How To Paint With Yarn

I didn’t even know that yarn painting was a thing until a few days ago, and now I am hooked. It is such a fun and easy way to create a striking piece of art. It can be as simple or intricate as you want to make it, and you may already have the supplies on hand.

This is a project that truly is as simple as it’s made out to be. It always makes me happy to find a craft like that. The supply list is minimal, and the result is really very cool!

Supplies:

• Canvas (or paper, or cardboard)
• Glue (I used Elmer’s white school glue)
• Yarn
• Scissors

I just happened to have a rainbow of yarn from my rainbow wall hanging, so I used that. I have plenty of other yarn in my stash, so I’ll dig through that next time. I’ve even thought about using different textures. You really don’t need a whole lot of whatever yarn you choose, so you could use whatever you have left over from other projects. I might also check Dollar Tree to see if I can add to my color collection of this basic yarn.

I used a canvas because I envisioned wrapping the sides, but I think I might try paper next time. I think art like this would look really nice in a simple matted frame.

I did not have a fully formed plan beyond covering the canvas in yarn. I’ve seen some absolutely gorgeous, intricate designs, but that was not my goal this time.

I started pretty organically by just drawing a wavy line with the glue. 

I followed that up with the yarn, gently pressing it down into the glue. Then I repeated the steps, with another line of glue right next to the yarn and the next strand of yarn. I lined up the yarn skeins in order so it was easy to pull the next color.

Now, here’s where I recommend looking closely at your design from different angles. From the angle I was looking at the canvas, it looked perfect. It wasn’t until I was quite a ways in (and my glue had dried) that I realized I could see white from the canvas when I looked at it from above (or straight on if I was holding it up). I thought I was pushing the yarn closely together, but apparently, I wasn’t quite closing the gaps. So for future projects, I will use some kind of tool (even the tip of a pencil would work) to make sure I’m really pushing them together, and I will also check frequently to make sure it looks the way I want it to.

I only glued down the yarn on top of the canvas at this point. I left enough overhang on either side to glue down later, but I didn’t worry about that yet.

For no particular reason, I started my design in the middle of the canvas. I kept working down the canvas, and eventually, I had to start bringing the design over the bottom edge and down. I kept going until it was covered.

Then I turned the canvas around and started working the other way. I actually reversed the rainbow at that point, but I think you have to look closely to even tell the difference.

I let the canvas dry overnight, and the next day I started gluing down the little overhanging ends of yarn. I started with one side, glued those down, and then flipped the canvas over to glue the other side. I left the canvas face-down to dry. Some of the little pieces are stubborn, but I’m calling it good enough.

Once the glue was dry, I trimmed off the excess yarn with scissors. It looks like I gave a Muppet a haircut here.

Now it’s ready to hang! I’m already thinking about what I want to do next. 

If you do your own yarn painting, I’d love to see!

Happy crafting!