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 for only $1!

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!

17 comments:

  1. 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!

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  2. 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!

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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

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  5. 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

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

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

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  8. Very nice! Brings back memories!!! lol.

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  9. 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 :)

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  10. That's great! If you have not been by yet, make sure you enter my linky contest! The best of January 2011 will be showered with prizes! I also have some great Valentines giveaways going on right now!

    http://www.thesaturdaymorningsblog.com/2011/01/strut-your-stuff-link-up-party.html

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

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  12. You have made the finals! Check it out!

    http://www.thesaturdaymorningsblog.com/2011/01/finalists-for-week-four.html

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

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  14. 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! :/

    :)

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

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  16. i featured this on my blog today

    www.kimboscrafts.blogspot.com

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  17. 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.

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