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DIY graphic wall hanging

05 Aug 2020

Create your own colourful wall hanging with wooden dowels, some colourful wool and a Resene testpot in one or more sophisticated shades.

You will need:

  • Dowel cut to equal lengths – Fleur used seven 40cm long dowels cut down to 13cm lengths
  • Hand saw or circular saw
  • Wool in colours of your choice – Fleur used yellow and green
  • Felt
  • Super glue
  • Paintbrush
  • Resene testpot in a colour of your choice – Fleur used Resene Rhino

Step 1 Cut your dowel into 21 equal lengths – Fleur cut hers into 13cm long pieces.

Step 2 Paint nine of the cut pieces using a Resene testpot in your choice of colour. Fleur used Resene Rhino. Allow to dry completely before giving them another coat, allowing them to dry completely again.

Step 3 Group dowels into threes so that you end up with four groups of unpainted wooden dowels and three groups of painted ones. Fleur arranged her plain pieces in a straight line and staggered her painted pieces.

Step 4 Loop your wool around one piece of dowel and tie and knot to secure it tightly. Bind the three pieces together by weaving the wool tightly between the pieces in a figure eight pattern. Do this until you have about 15 loops on each piece, and the three bits of dowel are attached snuggly together. Tie it off and trim away the excess wool, then repeat this process on the opposite ends.

Step 5 Repeat step 4 on each of your groupings of dowel.

Step 6 Cut up your felt into strips that are 3cm wide and 5cm long.

Step 7 Arrange your seven bound dowel pieces together in a staggered design, alternating between plain pieces and painted pieces.

Step 8 Glue the felt strips to the back of the wall hanging using super glue, making sure the felt attaches to the wool and overlaps onto the next group of dowel. Allow your glue to dry.


This graphic and colourful wall hanging makes an eye-catching statement on a wall painted in Resene Ayers Rock. The blue dowels are painted in Resene Rhino and the pops of colour from the wool are in colours similar to Resene Tulip Tree and Resene Bilbao.

project and styling by Fleur Thorpe

Published: 05 Aug 2020