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Flower String Art Pull

Supplies:

  1. string. A simi thick cotton string works well. Just make sure your string is not too thin. It needs to be able to grab the paint. Beads and other similar items will also work with slightly different effects.
  2. Canvas
  3. Acrylic paint. I used mostly apple barrel acrylic paint.
  4. Pouring median. I tried the one from Dollar Tree.
  5. Small cups to mix paint in.
  6. Something to mix paints and pouring median together.
  7. Paint brush or other painting tools. I used a silicone brush to cover my canvas. I also used a plastic paint spatula to create the center of my flower.
  8. Silicone mat or something similar to apply your paint to your sting on.
  9. Optional: a frame 
  10. Optional: something to cover your work surface and/or to place your piece on top of as it dries.
  11. Optional: gloves

Steps:

  1. Mix pouring median with the paint color you want your canvas to be. The ratio of pouring median to paint will depend on the pouring median and the paint you use. I good place to start is one part pouring median to three parts paint.
  2. Apply a thick coat of this initial paint mixture all over your canvas. Do not allow this to dry. You want to work while it is still wet.

3. Mix pouring median in with desired paint colors in your mixing cups and mix them together well. Typically you want a thin honey consistency, unless you are using the Dollar Tree pouring median, which will actually make your paint thicker.

4. Now pour your paint colors in a line on your silicone mat. You could layer different colors of paint, but I only used one color. I then used my white to lighten up my blue paint when I did the center part of the flower.

5. Place string in line of paint and make sure the string has a nice covering of paint on all sides. Leave the very ends of the string without paint so you have something to hold on to.

6, Lay string on canvas. Do not pick up the string once it has touched the canvas. Slowly pull on one side of the string towards where you want the center of your flower to be. The trick is to get the angle right and to move slowly making sure the string stays in contact with the canvas as it is pulled. I could have used a heavier/thicker string. I also started to get the hang of the angle after a few pulls. The outside petals will get overlapped and covered some by the other petals, so it is okay if they are not perfect.

7. Replace string back in paint line or get a new string and place it in paint line. Then create another petal by slightly over lapping the end of the previous petal. Continue around your canvas until you have slightly overlapped the other end of the very first petal.

8. For the inside petals I mixed a little bit of my extra white paint with my blue to make it a little lighter. I then did the same thing, but made smaller petals. I did two rows of inside petals.

9. The center of your flower will get extra paint built up. You can remove some of this extra paint build up, but just be careful not to mess up the rest of your flower.

10. For the center of the flower I used a plastic paint spatula and dipped it in my gold paint that I also mixed with my pouring median. I started out making a few dots in the center, then I made streaks through the center all the way around.

At fist I was not sure how I was liking my flower. It also took a few tries to get the feel of how to pull the string. As I added more layers the flower started to come together more and my initial areas I was not liking got covered up. I used a Dollar Tree canvas so it did not cost much if I decided I did not like it and wanted to start over. I also recommend if you do not like it at first, just keep going and you might like it better as you keep working with it. Plus, it is good practice. I chose to use a flat canvas so it would fit inside my picture frame, but you could also use a normal canvas as well.

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