In my last semester of college I had a senior art show to show case the work I had accomplished. I had a lot of photographs that I had taken in photography class a long with my daily life. I couldn't choose just a few to print and frame so I came up with a way to show several pics together in a unique collage.
I have had several people ask how I made it and if they can make one too---of course you can!
It is pretty simple but a little time consuming---I don't have step by step pictures but the final product is pretty self explanatory.
Materials:
+ 36 beautiful 6" x 6" pictures you want to display
+ 1 4' x 4' x 1/2" wood board---you can find already precut at Lowes
+ 48 wood nails approximately 1" long with a large flat head
+ Wire (don't get the thinnest stuff but not to thick that you can't wrap it around a nail head several times)
+ Foam core board
+ 108 mini binder clips
> First I went down to Lowes and grabbed a plain 4' x 4' wood board that are already pre-cut somewhere near the lumber section. There are several different thickness' to choose from--I would use around 1/2" so you have space for the nails to get into the wood but light enough to hang without to much trouble.
>Then I stained mine with Minwax Chestnut if I remember correctly but you can keep it plain or choose whichever stain you love! When staining I've found it is easiest to use a cheap foam brush that you can throw out after. I brush on the stain and let it sit for about 5 minutes and wipe it down with a cloth to get any remaining stain. You can do another coat to get it a little darker.
> I printed my pictures 6in x 6in so I had to measure out where to put the nails. On mine there are 12 nails on each side. You can see how I needed nails for the top and bottom of each row of pictures to run the wire all the way across along with all the way down----I hope the picture allows you to see how the nails and wire are oriented because it's a little hard to describe.
> I nailed in the nails where I made my marks----be careful not to nail through to the other side but if you do, you can turn over the board and hammer it back so it's not sticking out.
> I started wrapping the wire around the nails and pulling it taut to the other side and wrapping it around the corresponding nail head. I used some pliers when doing this so I could really pull it tight. I did this for each nail across and down making 36 squares where the pictures will fit in. I made sure the wire was at the top of the nail heads so when the pictures were clipped they would be 'floating' rather than flat against the board.
> I wanted my pictures to seem even more 3 dimensional so I glued each pic to foam core board to create a solid backer. This also helped when clipping the pictures---the binder clips had something to grab onto.
> I then placed each picture in it's slot and used a mini binder clip on top and each side. The foam core kind of balanced on the bottom wire so I didn't put a mini binder clip there.
TADA! I know it sounds like a lot of steps but it was really isn't all that hard---just time consuming. Butttt in the end you will have a work of art to display your beautiful photos!
Please don't hesitate to ask any questions!
-N
