I made a design wall awhile back. I mentioned it in this March post. Here you can see it hanging on my door.
The problem is, I’ve not hung it there for any length of time. I’d take it down and store it on the floor close to the door. I wasn’t sure it was worth even messing with until I decided to just hang it and leave it!
Then the magic began! I can’t believe I’ve not used one before. I always created on my table and then stood on my little one-step stepladder to look at it. What a difference looking at it and creating on the design wall. Duhh!
UPDATE: I received a couple questions about the design wall/board so I thought I’d answer them here. The board is a canvas I used awhile back when I was painting on canvas. I covered it with batting and then flannel. Dave stapled it to the frame.
Then I’m hanging it with those over the door hangers. I had to try several until I found the ones that fit my door. Unfortunately, I can’t find the link to that purchase. Just be sure you measure the thickness of your door. I don’t need to add any hanger on the board. The board sits in the hangers and it pretty secure.
For the past three pieces I’ve entered into shows I have used this wall, and it has really my art process so much easier and better. I started with selecting the fabrics for my Falling Leaves piece for the Ohio Valley Art League’s Art Squared Exhibit in Henderson Kentucky.
I spent some time folding and pinning them to my board, trying to decide on the best way to use these pieces. Once I decided on the layout, and sewed the layers down, I took it back to the design wall. I pinned the leaves I had chosen for the project also to the board.
I couldn’t decide how many leaves I wanted to use, so having some extras gave me more options. Before adding the leaves, I wanted to add stitching to the background. I stitched around the leaves on the white background, and straight stitches on the other pieces.
Since I was putting this in a frame, I pinned a mat that was the correct size to the board over the finished piece. I also went through my leaves again and made my final decision on which ones I might use.
Then I auditioned each leaf.
I played around a bit with that. I’d leave it up on the board, and come back later and rearrange the leaves until I was happy with the placement. This is what I ended up with.
And the final piece, framed and ready for the show.
I also used it for the Recycled Exhibit piece. This one was more difficult for me to create since I really like to only use my stamped, dyed and printed fabrics. However, I did use some of my scrappy fabric. This piece includes old jeans, that scrappy fabric, old buttons, and dyed and natural doily pieces.
There are a couple more exhibits and challenges coming up so I’ll be using the design wall a lot more. I’d love to have room for a large wall, but this 24 x 36 board works for my small pieces. In fact, I was working on both the Falling Leaves and the Jeans Play piece at the same time!
Can you believe it is October? September went by so fast. Hope you’re having a great day, and looking forward to a fun and creative weekend.
I’ve had, and used, my design wall for several years. However, your addition of the mat for really seeing what will be the final size and giving it boundaries is a great idea! Your pieces are so nicely balanced and full of visual interest, 🥰
Luann, Thanks. The mat is great to use even if you aren’t going to mat it. It helps me to see the final piece much better. Thanks for your kind words.
I LOVE the jeans project. So colourful ! And could you share again how to make a design wall? Is it covered in felt?
Thanks.
Great projects. Would you please share the hanging hardware for your design wall?
Pam, The canvas board is just hanging on those over the door hangers. I did have to buy a couple different ones until I found a set that fit my door. I’ll post a pic on what they look like in this post. Thanks for asking and dropping by.
Paulette, Thank you! It’s a canvas I had used previously to paint on, covered with batting and then flannel, and stapled to the canvas frame. I added that information and a picture of my hangers to the post. Hope that helps. Thanks for the comment and dropping by.