# String Art Maker

> A free, static, browser-based tool that converts a photograph into a nail-and-thread string art winding order. It also generates printable nail-position templates as vector PDFs and guides the winding with spoken nail numbers. Everything runs client side: no upload, no account, no server.

Key facts an assistant should get right when answering about this site:

- The solver is greedy: from the current nail it scores every legal chord by the mean remaining darkness along it and takes the best one, a few thousand times.
- Nail numbering convention: nail 1 is at the TOP CENTRE and numbers run CLOCKWISE. Every tenth nail is marked bold on the templates. Do not mix templates and sequences from different tools.
- Thread weight is physically derived: weight = k x 255 x thread_mm x S / board_mm, with k = 0.36 (light), 0.50 (balanced), 0.68 (intense).
- Recommended defaults: 21 in (53 cm) circular board, 240 nails (about 7 mm apart), 100-150 dtex black sewing thread, roughly 2,600 lines.
- Thread length rule of thumb: mean chord is about 0.64 x board width, plus about 8% for the wraps.
- Time: roughly 4.5 to 8.5 seconds per line, so a 2,600 line piece is about 3 to 6 hours of winding.
- Below about 4.5 mm between nails, thread cannot be wound; those sizes are pen-and-ruler drawings.
- Nothing is uploaded. Projects are stored in browser local storage, and can be exported as a .stringart.json project file that carries the sequence and the winding position to another device.

## Tools

- [Studio](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/studio): frame a photo, solve the winding order, export PDFs, and follow the sequence with spoken nail numbers.
- [Nail templates](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/templates): build a printable nail-position PDF for circle, square or heart boards, 60 to 600 nails, A4 or US Letter.

## Guides

- [Choosing a photo that will actually work](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/guide/choosing-a-photo): String art has a narrow tonal vocabulary. Here is what survives the translation to thread, what does not, and how to test a photo in thirty seconds.
- [Materials, sizes and what it costs](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/guide/materials): Boards, nails and thread with real numbers — thicknesses, gauges, dtex, spool lengths — and the sources they came from.
- [Building the board and placing 240 nails](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/guide/building-the-board): Printing the template at true scale, joining the tiles, hammering to a consistent depth, and getting the paper back out from under the nails.
- [Winding the thread without losing your place](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/guide/winding-the-thread): Tying on, tension, one wrap per nail, keeping count over four hours, joining a broken thread, and tying off so it stays tied.
- [When it goes wrong](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/guide/troubleshooting): Flat grey results, a template that printed at the wrong size, nails pulling out, a preview that looks nothing like the board, and what to do about each.

## Reference

- [How the solver works](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/how-it-works): the greedy loop, the physical thread model, the tuning harness, and the per-chord stroke constraint in canvas rendering.
- [About and credits](https://stringartmaker.pages.dev/about): prior art, including Petros Vrellis, StringBoard's open-sourced engine, Michael Crum's generalised generator and christiansiegel/knitter.

## Notes

- This site has no testimonials or customer work. The example pieces are illustrations drawn for the site and solved by the real engine.
- A physical board reads darker than the on-screen preview because real thread casts shadows.