. I can't think of any type of hooks that seem strong enough to hold the weight of the board.

Halloween-iversary

This Saturday was our 9th wedding anniversary. Usually, we do something for our anniversary and Halloween separately but this year we decided to combine the two and have a haunted house dinner party. We love playing Betrayal at the House on the Hill and the expansion was released just a few weeks before our anniversary so it was a perfect excuse to buy it for ourselves.

We were limited in the number of people we invited by the number of players for the game. That allowed me to make the invitations more elaborate because I only had to make a few. I decide to make spell books that had been found in the house with the party information on one of the pages.

I downloaded a printable spell book cover and gray pattern for endpapers. I also did a google image search to find pictures to use as spell pages. The center of the book has all of the details about the party and the front cover has a post-it note connecting it to the imaginary house on the hill.

Our dog Gil grabbed one of them off of the table and chewed up a corner, right before we were going to give them out. I didn't have time to get another one made but luckily it kind of worked with the old book idea. (It also didn't hurt that everyone invited has dogs and would be understanding.)

For dinner, we made spooky tentacle pasta with meat sauce, a simple salad, and breadsticks. The spaghetti is dye by using a bit of gel food coloring in the cooking water.

 

Dessert was turtle brownies and sweet cream ice cream with a delicious blood orange and blackberry sauce that my husband made which turned out a wonderful blood red color.

Our round of Betrayal was great. I headed to the library beforehand to 3D print an organizer for the game pieces. I ended up only having time to print one-half of it but it made everything run a little smoother. It also satisfies that part of me that loves organizing and making rainbows, a nice little rainbow of betrayal.

                         

We ended up being shrunk and trapped in the house with cats trying to eat us. The survivors managed a narrow escape by toy airplane, barely winning the game before being eaten. Wr did lose some people but made it out with barely enough to meet our win conditions

The haunt that we played came from the original game but we enjoyed the new rooms and cards from the Widow's walk expansion. I also liked the addition of the explorer tokens which are used to mark which explorers have taken advantage of 'once per game' room bonuses.

Librocubicularist October 2016

October is my favorite month of the year, it contains both my birthday and wedding anniversary, as well as the best weather of the year. It is finally cooling off, crisp fall temperatures make me want to be outside and also help my sleep more soundly at night. Unfortunately, fall is also a time when my allergies act up. However, that gives me plenty of opportunities to curl up with a good book and cup of hot cider...

Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am in love with the idea of keeping a journal but somehow in practice, it never quite works out. Nature journaling is especially appealing because it's a combination of things, writing, art, and documenting the world around you. I feel happy when I spend time outside but it doesn't often happen because I feel like I need a reason, something to do while I'm out there. With so many chores to do inside, 'doing nothing' outside seems wasting time, but updating your nature journal? That's worth doing. Right now I only have the beginnings of a nature journal. I use my phone to take photos of the sky and sometimes record the weather using Instaweather photos.

Our rosebush, complete with dried seed heads, full roses, and new buds in mid-October.

This book offers great advice for how I can expand on that.

There are lots of benefits involved in keeping a journal about nature and this book both begins and ends with listing them. It all begins with learning to observe and connect with the world around you. The first chapters give suggestions of places to begin journaling and questions to ask about the world around you. There are examples of different styles and layouts that can be used as well as basic drawing tips.

The bulk of the book explores the seasons, discussing elements to explore during each. For example, winter is an excellent time to look at the structure and shape of trees without leaves getting in the way. On the other hand, not much is going with animals during this time and you might have better luck recording indirect evidence of them, than actual sightings. There is an awesome chart with suggestions of things to draw and questions to explore concerning different aspects of nature such as the sky and weather or plants and trees, for each season.

The final section deals with teaching yourself and others how to improve your journaling. While there are short drawing exercises sprinkled throughout the book this section provides more detailed advice to practice drawings. From simple contour and gesture drawings to details on foreshortening and perspective there are a variety of exercises to help you capture as much information as possible before your subject moves. The section also includes a discussion of how to motivate beginning journalers both with reasons to keep the journal going and encouraging people who feel they can't draw. The last chapter deals with the many ways that nature journals can be used to form connections and teach other subjects. Aside from the obvious connections to science and art, there are suggestions for using journals in teaching math, language, and history lessons.

Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Book 1 by Eric Colossal

Rutabaga the Adventure Chef: Book 2: Feasts of Fury by Eric Colossal

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the perspective of someone who plays fantasy RPG's and likes to read cookbooks, this series is awesome. Rutabaga is an adventure chef, someone who travels around searching for fantastic, exotic ingredients to use in his recipes. The stories include recipes both within the story and in an appendix at the back. The recipes presented at the end are inspired by the events of the story, not necessarily the dishes cooked in the story. They are short and easy to follow, with notes on where you may need an adult's help. Those in the story don't contain exact directions, partly because they use imaginary ingredients, but you should still be able to re-create the dishes if you have some cooking experience. It could be a lot of fun to experiment with your kids to create your own take on the recipe and would help teach how to improvise while cooking.

The stories make me want to create a master chef in a game as either a playable character or NPC. There's lots of potential for hilarious situations and I hope the series continues for some time.

The LEGO Christmas Ornaments Book by Chris McVeigh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Christmas is my all-time favorite holiday and as a kid, we added homemade ornaments to the tree every year. This book provides a way to continue that tradition with LEGO, providing typical, picture only instructions to make 15 different ornaments designs. The designs vary in difficulty and range from traditional (snowflakes and balls) to quirky (arcade games and hamburgers). Each design includes a part list with element id numbers so you can buy the pieces you need either from the lego website or other marketplaces such as Bricklink.com. You could buy parts and give out little ornament building packages as gifts or just enjoy assembling some for your own tree every year.

Beautiful LEGO by Mike Doyle

Beautiful Lego 3: Wild! by Mike Doyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




This book series showcases tons of really cool LEGO art and creations. The works span a wide range of subjects from birds to mecha, Mirco scale to giant landscape builds. Also included are interviews with several LEGO artists answering questions about what lead them to choose LEGO as a medium and what, if any, favorite pieces or techniques they use. One of my favorite things in the first volume is the mosaics by Katie Walker. Unfortunately, my local library only has the first and third volumes not the second so I haven't had the opportunity to look through that one. However, if you are interested in LEGO at all I highly recommend you check them out for some amazing inspiration.

Sundressing: Sewing and Style for Summer and Beyond by Melissa Mora

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book comes with patterns for sundresses for women and girls. There seems to be a pretty wide range of sizes. I tend to have problems finding patterns large enough to fit my hips and based on these measurements I should be able to sew something to fit easily. There's a small section about modifying patterns, mostly for adjustments to the bust line. The directions for each pattern contain further alterations specific to each dress.

There are some really cute things, especially for little girls, it really makes me wish I had a daughter to sew for.

Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time: The Ultimate Dressmaking Guide by Tanya Whelan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is all about mix and match patterns. There are several bodice patterns and skirt variations that can combine to make over 20 different dresses. Lots of information about pattern alterations give even more variety by offering different sleeve and neckline options. I have zero experience with pattern alteration but I feel like if I took my time, read all the instructions well, that I could learn a lot about it by making a couple of dresses with this book.

Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is more of a comic strip than a graphic novel. The story is all about Phoebe and her friendship with a unicorn.... Phoebe inadvertently saves Marigold earning a wish, which she uses to make them best friends. Neither one of them is really sure how to have/be a best friend so it takes some getting used to. Much of the humor comes from the fact that being friends with a unicorn didn't end up quite like Phoebe expected. She expected to suddenly be popular and awesome because she had a unicorn best friend but that didn't happen because of something called the Shield of Boringness.

