Swirly Yarn Heart for Valentine's Day

As I was making today's heart art, I wasn't sure if my idea was going to work. It was so exciting when it came out exactly how I'd hoped! I love how it looks in the window. Affiliate links below. 

 

Swirly Yarn Heart for Valentine's Day

Materials:

• yarn (I used Red Heart 'Papaya')
• scissors
• Plaid fabric stiffener
• parchment paper
• heart pattern cut from a manilla folder
• empty container

Steps: 

Set up your workspace with a sheet of parchment paper covering the manilla heart pattern. 

Cut about 50 lengths of yarn, ranging from about 2" to about 6". How many you need depends on the size of your pattern and how tightly you swirl the pieces. Put about 10 pieces into the empty container, then pour in fabric stiffener. You want enough so that the yarn is completely saturated, but not dripping. The contrast won't be dramatic with every color, but with Papaya the wet yarn was very pale compared to the dry yarn.  

Pull out a single piece of yarn and form it into a swirl directly on the parchment paper. Continue making swirls with each piece of yarn. The swirls must be right up against each other. 

For the swirls that are along the edge of the heart, flatten that side slightly so that it follows the pattern. Fill in smaller spaces with swirls made from the shortest pieces of yarn.  

Continue the process of soaking the yarn in the stiffener and making swirls onto the pattern until it is completely filled. Carefully lift the parchment paper onto a cooling rack and let it sit undisturbed for at least 24 hours. 

After 24 hours, check to see if the heart is completely dry. If it is, the yarn will have returned to its proper color and the backside of the parchment paper will feel uniform in texture and temperature. If it's not completely dry, give it more time. You will ruin the heart if you try to remove the parchment paper too soon. 

When the yarn is completely dry, carefully invert the heart onto a flat surface, then gently peel the parchment away from the yarn. The resulting heart will be rigid. I took this picture immediately after removing the parchment paper.

To hang it, I added small rolls of tape behind three of the swirls and pressed it gently to the window. 

Your craft will stay intact as long as it remains flat (horizontally or vertically). Any sort of twisting or bending will cause the swirls to break apart from each other. Enjoy!