I definitely underestimated the time and effort that went into this project.

I decided that I wanted to make a simple twine-covered letter to add some texture and dimension to my bedroom. Of all the projects I have done so far, I thought for sure, this would be the easiest one. I sat down with my twine, hot glue gun and giant cardboard letter and popped in a movie. Three weeks and 12 movies later, I finally finished the project.

Now, I was probably trying to be an overachiever when I picked out the largest letter I could. So depending on the size of letter or object and the width of your twine, you could cut this time down dramatically.

This project is…

easy?   Yes.

extremely tedious and time-consuming?   SURPRISE! Yes.

What you need:

I made a couple stops at my local hardware store and craft stores for these items:

1. Twine (They come in varying widths-the thicker the twine, the quicker you’ll finish)
2. Hot glue gun
3. Hot glue sticks
4. Cardboard letter (or wine bottle, frame, etc.)
5. Scissors

Step 1: Prep the space

Pop in a movie, plug in your glue gun and put it on a durable paper plate, get out your twine and scissors and decide where you want to start the twine on your object.

Unfortunately, my name starts with a W, which I believe is probably the most time-consuming letter (although I found that going around curves can be very tricky as well).

Step 2: Hit play on your movie and start your twining.

For the W I found that starting at the top, outside and working my way down and back up the middle was the easiest thing to do.

I applied a strip of glue and pushed the twine into the glue until it was dry. I found that I only needed to apply glue sparingly as I wrapped the twine around the cardboard.

Step 3: What to do when you run into a curve or asymmetrical space:

You’ll notice at the top of the W there is a ridge (serif) that wouldn’t allow me to keep applying the twine all the way around the letter so I just had to do some weaving back and forth until I could again start wrapping the letter all the way down the staff to the bottom.

At the bottom, when I could no longer wrap the twine around the left part of the W alone, I started wrapping it around the entire bottom of the letter until I reached the bottom. I then cut the twine and started again at the top middle and worked my way back down the letter until I reached an area that couldn’t be seen on the back and cut and connected the twine to where I had left off.

Step 4: Just keep going:

I had to take breaks and just do a little at a time until I completed the project. The key is to be patient.

When you finish, you have a masterpiece that will last forever. You can also tell your house guests that you would compare finishing this project to something along the lines of climbing Mt. Everest.