Heart Art: 3D artwork using sticks

Remember all those sticks that JJ and Bee played with in their Sticks Sensory Bin? Well, afterwards I couldn’t resist getting a little bit crafty with some of them…

I made this 3D stick heart shaped artwork to complement a set of three heart shaped artworks that Bee already had hanging alongside her toddler bed.

For the “canvas”, I upcycled the packaging from a new sous vide machine that Mr Banya recently bought. (Yay for new yummy meals). It is similar to polystyrene or Styrofoam, except that this type of packing didn’t turn into little balls when I cut it, so perhaps it’s made from a slightly different type of plastic foam? Anyway I cut it to size, and then painted it with a very pale violet paint. Once the paint was dry, I glued the sticks on using clear drying PVA glue, layering the sticks slightly in parts.

I nailed four wall hooks to the Bee’s bedroom wall. The three original artworks already had hooks on the back for easy hanging. I didn’t worry about attaching a hook to the back of my stick heart art, as the foam packaging canvas is soft enough that the wall hook can penetrate it slightly and it hangs like this on it’s own.

As you can see, I’ve hung these four pieces of art at child height along the side of Bee’s toddler bed. Usually they stay there, but sometimes she takes them down. That’s the whole point really. I want her to notice them, study, them, touch them, experience them. I want her to rearrange them. I want her to try and put them back up on her own and see if she succeeds. And besides, it only take two seconds for me to put back up again while she’s still learning how. #atouchofmontessori

Besides adorning a toddler’s bedroom, this stick art would also make a nice (and practically free) gift for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. You could make different shapes as well. I think a little stick train art would look lovely in a nursery. I imagine any rough sillouette shape would work…

xx Danya