Yarn Art

My daughter and I have been experimenting with creating yarn art inspired by Huichol yarn painting from Mexico. This project is great for older children age 8 plus as it requires good fine motor skills and patience. 

MATERIALS:

• Colourful yarn
• White flue (PVA Glue)
• Paint brush
• Wooden or thick card board
• Scissors

HOW TO:

Begin by sketching out a simple design onto your board. Starting with a small section, apply glue liberally with a brush and stick the yarn onto the board either in spirals or rows. For the best effect, make sure you get the yarn neat and very closely aligned together.

Gradually fill in more sections of your artwork with different colour yarns building up your picture or pattern.

My top tip is to try and not get any glue on your fingers otherwise the yarn starts sticking to you rather than the board! You can use a clean pencil or wooden skewer to carefully push your yarn into position.

Fill the whole board for the best effect.

YARN ART FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN

If you have younger children, you can create a simple and quick version of yarn art using sticky backed plastic instead of glue.

MATERIALS:

• Colourful yarn
• Sticky backed plastic
• A ball point pen with the pen part removed
• Masking tape
• Scissors

HOW TO:

Cut a piece of sticky backed plastic, remove the backing and secure it to a table with masking tape with the sticky side of the plastic facing upwards. Remove the pen part of a ball point pen and thread yarn through the middle to create a 'yarn pen'.

Using your 'yarn pen', draw onto the sticky backed plastic in patterns. The yarn will stick to the plastic and be pulled through the pen as your draw. Pat down the yarn making sure it adheres to the plastic. Fill the artwork with lots of coloured yarns and patterns for the best effect.