Day 10- Totally Nailed It

3/5/14

It's amazing how much you can do in a day.
Today was the hardware challenge, based on the poll that was up for the last 2 days on the blog. I've always enjoyed any reason to go into a hardware store because I love looking at the variety of things, be it paint swatches or rolls of vinyl or even bolts.

This morning I went to the hardware store to collect some items for today's piece. I had some ideas about what I was going to do, but I got fixated on the wall of nails once it came time to make decisions. I purchased a variety of nails and tacks, as well as a handle for a drawer and some corner braces. I got such a random collection of things I'm certain the guy running the store thought I was a bit crazy.

I was really interested in the idea of using the nails as a sort of fringe. I love that as individual pieces they are rather unremarkable and utilitarian but all together they have such a rich texture. I attempted to crochet some thread and insert the nails as I went to make a chain of nails but it wasn't consistent and was far too time consuming.

I pulled out a ball of 2 ply yarn and attempted to insert the nails at every twist. To my amazement it worked. Perfectly. So I cut many strands of yarn to the same length and began to insert the nails at approximately 1/4" intervals. I started with the dark steel grey tacks which were the shortest pieces I had, and then made a few strands of different length nails in silver. I had to go back to the store and buy more nails and in addition to buying more dark grey tacks, I bought a variety of lengths in a medium grey color. I decided not only to do a gradation of length but also of color.

The most painstaking part of this process was hand stitching the lengths of yarn in between each nail to the fabric. I made a fabric out of lengths of black strap ribbon sewn together at the sides. The strap material is very strong and can hold the weight of the nails (which ended up being pretty heavy.) I sewed the yarn/nail combo strips on from bottom to top. I'm grateful that I loved the way it looked as I went or I would've lost interest along the way. But it looked so cool that I was hooked. This is also why I have so many progress pictures...

Notice the slight gradation of color from top to bottom. There are three shades of silver.

Canvas handbag, strap ribbon, assorted nails, alpaca yarn, velvet ribbon

I edged the top with a 1/2" velvet ribbon to give it a little bit more of a polished edge. Honestly, the materials I worked with to build the bag itself weren't as great as the nail-fabric treatment really deserved so I will likely go back and reassemble the piece in a little bit more of a structured way. I toyed with the idea of using some of the corner braces painted black along the top, but the structure of the bag made them look sloppy. I will definitely consider adding some more hardware components the next time around.

I've also found in the process that the nails on yarn makes a fantastic necklace. Expect to see that one another day.

This was a project where I was so inspired the whole way through that it made me appreciate the time I am taking to complete this 30 day project. Thank you, SO much, everyone who voted on this project (I hope you love the result!) and everyone who keeps up with this blog! If you have ideas for another challenge, leave me a note in the comments.

xo,
Arielle