Easy Rustic Arrow String Art

This rustic arrow string art is easy to make, and looks super cute hanging in a gallery wall!

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Haaaaappy Friday, friends! I’ve seen string art for awhile now all over Pinterest, and I’ve been loving it all. I thought about doing a state one for our gallery wall, but decided to do something a little different. Arrows seem to be all the rage lately, so I took a whack (Ha! Get it?!) at some arrow string art of my own! It’s really so easy, just a little time consuming. I was able to hammer (Come on, I’m on a roll!) this project out in a few hours, over a span of 2 of my daughter’s naps!

I started with a simple plain piece of wood I got for FREE at Home Depot. PS, did you guys know they have a 70% off wood section there?! I didn’t until now, and it’s AMAZING. So, like I said, I got this piece for free. I actually got it a few months back while in Home Depot. Jade was hysterically crying because she was tired of being in her carseat, so when I asked the guy if he could cut me a little piece of wood, he said, “here, you can just have it.” It might have been his way of either saying, “lady, get your screaming baby out of here,” or, “wow lady, you look like you really need some help right now, so you can just HAVE the wood.” Either way, I’ll take free. 🙂

wood collageAnyway, I sanded it down a little on the edges so they were smooth, and put a few coats on of some homemade wood stain I had leftover from another project (I made it by  just soaking steel wool in vinegar for a few days). If you’re going for a specific color, I’d buy some stain. For this project, I thought it’d be fun to just play around and see how the color came out. I gave it two or 3 stain coats, then painted on a clear polyurethane sealer. I was super pleased with how the color came out!

SONY DSCWhile the clear sealer dried, I made and printed out some arrow shapes. Because my piece of wood was a random size, I had to print out 3 individual arrows and piece them together. I also wanted them to be big, and I couldn’t fit 3 large arrows on one 8.5×11 piece of paper. If you want to try making this arrow string art for yourself, I’ve provided the free arrow printout for you below. I’ve included both a 3 arrow pdf in case your wood is smaller, and also a large single arrow pdf if your wood is bigger like mine, in which case you’d print out 3 and piece them together. Click below to print!

3 Smaller Arrows

1 Large Arrow

I printed out my arrows, cut, and taped them down according to how I’d like them (My printer was out of black ink, so mine printed out pink!). Then, I just started hammering away! I used wire nails #16 x 1 1/2in. I nailed them about half in inch together, maybe a little less.

Finished collageIt took me a little over an  hour to get all the nails in, AND, I didn’t even hit my thumb once! A win for me! After all the nails were in, I just ripped off the paper. That was a little hard, and unfortunately a few little pieces of paper got stuck under the nails. But, you can’t see them once the string is wrapped around the nails.

For the string, I knew I wanted an ombre effect. So, I found three bunches of thin crochet string in coordinating colors. Joann’s made it easy, as the three colors were in consecutive order, so I didn’t have to go fishing for three similar colors to make the ombre work. Yay! I chose to do grays and keep it neutral. I started with a corner nail, and tied the string around it a couple times so it was secure. Then, I just sort of randomly weaved the string back and forth around the nails, making sure every nail had string around it at least once. Then I went around the perimeter of each arrow with the string, going around each nail. I tied it off at the same nail I started with and trimmed the string. This took another hour to finish all the stringing.

Process collageTo finish my arrow art off, I sanded around the edges of the wood to make it look more worn and rustic. I am in LOVE with how it all came together!!

SONY DSCOnce I actually finish up my gallery wall, this will adorn it with some other family pictures. I’m still working on repainting that wall, and getting some different furniture. That will be for future posts. 🙂

SONY DSCI really like the ombre effect as well, it gives it some more “character.”

SONY DSCThis string art thing is kind of addicting, and now I want to string art everything in my house. I might have to hit up Home Depot again for more wood, but this time without a screaming baby. 🙂

Have a GREAT weekend, friends!

Have you ever done string art? If so, what did you make?

I link up at these fun parties! 

124 thoughts on “Easy Rustic Arrow String Art”

    1. Thank you SO much, Kristi!! It’s totally a fun project to do. I was intimidated by all the string art projects I’ve seen before, but it’s not as hard as it looks! 🙂

      Reply

    1. Thank you, Karisa!! I kind of want to make a few more…of this exact one. Haha! No idea where I’d put them, but I love them too much! PS, so glad to have found another PNWer! 🙂

      Reply

  10. I absolutely love this! I really think this is my favorite version of string art yet! I am pinning this to my DIY board that I am really determined to make everything on. Ha!
    Megan recently posted…DIY Iced LatteMy Profile

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Megan!! I think it’s one of my favorites, too! Haha, I hear you, I have a few boards like that too… someday I’ll get to them all. 🙂 Hope you’re having an awesome weekend!

      Reply

    1. Thank you Carissa! I hadn’t done any before this either, but it’s totally fun! I’ll check out your link party, too! Thanks for visiting 🙂

      Reply

    1. Thank you for featuring my string art, Stacy!! That’s so sweet of you! Can’t wait to see it tomorrow! Hope you have a great weekend. 🙂

      Reply
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    1. Thank you Kendra!! I’m loving arrows lately and thought they’d be fun to try for string art! You totally should try it! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by today!

      Reply
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  33. Woohoo!! So glad you linked this up the best from your blog this week at our Bewitchin Projects block party! Be sure to come back again on Sunday starting at 6am EST over at OurMiniFamily.com to link up your projects again–the linky party runs from Sunday to Thursday each week :D



    ~Cathy Mini~

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Cindy!! You’re so sweet! Ha, that’s right, forget Christmas! Or maybe everyone is getting arrow string art, instead! 🙂 Have a fabulous weekend!

      Reply

    1. Thanks, Christine! I know, it was pretty time consuming, which is the only downside! But so worth it! 🙂 Thanks for visiting, hope you have a great weekend!

      Reply

    1. Ahh thanks!! I’m so excited about it! I really didn’t know how it was going to look, but I have to say it was actually better than I thought it would be! I mean, it IS a ton of nails. I can’t believe I even got them all straight! 🙂

      Reply
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    1. Thank you so much, Michelle! I hadn’t tried string art before until now, and I’m kind of addicted! 🙂 Thanks SO much for the feature as well!! I’ve already been by to link up again. 🙂 Have a great week!

      Reply
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    1. Thank you, Cat! String art is SO fun, and I’ve been wanting to make more since this one, too! 🙂 Hope you enjoy your weekend!

      Reply
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    1. Hi, Alex! Thank you!! I actually made the cutouts myself on Word. I included them above for you to download, not sure if you saw those or not!! It was such a fun wall art to make! Send me a picture if you make one! 🙂

      Reply
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    1. Thank you, Hannah!! I believe it was about an 8×11 or 9×12? It was a scrap and I just used what I had! You could make this bigger or smaller, too. 🙂

      Reply
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