Decorative Lace String Box

The main components of this project are string and glue, super cheap and easy! This string box has a lovely lacy look that you can add decorative bits to suit your preference and style. Personally I'm not using it for anything, it's just really lovely to look at. I gave the original to a friend and am making the blue one for myself. Use them for larger soft items like costume jewelry or hair scrunchies, or just let their beauty be their purpose.

The inspiration for this pattern came from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nmf-pOpjcQ&t=1s . I made a smaller version of that project and then made this pattern of my own and developed my own techniques. I'd recommend watching the video (or another of hers, she has several) because I'm just using photos and some of the techniques will be easier to understand from video, or you might like her way of doing things better than mine. The original video is in Russian so sometimes I had to guess or adapt such as finding a good glue to use that's available in North America. There are subtitles in some videos but not all, and not always where you want them.

Materials and tools for this project are fairly simple. Everything is available at the dollar store or craft store.

• String, size doesn't matter but make sure it's cotton or other natural materials so it absorbs the glue
• Glue; thin, quick drying, strong, dries clear. I use beacon 3 in 1, the bottle shown is for foam board but seems to be the same formula
• Page sized sheet/envelope of thin clear plastic like packaging for dollar store craft items (not pictured)
• White glue thinned with water and a brush to spread it
• Sticks/dowels, 1/8" diameter
• Floral wire and floral tape
• Wire cutters or tin snips for the floral wire, large scissors will work it's just not good for your scissors
• Pattern
• Small scissors or clippers for thread and dried glue

Optional items

• a small tip glue bottle, makes it easier to lay the beacon in a thin enough line to not make a big mess
• plastic round container, this is if you want to make your own pattern or mine won't print out to size for you (sorry I don't have real files for it!), and to shape your panels. I used an Olympic sour cream container, any similar container will work
• hot air gun or hair dryer. Use it to heat the finished pieces to melt the glue a bit and make them more malleable, they will bend without it but might not hold their shape as well
• finishing spray, I haven't noticed it making a difference buy your results may differ
• decorative additions. This will depend on the colors and effect you want. I'll discuss the ones I used at that step in the process

I'm hoping you can get my pattern to print appropriately. If not it's fairly easy to draw out yourself, I'm not an artist at all and I did it! Start with a round container or other circular item and draw a circle each for your two bottom pieces and your lid. Section them off equally and draw in the necessary hearts, leaves, and circles. Draw the hearts of the lid about a half inch over the edge of your circle so you can fold down the rounded ends to create the lip of the lid. For your side panels they should be half as long as the circumference of the circle, height doesn't matter as such, make it proportionate, possibly measure your circular item's height and go with that.

You will need three ring frames, one for the bottom of the box, one for the top, and one for the lid. Take your floral wire and cut a section equal to the circumference of your pattern, or if you are using a container to draw your own, equal to the circumference of the container. I use the container to bend the wire into shape and clip it in place for a day so it stays curved, this isn't necessary it just makes it slightly easier to work with. Use a bit of glue and wrap the floral tape around the two ends to join your wire into a circle. Try not to use too much floral tape as it will get bulky.

Once the glue is dry start wrapping your ring. Use a bit of glue on a small section (about two inches at a time) of your ring and wrap the string around it. I found spooling the string on an old thread spool and unspooling it as I wrapped worked best. Make sure to keep the string tight and regularly use your fingers to press the working end of the string down the shaft of the ring so the coils are tight against each other.

You can do the panels and structure in any order you want, assembly is where the order will matter more. Start by sliding your chosen pattern page into or under your piece of thin plastic, tape it in place if needed. The plastic will allow you to lay down your glue then your string and lift the panel away once it's dry.

You will need two side panels, one of each bottom panel, and one lid. For the side panels you will want to build them to the very edge of the design so they meet up properly, for the bottom and lid pieces you may want to measure them to your structural rings for a proper fit. When constructing the box you will be attaching the sides to the outside of the ring frame, the bottom pieces to the edges of the ring frame, and the lid so the bumps of the heart tops hang over the ring frame.

When you create your designs you will want to choose a section that is more or less self contained such as one heart or one tear drop shape. Draw a line of glue along the path of the pattern you want to attach your string to, this is where the thin tip glue bottle comes in handy. Don't draw more than one glue line at a time or it will dry out before you can use it. Work quickly so your glue does not dry before you get adhesion. Build your design from the outside of the shape then move inward and do the details. You want to try and do a full section at a time because it'll be easier to adjust things if you need to while the glue still isn't completely dry. So do the outer rim of a heart, then the inner heart, then the curled vines within the heart before moving to a new section. Likewise, do adjacent sections as you go because you want the strings right up against each other and it's easier to get them to stick to each other and nestle up close if the glue still has some give. If you make a mistake or don't like how it sits no problem! It's easy to pull out a string and redo it.

When doing the loose coils in places like inside the hearts on the lid you will also want to use glue to stiffen the end of the string. If you don't do this and form a loose coil but try instead to just stick down the end of the string and coil from there it will be very difficult to work with. Check out step 6 for a pic and a little more info on doing this.

Not every part of the pattern has all the decorative details, this was just to save drawing time and because the design never quite fits the way you think it will anyway. Fill all symetrical parts of the pattern in the same way.

Any areas that I've drawn in red glue down a double line of string and then add an additional string on top in the track created by the bottom two. I prefer to add the top string after I've finished the rest of the section to give the bottom two strings time to dry and become more stable. This technique will add depth and dimension visually, as well as structural strength. Always make sure your string is touching as many adjacent strings as possible so everything is attached when you complete the panel.

The lines shown for inner lines and designs will not always fit the way they seem like they should once you start building your string. If it seems like there will be too much space between the strings add another line, if it's too crowded, space things out. The size of your string may mean making adjustments to this design.

