Hi friends. I am here to tell you a triumphant story. Once upon a time I was browsing tumblr, staring at image upon image of gorgeous girls and gorgeous homes (whatever, don’t judge my tumblr dash) when suddenly I stumbled upon this image.
I’m always looking for new ways to display my photographs and I fell in love with the tiny clothespins immediately. Plus, I was about to move into a new apartment and was anxious to finally create the perfectly decorated bedroom. One thing was clear: I needed to own this frame. No, not just own it – I needed to make it.
This project is not particularly difficult, but collecting the materials took me a long time. Once I had all the necessary supplies the whole thing took about 45 minutes, plus all the time I spent after it was done bragging to my roommates and my girlfriend, which I’m sure wasn’t annoying at all. Now I want to tell you how to make this project so we can all have gorgeous handmade clothesline frames hanging above our beds and live happily ever after.
Here are the supplies you’ll need to make this crafting dream a reality:
One large frame
Twine
Krazy Glue
Tiny clothespins
A bunch of small photos
I found the frame easily enough at a local thrift store and my roommate let me use some of her twine. I actually used a gold Sharpie marker to color the twine, because it was originally white and I thought that would blend into the wall too much, and also I love to make my life difficult. I recommend buying the actual color twine you want – coloring 5 pieces of string with a Sharpie doesn’t even sound like a great idea in the beginning, but trust me, by the end it really doesn’t.
Tiny clothespins are way harder to find than you might think! I finally found them in a small art store in New Paltz, NY but if that extremely vague yet also specific tip doesn’t suit your needs you can buy them online.
As for the photos, there are so many options. If you still shoot Polaroids or if you have an Instax, those photos are a great size for this project. If you have access to a printer, you can print photos any size you desire. Personally, I’m mildly obsessed with Printstagram, and I thought their method of printing Instagram photos with a Polaroid-esque white border on tiny card stock was complete perfection for this project. I wanted really specific landscape images in my frame though, so I actually uploaded photos I took pre-Instagram (some digital, some film) onto my Instagram account for the express purpose of printing these images for my clothesline frame. Mmhmm, I told you guys, I’m nuts! Basically this part of the craft involves a Big Decision on your part, so figure out what photos you’ll be using and how you want to print them, and then move on to the easy parts. This part of the project actually took me about four months, so feel free to take your time as I’m clearly not in a position to judge.
Okay, got all your supplies? Awesome. Let’s make this craft!
1. Based on the size of your frame and the size of your images, decide how many little clotheslines you’ll be able to fit. It’s a good idea to measure this before you do any gluing. I’m super particular so I had to measure everything a hundred times before I was satisfied, but you don’t have to do that. Once you’ve figured out how many clotheslines you can fit, cut the appropriate amount of twine (I had 5 clotheslines), flip the frame over, and mark where the clotheslines need to be glued down.
2. Carefully glue your twine into place. You don’t have to use Krazy Glue – I actually wish I had a glue gun – but the glue should be really strong because it’s going to have to hold up all your little lines and all your little images. I’m having a tough time using my words to describe my gluing method, but you can see the way I doubled the twine up in the image above, yes?
3. Your finished product will look something like this. Trim any excess twine from the edges so when you flip it over you just see a clean line of twine. You should probably use scissors here, but in a pinch you can definitely use a nail clipper. Don’t ask how I know this. Just trust me.
4. This is the best part! Organize all your images to your liking. Arrange, rearrange, then rearrange again! Take your tiny clothespins and hang each photo up in its spot. Squeal over the cuteness of it all.
5. Tada! You’re done. You’ll notice the original inspirational frame has some twine at the top for hanging purposes, but personally I didn’t feel like my twine and Krazy Glue combo would be able to hold up the weight of my frame. I opted to put some hooks on the back of my frame and hang it on some sturdy nails, but you should do whatever makes you most comfy.
6. Go hang that sucker up and wait for the compliments to come pouring in!
