Friday, January 21, 2011

Spirograph Art


I'm going old school today. Do any of you remember the Spirograph? I LOVED mine when I was a kid! The other day my husband found this knockoff Spiral Art Set at Walgreens in the clearance section!

I was so excited when he surprised me with it (yeah, I know - that's what she said) and I immediately started thinking about ways to decorate with it. This piece of "art" was first on the list and will hang in our stairwell.

To make it: I used spray adhesive on a piece of poster board and covered it with some white fabric just like with my fabric printing. Then I went at it with my "spirograph" and some ultra fine point Sharpies.

Once my fabric was covered in spirals, I peeled it off of the poster board. Then I used spray adhesive on a plain white canvas we had and laid my fabric on top, smoothing out any bubbles. For the edges, I pulled them around tight and hot glued them to the back of the canvas' frame.
I had a few reasons for coloring on a piece of fabric instead of directly on the canvas. 1) The canvas would buckle in the center which would mess up the design. 2) Using the fabric I could wrap the designs around the sides instead of having a bunch of blank space around the edges. 3) I was worried I would mess up and scrap fabric is a lot easier to replace than a canvas.

I'm really happy with how it turned out! I kind of like the spring colors right now since I am in denial about how much snow is outside. :) I want to try another one with darker colors though....another print....some pillows....curtains....before you know it people will go dizzy when they walk into our house because of all of the spirals!
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14 comments:

Rachael West said...

Wow way cool of hubs - seriously I'm going to be checking every walgreens around for one :+)

I love the art you created - you rock!

GretchenP said...

omg i am seriously jealous! i got my son a lite brite for xmas this year and it got me thinkin' about the spirograph...for myself of course! :) this makes me wanna run to walgreens! ..i hope i'm as lucky!

Maggie said...

That is awesome!

I loved those things when I was little. The art you created is fabulous. I'm going to keep an eye out for my own set. I can see making wrapping paper out of plain craft paper and these - or even note cards.

Thanks for the inspiration.

Anonymous said...

Thank you! If you can't find one at Walgreens, it looks like they are producing a newer version of the Spirograph for about $20: http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-67100-Deluxe-Spirograph/dp/B000096R4K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295660911&sr=8-1

Lindsay @ Diary of a Crafty Lady said...

Holy Cow, I love this! And believe it or not, my old spirograph - the ORIGINAL - is actually at my parent's house! I was just playing with it when I was visiting them for Christmas. This is such a great idea for it:)
Thanks!
Lindsay @ Diary of a Crafty Lady

Grannys Attic said...

Great idea! I love how it turned out! Walgreens tomorrow! Brings back memories of childhood! Thanks for sharing, Vicky

brokeintrovert said...

I so want one of these for my house. Love it!

Shawna said...

Very nice! Brings back memories!!! lol.

Nesty Girl said...

Love this! Lee Valley sold a small set this year (they used the scientific name, which I can't remember right now!) I bought one for a stocking stuffer for my husband and we are having a great time with it! We remarked the other day that there must be something we could do with our "art" besides hanging it on the fridge; I can't wait to try this out! And what a great idea to use the fine Sharpie pens...we are feeling somewhat limited in our creativity by the four pens that came in the set :)

Katie said...

The spirograph was my absolute favorite art "thing" when I was a kid. Thank you for linking up to Sew Woodsy!

melachrino said...

Megan, you have some of the best ideas out there. So glad I found you on the blog hop!

Naturally Me Creations said...

How pretty! I haven't played with those things in YEARS! We had a big box with a set of these things when i was younger....we should have taken better care it, i don't even know where it is! :/

:)

lotts to do said...

I NEED one of those sets. And IF I can find one, I might have to steal your idea. Too cute.

Unknown said...

very creative! I am writting a post on creative ideas to create art for the nursery. I hope you won't mind me boroowing this idea. Will link back to you.