Sticks, Stripes, & Tetanus Shots- Getting Ready for Labor Day

If you’re going to work with me, make sure you’re up to date on your tetanus shots.  Check out this fine saw I used for this project:

Tetanus, anyone?

Don’t worry, I didn’t cut myself.  There’s no gore in this post- only sticks, paint, twine and a flag. 

I thought this project was going to be a quick one since, well, it just looks simple.  I only started with 3 materials- sticks, paint and twine.  I was able to find the sticks really quickly around my house.  Then I laid them out.  (Dun, dun, duh…)   They weren’t as straight as I thought.  So I had to go on another stick finding mission.  

Sawing them to be close to the same size was another time sucker.  This didn’t take forever, but it took longer than expected.  Perhaps it had more to do with making two of these flags at the same time so I needed 30 sticks instead of 15. (I also did the prep work for my 7 year old.)

When I finally had the prep work complete, we laid the sticks out in the order we liked and painted.  My son did one with me and also made himself into an American flag with all of the paint he got on himself… on purpose. 

"Just call me Betsy Ross," he said.  I wish I had a bad cell phone image of him at that moment like I do of the layout below...

The white is primer.  (Why not?!)  The red and blue are craft paint we already had.  

After it dried I moved the sticks onto two others that would be the back support.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep these together like I liked, so I decided to bring in the glue gun.  I glued the sticks to the supporting ones so I’d be able to tie the twine without losing my mind. 

I just did a basic crisscross with the twine to secure the sticks and make this into one final piece rather than 15 pieces.  This took some time too, but it was kind of therapeutic since it was repetitive and I was able to get into a groove with it.  

Originally, I thought we’d paint stars on after tying the twine.  Obviously- Wait. Not so obvious, huh?  (Side note: My camera was dropped into the kitchen sink this week, so my cell phone is all I have right now...) Well, we decided against it.   I love them both.   

Actually, I think I like Betsy Ross Reincarnate's better because he didn’t worry about covering the sticks completely as he painted.  It goes with the natural, rustic look.  I think we’ll hang his in his room while the larger one hangs out on the back door. 

What are doing for Labor Day?  Shopping for a camera like me?  Any suggestions?
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