DIY String Art Deer Head with Free Printable Template

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Make your own string art deer head wall decor with this step-by-step tutorial and printable outline. Simple and stylish – this handmade deer string art adds rustic charm to your Christmas decor.

Looking for an original Christmas craft idea? Try this DIY deer string art project!

I made this rustic string art deer head as part of my own holiday decor, and it turned out beautifully. The best part? You can make it too with my free deer string art template. This handmade project is simple, relaxing, and the perfect way to create warm, natural Christmas wall art without buying new supplies.

My handmade deer head string art. Made from leftover plywood, nails, and black twine.

Christmas is getting to me. And that is all your fault!

Here in the lowlands, we don’t really do Christmas this early. Granted, a lot of shops are already decked out in full Holiday cheer, but nobody, literally nobody, is decorating for Christmas yet. We still have another December holiday to celebrate first, so no Christmas trees are put up before December 6. But I know that lots of people are already searching for holiday inspiration, and trees go up a lot sooner in the States. So I am happy to jump on the bandwagon and be a good little blogger and start my Christmas early this year.

I am in love with today’s project. I wanted to make some Christmas wall decor that I could use as the backdrop on a little side table.

I also wanted to use what I had and not buy more craft stuff.

I rummaged through the garage for inspiration and came back with a piece of plywood, a hammer and nails and that is how it started…

I wanted to make a cozy handmade decoration this year, and this deer string art turned out to be the perfect mix of rustic and festive. If you’ve been looking for a simple string art deer head or need a deer string art template, you’ll love this easy project.

Let’s jump into how I made my deer head string art, shall we?

Supplies for Your Deer String Art Christmas Project

You don’t need a whole lot of things to make this string art deer head. You might even have most of it already in the house. But for a quick rundown of what you’ll need, here we go:

1. You will need a string art board. I repurposed a sheet of plywood that was previously used as the backing of some artwork in a frame. 
2. A template of a deer head. I searched online for ‘line drawing deer head’ and found lots of lovely deer head designs that would work well. The deer head template I used I uploaded below, so you can use it too.
3. A means to print that deer head in your preferred size. I printed it on my simple home printer, but if you want to make a really big one, you might have to take it to a professional print shop.
4. Nails . Decide if you want to make the nails part of your string art or if you want to make them invisible. I choose to emphasize the nails and their connection with the string. So I choose black hardware nails with a sturdy head.
5. Hammer
6. Something to make the lettering. If you have a Silhouette or Cricut machine, you are very lucky, and this would be easy to do. I am not so lucky. I thought about buying some stick-on alphabet letters, but ended up using those old-fashioned rub-on transfer letters because I had a sheet of those lying around.
7. String. I used a roll of black butcher’s twine that I had lying around in my craft room.
8. A bit of time and patience.

Step-by-Step Deer String Art Tutorial

Making string art is fun and really not all that difficult. It just isn’t a project that you can whip up between the starter and the main dish. You will need a bit of designated time for it. But then again, it is quite easy, so putting on a Christmas movie in the background is no problem. You don’t need a ton of concentration for this one. 

Okay, here are the steps I took to create my deer head art.

Step 1. Find a Reindeer Outline Template

Find a template. As I mentioned before, I searched online for ‘line drawing deer head’. I was looking for an open design with a doable amount of lines that make up the deer head. I thought the one I found was just perfect. I simply saved it and printed it on my home printer. The saving part was easy. The printing part took a little figuring out.

DIY Deer String Art for Christmas – Free Deer Head String Art Template

Step 2. How to Print and Use a Deer String Art Outline

Print the deer head in your desired size.

When you have a simple office printer that prints on A4 or letter-size paper, it takes a bit of finicking to print something in a bigger size. But I found out how you can do it.

I am assuming you have something like Adobe PDF Reader already installed on your computer or laptop. It is a pretty standard PDF reader, after all.

Save your image as a PDF in your preferred document manager. Then open it up in Adobe Reader. Now when you go to the print settings, you will see that there is an option to print in poster size. And right underneath the option to enlarge your image.

