Rebecca Paul is neatly organising her tools on the table as I enter @641. Wooden boards, hammers, nails, woollen yarns, scissors and templates. She is getting ready to conduct her first string art workshop for the 10 people assembled at the cafe.
In her brief introduction, Paul says, “String art was initially used in the 19th century to make mathematical ideas easier for kids. Later it gained popularity as a craft.”
She hands over a stack of template papers: Mickey Mouse, heart, elephant, anchor and word templates like love, home, etc. After dithering for a while, I select an anchor and settle down with my wooden board and hammer.
Attention to details
Paul instructs us to place the selected template on the wooden board and, “hammer the nails at an equal distance from each other throughout the outline. Make sure there is a nail in all the corners” even as she cautions us not to hurt our fingers. “Dhak dhak dhak”, the sound of hammering echoes through the room interspersed with a few ouches. I carefully hammer the nails in and soon realise that it is not easy as I thought it would be. The nails are not perpendicular to the board and Paul advises me to “have your vision right over the board while nailing.” It takes me around 1.5 hours to nail the outline.
Paul walks around helping and clearing doubts. “Now, take a picture of the board with the template and nails for reference. Make sure the nails are intact and then tear the paper templates carefully.” When I do that, a number of my nails came off. I re-hammer them deeper. The girl sitting next to me, who chose the word home tries hard to figure out the alphabets, after tearing the paper off and I offer to help. It looks like nails hammered at random positions till we refer to the picture that she took of the board with the template.
Rebecca Paul
Paul now moves on to the next step: winding the string around the nails. “First, define the borders. Tie a knot around a nail and connect it to the adjacent ones by winding it under the heads. You can either do a single layer or a double layer. After the border, the inner portion can be filled with strings going criss-cross connecting the nails. Make sure the strings are tight.” She explains that there is no particular pattern or technique to follow here. I complete mine in another hour. Quite satisfied with my work, I decide to hang it in my room.
Not so easy
Varshini NM , a class seven student, says, “I will make a few to present to my friends.” Saru Nivetha, a B.Com student, however feels that the art is “not as easy as it looks.”
Paul started doing string art two years ago after she accidently stumbled upon the art online. “I liked it instantly and then made a small board which read, I love you, for my husband. He liked it and shared a picture online. We started getting orders, and that is how it began", she recollects. She also recounts an unforgettable incident. “I was pregnant and, during my scan, my doctor asked me to get admitted that evening for my delivery, and I had an order for a string art that day. I came home from the hospital, finished the order and delivered it before getting admitted.”
She also customises string art for business organisations as well.
“Recently I did a 4’X2’ art for a company in Coimbatore. They liked it, and came back to me for another when they opened a new branch in Bengaluru.” She is planning to do more string art workshops in the city.
To know more, visit her page The Kraft Farm on Facebook or follow thekraftfarm on Instagram. To place an order, you can call 9894866415
Remember to
Hammer nails at equal distance with each other, and at uniform height
Choose a hammer that is light and easy to use
Use good quality nails
