DIY Wood Ombre Wall Hanging

A fun little wood project to share:

My dad comes up with some interesting things and he recently showed me how to make these unique wall hangings.

 

1st: Cut strips of wood. I think our wood was a scrap of 1/4″ plywood and each strip is about 14″ long and 3/4″ wide. You can do as many as you like. I used 16 pieces for mine and Cora used about 12. Hers turned out a little smaller than mine. The more you do, the more you have to play around with.

2nd: Paint your strips. Cora did a variety of colors for hers and she even did a little pattern on a few of her wood pieces. For mine, I mixed a paints in a muted rainbow scheme.

3rd: Glue the strips tightly together. The color order in which you glue them will change the outcome so play around. I went by how the colors appear in a rainbow but you can get really graphic and high contrast also. We used thumbtacks stuck into our MDF work surface to hold the wood strips together and weighted it all with a brick. It is important for it to be as tight and flat as possible. Try not to get any glue on the front surface. Leave to dry thoroughly.

4th: Once dry, cut the wood strips the opposite way. See how the new strips contain a section of all the first strips painted? They are about 1/2″ wide this time. Careful, they will be fragile due to all the joints.

5th: Move your strips around, staggering the joints however you like (I lined mine up brick-like) and then repeat the glueing process. Again, we used thumbtacks and a weight on top.

 

6th: Once dry, I really liked the random edge so decided to leave it that way (rather than squaring them off to fit into a frame). My dad had a few larger versions that he had framed hanging around his workshop. Either way works great for use as a wall hanging.

If you leave it staggered like mine, you might like to seal the back to add structure. Otherwise, the glue joints might get tested too much. My dad spread a thick layer of silicone caulking all over the back (and stuck a little hanging wire into the caulk before it dried).