We’re already into day three of #10daysofpoms, and today is possibly my favourite photo prompt of all: Art!
I think my love of making stems from my obsession with art, something I’ve had since I was little. My Mum still has the first drawing I ever did proudly positioned in her the living room back in England (a small, weird stick-man-bird thingy), and I started collecting art books and encyclopedias from an early age, from bright and sweet books about Kawaii artists to the more morbid end of fine art: a large tome showing the collected works of Otto Dix. I pinched that one from my secondary school, but in my defense it was stuck down the back of a radiator, long-forgotten and covered in dust and splashes of paint. Naughty. I promise that was the only ‘tea-leafing’ I’ve ever done, although I think I may have swiped a mascara from Superdrug once.
I still have an art book of mine with little notes scrawled in pencil saying things like, “nice dress folds”, “nice sky!” and “could be good for Year 11 project”. It makes me feel good looking at them.
Anyways, I thought that invoving art in some way as part of this photo challenge would be fun, so I thought up a simple way of adding poms to a canvas to create a tactile and versatile piece of wall art. It’s extremely customisable – you can obviously choose any colours and sizes of pom that you like – and it’s a LOT of fun. I love the sound and sensation of the needle piercing through the canvas, but then again I’m into ASMR so that’s not surprising…
You will need:
- A white canvas of any size;
- A sharp wool or tapestry needle;
- Two pairs of scissors (one small, sharp pair and another larger pair for trimming);
- Several poms in different sizes and colour(s) of your choice.
Method:
Take your canvas and lay it out flat. By now you’ve probably decided what colours you like and what style you want, but if not take a moment to plan the sizes and shades of poms you’re looking for. For my art I chose mustards, lilacs and white to give the impression of negative space, but you can do what you like! This is all about experimentation and having fun, yo.
Using your yarn needle, make two holes next to each other where your pom will go. Each hole corresponds to one strand of yarn that comes off the pom after tying and trimming. Tip: Don’t feel that you have to make 20 poms all in one go; the good thing about this project is that you can come back to it and add poms any time if you want.
Insert your trimmed and shaped pom where you made the holes, threading one end through each hole. Tie a double knot firmly at the back, taking care to not tie so tightly as to break the yarn. Thread the yarn back up and through the holes and the centre of the pom to secure further. Trim as needed. You have now one pom on your canvas – nice!
Continue in this way until you are happy with the way your artwork looks. I alternated between pom sizes to create an almost ‘fungussy’ look (in a good way) and to add texture and depth. Obviously, the larger the pom you use the quicker the project is, but I think using teeny-tiny poms all over could also look incredible, as well as colour blocking or even “writing” a letter using a brighter colour over a neutral background of poms. How about just one pom in the center, line of poms? There are so many possibilities!
If you enjoyed this tutorial, want to share your own pom-art creation or simply want to keep up to date with what amazing crafts other makers are creation during this awesome week, make sure to follow the hashtag #10daysofpoms over on my Instagram page!
See you next time for another pommy tutorial!
Emmaknitty 