DIY Wood Geometric Wall Art
DIY Wood Geometric Wall Art
September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and I wanted to celebrate and honor my son. If you are unaware, my son (pictured) was diagnosed with a rare cancer - Neuroblastoma. It affects roughly 800 children per year around the globe. His case is espeically rare, and his oncologists have only seen ~5 kids present with his histology in their 20+ year career. Thank God, he’s doing exceptionally well with treatment.
I could not let this month pass without acknowledging this terrible disease that affects children at such a young age, some of which are much younger than Donald.
The concept of the geometric wall art in itself is not new, but I personally have not seen an intentional design within the piece. I hope it inspires you to create a unique design of your own.
Difficulty: Medium
Materials Needed for this project
Plywood cut down to size (or whatever wood you prefer) Mine was cut down to 18”X24”
1/2”X1/2” wooden dowels. I ripped down roughly 3 1X3X6 boards to create the dowels
Stain or Paint
Wood Glue
White colored pencil
Tools Needed for this project:
Miter Saw
Table Saw (Not needed if you’re purchasing dowels)
Nail Gun
Clamp
Paint Brush (optional)
Adhesive and gold leaf (optional)
Sealer
This was my first time ever using a table saw. It’s not as intimidating as I thought, so I used my scrap wood pieces I had laying around and ripped the boards down to 1/2”X1/2” dowels. Much cheaper than purchasing them at the store!
Next, I sanded down the wood dowels at the same time. I flipped each dowel at the same time so I wouldn’t sand the same side twice.
I pre-stained the wood dowels, then added the stain of my choice (I used carrington for the dark and Isle for the light stain). I did notice a difference when using the pre-stain. The color distribution was much more smooth and even. You can totally skip this step but run the risk of the stain being blotchy.
I found the angles I needed (see my FREE download) and cut the dowels to the length I wanted them to be. As long as you have the angles, the lengths will come according to your preference!
Here’s my setup while making this piece. I made sure I had my miter saw near my art piece since I was constantly cutting the dowels.
I added a main dowel for the ribbon then worked around it. I kept cutting down the length to make sure the ribbon was perfect. Lengths will vary, but the angles should be the same. It’s a lot of cutting, measuring, re-cutting and re-measuring (at least for me). I marked angles on the dowels to show where I needed to cut (see video at the end if you need a visual).
After finding the angle, I glued down the dowel directly on the board using wood glue.
Once I made the cuts, I stained the raw edges to make it look seamless when it came time to add the frame.
Once I was done with cutting and gluing the dowels down, I cleaned up the piece with my shop vac. The brush attachment definitely helps getting all of the sawdust off!
Once the entire piece was assembled, I went back in with my paint brush and painted any edges I forgot to stain after cutting.
I added some leafing adhesive to the light wood dowels and leafed it gold in honor of childhood cancer. You can totally paint or stain the dowels the color of your choice (i.e. pink for breast cancer awareness).
I added the frame and sealed it to finish!