The Devious Book for Cats: A Parody by Fluffy & Bonkers

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Thd Devious Book for Cats aims to help your housecat get the most out of his or her nine lives. It offers tips on a variety of subjects such as how to wake your human up when you need feed, hunting wild game, and the international sport of shelf swat. Also included are tales of famous cats thru out history to provide inspiration for a life well-lived and a typical programming schedule for various windows around the house. Not sure what our three kitties thought of this book but the shelf swat section was very informative for my husband and I. Clearly we live with Champions who absolutely must practice constantly. I'm sure our new understanding of the rules will allow us to set up more challenging shelves for them to play and help push their scores to a new high. There is apparently a book for dogs by the same group, we may have to check it out for their brother, Gil.

Devious Curry kitten stole Gil's raccoon for a few snuggles.

This week we are prepping for a Halloween/ Anniversary dinner, hopefully, I will be able to share some of the detail next week in a bonus holiday post. If not, be sure to check back on the 14th of November to see the completed Legend of Zelda string art.

String Art- Part Three

The Zelda string art is starting to look awesome. At this point, I have everything done except for the wings. This post will show you how to complete the hilt and blade of the Master Sword. Check out my previous posts for a refresher on the basics and to see how I created the design.

The sword blade is a fairly simple chevron pattern. When I was still in the planning stages I doodled several different designs before deciding on this one. I also sketched it out on the template to double check the pattern before starting.

Start at the top left-hand side of the blade and follow the pattern on the diagram above. 

Left, center, right, down one, center, left, down one, center, right, etc. until you reach the bottom. 

Then just work your way around the outside to create an outline. I only wrapped the thread around about every third nail to anchor it.

The handle of the hilt follows a similar pattern but creating an X instead of a V.

Follow the above pattern to make three X's along the hilt and then create an outline around it as well.

As I mentioned previously, I'm trying to create three levels within the design so I tried to keep the threads towards the center of the nails.

For the blue parts of the design, I used regular cotton DMC embroidery floss, color number 3842. I used approximately 5 skeins. The silver parts are DMC Metallic in silver. Since it comes in a much larger spool I only used a small portion of the whole.

Librocubicularist Aug./ Sept. 2016

Things have been pretty average around here lately. The fall season is when I work the most hours so I've been busier at work. Fall, particularly October is a big time for me personally because it holds both my birthday and wedding anniversary so we are making plans for those events as well.

Trying to fit in time to work on the giant string art is tricky mainly because I have to keep moving it out of reach of our three cats and their attempts to play with the sting. I have managed to (mostly) finish the first color/ stage and plan to start the sword sections later this week.

Since I was out sick last month my whole posting schedule got off and I never posted book reviews for that time. Let me share them now.

August Reviews

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a really entertaining book about much fun the library can be. 12 kids are chosen to attend a lock-in for the opening of the town's new library, which happens to be the most awesome sounding library ever. I won't tell you about the all the amazing features the library has because some of them are tied to the storyline but I wish I had a library nearby with even some of its features. The party ends with a contest in which the kids have to find a hidden way out the library using only the resources and clues available in the library. The main focus is on the joys of the reading and libraries but also friendship and teamwork.

Incarnation by Emma Cornwall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Lucy Weston wakes up as a vampire with no idea what's happened. She has only a few memories of her human life. When she stumbles across a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula she decides to seek him out for answers. Her search for answers reveals all sorts of secrets and complications. On the surface, this book is a vampire story set in a steampunk version of London but there are several other themes. Tied into the futuristic setting is a discussion of ever increasing technology and its impact on the world. There is also a debate about what humanity really is, what exactly makes someone human. While some of it is a bit over the top (a subway in Victorian London for example), overall I really enjoyed the story.

September Reviews

Mend It Better: Creative Patching, Darning, and Stitching by Kristin M. Roach

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This a great book about how to mend and care for your clothes. It covers a variety of things from simple fixes such as patching holes or sewing torn seams to more advanced repairs like zipper replacement. There's even a chapter about repairs for special fabric types including lace, leather, and velvets. Whenever possible the author tries to include instructions to complete repairs either by hand sewing or using a sewing machine so you can use whichever method you're more comfortable with. There are also examples of creative fixes throughout the book to offer inspiration for your own repairs (some include instructions but not all). One of my favorite things was the instructions for how to make your own mending tools like a darning eggs or tailors ham. The final chapter gives tips for washing and caring for your clothing to prevent the need for repairs in the first place.
I saw another review where they questioned who exactly the intended audience for this book is because of a lack of instructions or pictures for some projects and maybe more than necessary for other but I had no problems following any of the instructions. At the start of the book, there is an overview of basics including how to thread a needle and a variety of stitches for both hand and machine sewing that can be referred back to for most of the other projects.