With the bottom panels you will be filling the entire space of your shapes. I recommend starting any shapes that have a point at that point and ending at the next point. That means when you are doing a heart, place your glue on one side of the heart, start your string at either the bottom point or the low point between the two humps and take it to the next point only. You can do the entire shape with one string but I found it blurs the image and it's not as clear what it is. I did this for the hearts and for the 'leaves' on the other bottom panel, both the inside and the outside layers. For this part you want to get as much string into the space as possible so it is solid and no light shows through.

When you need to make a coil of string or when you are wrapping your structural rings and dowels you will want to stiffen the end of your string. To do this just put some glue on the end of the string and use your forefinger and thumb to spread it and push it into the fibers of the end of the string. This will make it easier to work with for these parts. To make a coil after you stiffen the string hold the end between your thumb and forefinger and bend it back on itself, hold it tightly and use your other hand to bring the working end in a half circle as tight up against the hook in between your fingers as possible. Transfer the started coil to the other thumb and forefinger without releasing your tension and do another half circle, the glue you used will help the started coil hold it's shape. Do this several times until you have a good start to your coil. Glue the started coil down on the design and place your finger on it to hold it in place, continue to wrap the working end around it until your coil is large enough to fill the space.

It doesn't show on the design, but at the bottom of the side panel where the small coil goes I did place another coil beneath it to build it to the right height.

When you finish a section take your glue and draw a line along any areas where the ends of strings meet. Draw your finger along the glue to work it into the ends of the string, this will smooth out any bits that are sticking up and strengthen those areas. Any areas that have holes or gaps will gather excess glue. You will never get all of it but try to go back over the holes with a toothpick or something similar to try and work out excess glue, do this as soon as you finish each section before the glue dries completely. If your glue has already started to dry be careful you don't pull your string up with the excess glue. Check your design to make sure all your strings are solidly glued down, if they aren't re-glue those areas, try to check for this as you go rather than waiting till the end.

When a panel is finished set it aside to completely dry, about an hour will do if you are using the beacon. Take your white glue solution (about half/half white glue and water) and brush it onto your panel making sure to get all the tight corners and enough so it soaks into the string. Let it sit a few minutes then carefully lift the panel from the plastic. Some areas might be more fragile so start at a place where it seems strongest and pull up slowly holding the whole design rather than just the edge making sure to support fragile parts. Transfer it to a clean area of the plastic to finish drying. The reason for doing this is that any excess glue will dry clear but into spider web type lines in any gaps of your string, if you move it there will be less of this. You can try to clean up the gaps before you put it down again using a paper towel, toothpick, or brush, but once again you will never get all of it. When the panel is completely dry (I leave it a day to be sure though it likely takes much less time) you can lift it from the plastic for good and use small scissors to clear away any left over unwanted glue. There will be a lot of areas you will not be able to get to without damaging the design, how much you want to try to do is up to you and your patience level but know that when the project is finished this is not really visible unless you are really up close.

You can use a gloss finishing spray on the panels when you are finished and everything is dry but I have to admit I didn't really notice a difference in appearance. It's possible it will be slightly more resistant to dust/stains or a little stronger but I'll likely leave it for the blue one I'm making.

Take your base panels and layer one on top of the other using glue between them. It doesn't matter which you put where, whichever you decide looks best on the bottom or as the inside of the box is up to you. Glue your first ring frame centered on top of your base panels.

Use the heat gun or hair dryer to shape your side panels. If you are using your own container that's perfect, if you are using my printed pattern don't worry, something the approximate size will work fine. It will take very little heat to get the panel to shape, once it is shaped hold it in place until it cools. Once it is cooled glue it to the outside of the ring frame base, you may have to hold it in place for a bit but this glue does dry fast. Do the same with the second side panel.

This is basically the same as what you did for your ring frame. You will need two dowels. Cut your dowels based on the height of the side panels. You will be resting your second ring frame on these supports so make sure it's at the height you want for that and that both dowels are the same height. You don't have to have them as short as mine, as long as the top ring frame is at or below the level of the top of the side panels you're good. Use a bit of sandpaper or a file to smooth the cut end of the dowel. Don't forget to stiffen the end of your string with glue before you start wrapping. Put a small amount of glue on the first inch of the dowel and start wrapping your string. As with the ring frame you will need to constantly be pushing the string down to make sure it's tight, see the third picture in this series. You will have to do this a lot of times and do it quickly before your glue dries.

Once your dowels have dried, glue them to the base ring and the panels where the panels meet. Glue your top ring frame to the panels and the top of your dowel supports.

Glue your last ring frame centered in the lid panel. When it's dry use the heat gun to warm the parts that overlap the edge of the ring frame and bend them down at right angles before they cool. Check the fit of the lid on the box and adjust the edges if you need to.

As you can see from the first picture this box looks amazing undecorated. It's delicate and lacy and doesn't need additional embellishments. But some of us like a bit of color or a bit of bling. For the white box shown (the blue isn't finished yet!) I started with four white beads I had to make feet for the box. This is probably something I'd always do as I don't want it touching surfaces. On the top I used four stacked heart shaped wood cuts from the dollar store and painted pink to form a handle for the lid. On top of the lid I used dried split peas painted with a pearlecent paint from the dollar store to look like pearls. On the coils at the edge of the lid and the edges of the side panels I used flat pink beads. all of this is dependent on what you like and what you have available. Overall this project will take 12-16hrs not counting drying time.

If you have any questions about this project please feel free to message me or comment. I am happy to help out anyone who needs it. I'd love to see other projects based on this technique so if you make your own project, especially if you use your own pattern, I'd love to see it.