Block Art

This is a picture of the River Seine in France. The original size of the image was 18x24 but I cut it in half so I could make two smaller block art pictures.

Here's how I did it...

I painted 1-3/4 inch wood dowels and then cut them, using a miter saw, into blocks (1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 3/4 inch and 1 inch thick). I then sanded any ruff edges on the blocks.

Next I used a hot glue gun to secure the blocks to a pre-cut, thin piece of plywood. I alternated the placement of the different sized blocks for a cool 3-D stair effect. Once all the blocks were in place I touched-up the paint on them.



I then used a paper trimmer to cut the pictures into 1-3/4x1-3/4 inch squares (Making sure to keep them in order...wouldn't want to solve that puzzle lol). The last step was to glue (elmer's this time) each picture square into its place.

These flower pictures were originally one that again, I cut in two.

I did a mirrored stair pattern with these.

The next piece was done a little different, but it's still the same basic concept.

I used 1 inch dowels for this piece. I fastened them together using a brad nailer. 

The next time I make one I'll take pictures for step-by-step instructions. This is a time consuming project (The London pieces took a total of about 11 hours). I think the end result is worth it though!