Whatever the Weather: Science Experiments and Art Activities That Explore the Wonders of Weather by Annie Riechmann

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Whatever the Weather is designed to get your family outside to explore in a variety of weather conditions. It begins with an overview of weather exploration: questions to ask, basics of the water cycle and other science behind weather, and measurements such as the Beaufort Scale for wind speeds. The following chapters are organized by various weather phenomena; cold/snow, rain, sun , and wind. Each contains ideas and projects to learn more about that particular phenomena and art projects that use the weather as a key component. There are also sidebars that provide a refresher for parents on the science behind each project and offer suggestions for ways to extend the investigation if you have kids that want to learn more. There's an emphasis on observation and the art projects tie in as ways to either record your findings (such as tracing your shadow at various times of day to track the sun) or to help make observations easier (painting leave to help highlight the veins or building a boat to see how water moves). Finally, there's a section in the back with a great list of resources for even further explorations.


I'm trying to get better about typing up reviews for books right after I read them so that everything is fresh in my mind and I might get more reviews finished. I read so much more than what shows up here. Right now I have a bunch of books about photography. We are planning a trip for our anniversary next year (it will be our tenth) and I want to learn more about getting great shots of our celebration. This is  my current library stack...

DIY String Art- Part Two- Basics

I finally managed to finish putting in all the nails for my string art so I could get started on the actual string part. I had a lot of trouble with the nails, I'm not experienced enough with this to know if using different nails or a different type of board would have made things easier. I find it more likely that I just need more practice with nails.

Part of what I like about string art is that it makes cool shadows so I wanted to use nails that were long enough to let the string sit above the board. My plan is to place the string for various parts of the design at different heights on the nails so that everything looks like it is layered. I used a longer nail length to accommodate this as well as places where I need to wrap the thread around a single nail multiple times.

These are the nails I used as well as pliers to help hold the nails while you hammer.

As I worked I was constantly re-evaluating the placement and number of nails. I've created a pattern that you can download to re-create my design. The red dots show the placement of the nails. There are a few spots where I made changes as I worked and those are marked in green.

 I will post it A.S.A.P.  but right now I am experiencing technical difficulties with my scanner.

After placing all the nails the next step is to remove the paper pattern. At this point I had a few nails that tried to pull out with the paper, especially in the area where the paper was taped together, so be careful. I was able to re-hammer each one as I went.  Finding the right placement later could be difficult.

The first step is to attach your string to a nail, just wrap it around and tie a knot. You can also add a drop of glue to help seal the knot. Just dab it on the knot and press in the cut end of the thread.

The most basic string art designs are outlines and solid filled patterns.  I'll start with outlining even though I'm not using it until the second stage of my design. All you do is wrap the thread around the nails in the same direction to make a single outline.

If you want a double outline, turn around at the end and wrap each nail again from the opposite direction.

I started with the shield because I want it to look like it is in the back, so the other colors will be layered on top. To fill in an area all you need to do is wrap the string in a random pattern until you get the desired amount of color. I went for a sort of medium fill level, some might want a more solid color, some might want to let more wood show through.

While you work, be sure to keep the string at a uniform height on the nails so that the string makes a level surface. Since I want to create layers of string I tried to keep this layer toward the bottom of the nails.

I used regular hand embroidery thread for this part of the design. What you see in the picture below is one skeins worth. I have another on hand but will likely need to purchase a third to be able to completely finish this portion of the design.

I will post book reviews in two weeks, hopefully with a few extra to make up for missing last months. Then hopefully I will have the shield and sword finished and ready to share for the next post.