I had set my image to print on A3 already in my word processor (A3 is double letter size for you US pals), but that still wasn’t big enough. So in my Adobe print settings, I enlarged another time to 150. I might have skipped the step with the A3 settings and just set it to 200% right away, but this was an ongoing learning process.

Depending on the print size you chose, you will end up with multiple sheets of paper (mine were 4 sheets) that you then have to stick together. 

I never knew it was that easy to print something poster-size on my home printer! Of course, in this case, it didn’t matter that the print quality was seriously compromised.

If you use this trick to print an image that you need in high quality, you will have to use an image file size that is large enough to accommodate that. 

Step 3. Place Your Deer Head Template on the String Art Board

Position your drawing on your plywood and use some sticky tape to line your sheets up and build the drawing. I eyeballed the position of the deer’s head. I think it is somewhat centered, with a little bit more room left at the bottom. Also, use sticky tape to secure the drawing to the plywood.

Step 4. Apply the Lettering.

Step 4, only applies if you also want to have text on your string art. I wanted a little Christmas text on there. You will find it easier to do any lettering first and the nailing later because those nails would get in the way.

But you can change the order of steps 4 and 5 if that works better for you. I used what I had for the text, and that turned out to be some very old rub-on letter sheets.

I made some very light markings with a pencil to ensure I was going in a straight line and then simply rubbed on the letters with the back of a Sharpie.

Again if you have some fancy vinyl lettering equipment at your disposal, by all means, use that. It will make this step much easier and quicker.

Step 5. Hammer in the Nails

Hammer in a nail at every cross point in the line drawing. For easier hammering and for noise control, I put a blanket underneath the plywood. It still was a bit of a noisy job, though.

Make sure you hammer in your nails deep enough that they are strong and can withstand the pulling of string later. But not so deep that they are not long enough to wind the string several times around one nail.

But it took surprisingly little time. This is also the point where you can let go and get rid of some lingering anger issues…. 🙂

Bonus tip: If you are right-handed like me, start hammering on the right so the finished nails won’t be in the way when you try to hold on to the next one with your left hand. 

Step 6. Loop and Tie the String Around the Nails Following the Template Outline

I started step 6 by removing the paper. In hindsight, it might have worked better if I had left the paper in place a bit longer. I don’t know, really, because it might also have been difficult to remove it from under the strings. As it was, this last step turned out to be the most difficult.

Because this felt like doing one of those children’s ‘follow the dots’ puzzles but in a version where somebody forgot to number the dots. I had a smaller printed version of the deer head hanging in front of me to help remind me of how it was supposed to look, but it was still difficult to figure out which nail represented which spot on the drawing. It took a few tries and some starting over from time to time, but I made it work.

I tried my best to only go over each line once, but that wasn’t always possible. I started in the top left corner and worked my way from left to right and from top to bottom systematically. After a while, I could see the deer head emerge, and I could see that this was going to turn out just as I imagined.

It was all the motivation I needed to just keep going. And after I had figured out how to do the antlers, the remaining part was much easier. 

There’s something so satisfying about stringing the thread around each nail and watching the deer head slowly appear, it’s one of those crafts that feels almost meditative.

Decorating With Your Deer Head String Art

I am really happy with my new Christmas sign. It turned out just as my vision, and it really is a lovely statement piece. Since the string art is pretty low-key and I wanted the deer head to shine all by itself, I kept the styling around it pretty minimal.

I am just glad I found those wooden ornaments in my stash because they echo the plywood perfectly.

If you are in the mood for more Christmas crafting, you might want to check out my tutorial for how to make fresh Christmas centerpieces.

Or maybe you are in the mood to make outdoor Christmas decorations. I got lots of ideas and projects for that too.

And this walnut Christmas centerpiece starts with making a super easy wreath.

Every year I try to add at least one handmade piece to my Christmas decor, and this deer string art Christmas project is one of my proudest.

So tell me, what do you think? Do you see yourself hammering in some nails in the near future?

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