Originally posted January 2nd, 2013
My second mitigated success of December was a gift to myself. Cuz what the hey, right?
I’m not sure why I decided to do this project when I did, except that I’d been thinking about it for a while and got tired of looking at the picture frames just sitting around.
I also can’t remember where I got the inspiration/how to for this project. It’s been on my mind for that long!
Anyway, it’s a pair of jewelry hangers made out of a picture frame and hardware cloth.
Is it annoying that I show the end product first? Oh well, sorry.
Here’s the thing. I have had one of these picture frames for at least a year. I bought it for a Halloween costume.
This is the genius accessory for last year’s costume, FYI. Similar to the lunchbox purse from this year. Because anyone can dress up as Frida Khalo, but I went as Frida Khalo’s self portrait. It’s a small detail, but critical. I think.
I picked up the other frame with this project in mind at a little shop somewhere. I don’t remember when.
So, one night in December I just up and decide that I want to do this project, so I go to the Do It Center to get the hardware cloth and S hooks.
Now, I love hardware stores. I truly do. Part of what I love about them is that I never quite know how they are organized. So I do a lot of wandering around looking for what I need, and I get lots of new screwy little ideas.
Here’s the weird thing, though. On this random night in December, I don’t wander. I accidentally walk right up to the hardware cloth, which is on a shelf in the back of the paint section. Way too easy, right? So I’m sure the S hooks will be impossible to find.
But I turn the corner onto the next aisle, and hey-o, there are those S hooks. Oh, and right next to the S hooks?? Picture hangers. No joke.
I’m thinking this is way too easy so far. And I’m right.
They call this stuff hardware cloth. But it’s not cloth. It’s wire. It’s metal. You have to cut it with wire cutters. And if you don’t wear work gloves when you handle it, you will bleed.
So I measure out my pieces and cut what I need off the roll (takes forever, makes me bleed), and I go to town with my staple gun affixing the hardware cloth to the back of the frame.
Oh hey look. Wow.
So my staple gun is now too heavy duty.
Switching immediately to hot glue gun.
The hot glue gun seems to hold the hardware cloth down well enough, and I figure no one will notice the puncture wounds on the front of the frame. One down, one to go.
The other picture frame is much heavier wood and I’m pretty sure it’s thicker, too. And because I love my staple gun and don’t want her to get lonely (I don’t care about the hot glue gun, evidently) I try it out on the second one.
WAY TO GO!!!
Switching back to glue gun for the duration.
No one will notice that I made the same mistake on both frames, right?
Right?
Anyway, my jewelry is now much easier to see and therefore wear.
Bonus: I realized that if any piece of jewelry is too ugly to hang on the wall, I am probably not going to put it around my neck ever again. So I now know which pieces to harvest for parts (in case you didn’t already guess, a lot of my jewelry is a fail it yourself project from days of yore) and streamlined my jewelry collection. Score!
And that’s the second of my mitigated successes in December.
Fail It Yourself 