After last week’s rather complex project, I decided to keep things very simple this week. Do you know what costs a lot of money? Photo holders. Do you know what you can easily make? Photo holders. Do you know what photo holders can display? Art. Also photos. Badda bing, badda boom.
To make your own photo holder, you need:
- 16-gauge copper wire
- Jewelry pliers with a wire cutter (or a separate wire-cutting tool)
- Epoxy clay
- A base
- A drill (may or may not be necessary, depending on your base)
If you do any kind of assemblage work, you should own this stuff. I have to order more, because I have almost gone through these tubs. I am perpetually amazed at the uses I find for it.
That thing on the right is my “base.” It used to be the top of a brass pineapple. Your base could be anything: a metal bowl you can turn upside down, a small wooden box, an empty Altoids tin, whatever you’ve got. If your object doesn’t have a convenient hole in the middle, be sure you’ve chosen an object you can easily drill through (i.e. maybe not the door to a bank safe).
To make your photo holder, you need to
- Drill a hole in the center of your base.
- Cut several pieces of wire of varying lengths. How many? It depends on how big your base is and the size of the items you want to display. If you’re displaying “inchies,” cut 7-11. If you’re displaying postcards, cut 2-3. If you’re displaying ATCs, 5-7 will do nicely – again, depending on the size of your base.
- Using your jewelry pliers, shape one end of each wire so that it will hold the item you want to display. You can make a circular spiral, a rectangular spiral, a little heart – whatever you have the skill and inclination to make. Set the wires aside.
- If you are going to decorate your base in any elaborate way, you should do so now; otherwise, you can do the decorating last. It’s up to you.
- Take a pinch of epoxy clay from each container and mash the two parts together, over and over, until you get a uniform color. Insert the first couple of wires in your hole. Bend the ends, then use a piece of the combined clay to hold the wire in place (i.e. use the clay to smoosh the wire up against the top or lid of your base, almost like you’re holding the wire in place with chewing gum). Repeat until all wires are in the positions you want.
- Let the clay dry according to package instructions, then decorate your base as desired.
- Display your awesome stuff. Rawr.
Just like gum, except not
Ready to dry
Awesome Farscape ATCs by Sarah Trumpp, Caroline Monaco, and Mellanie Collins
And now, after about 20 minutes of working time and two hours of drying time, I have a cool display for part of my Farscape collection, which has been hidden away for far too long. If you’re wondering what I did to the bottom, that’s just alcohol ink. If you’re wondering what Farscape is, I have one word for you, my friend: Netflix.
Netflix.
6 Comments
sarah · April 18, 2014 at 12:26 pm
Yay it looks awesome! and I totally forgot about that card.. hahaah
Super snazzy!
AnnDAngelo · April 18, 2014 at 1:54 pm
I love that card! It's one of my super favorites (hence, the prize position!).
I can't tell you how much I was cracking up as I remembered that I was using the top of a brass pineapple. A brass pineapple must surely be worth, like, 982.4 hipster points.
gloria · April 18, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Great tutorial. Nice work. 🙂 Happy PPF!
AnnDAngelo · April 19, 2014 at 10:28 pm
Thank you, Gloria! 🙂
Cindy D. · April 18, 2014 at 7:29 pm
It is a great project! I am not one of those people you mentioned, who would have some epoxy clay on hand. Or 16-gauge copper wire. But I do have jewelry pliers! It's a start. 😀
AnnDAngelo · April 19, 2014 at 10:27 pm
Hahaha! You don't do very much that would require epoxy clay, so that makes total sense. Yours is one of the few cases where I would not point a finger at the clay web site and bossily advise you to visit it. 😉
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