I’ve been
inspired, last year I pulled together a pictorial post on chalk boards for our
sister site Craft Candy. The post had some great images of modern things people
are producing with chalkboards in mind, using slate, blackboard paint,
blackboard adhesive or by just recycling an old chalkboard, here’s the link:
Before you
chuck out your old belongings in January to make way for all of the new Christmas
presents, Don't! read my modern interpretation on the very boring chalkboard (how to upcycle something old into something new).
Equipment list
Old picture or mirror with an interesting ornate frame (Warning: do not use a plain frame, you’ll be disappointed)
Spray
paint
Hot glue gun
Blackboard adhesive and of course chalk.
I didn’t have
an old picture with a great frame at home and I really struggled to find one in
a charity shop which didn’t have an antique price tag attached to it! But and
after months of looking, I eventually found 3 frames at Columbia road market and
with a little haggling I got them for a price which meant I didn’t feel guilty
when spray painting them.
Start by
taking apart the picture and the frame and washing them both, if like mine, yours are old and dusty, they’ll be filled with lots of dirt and grease which your
paint and adhesive won’t stick to.
Spray the
frames, they’ll need 2/3 layers of spray paint. But with each layer, spray it
lightly and wait for it to dry before applying the next layer. Tip: if you
spray too much paint at once it will obviously take longer to dry but also the
paint will be too thick and runny!
Whilst you
are waiting for the frames to dry stick the adhesive to the picture. The
easiest way to do this to draw around the picture onto the reverse of the
adhesive and cut it out. Tip: pay
special attention when sticking I ended up with a few bubbles in mine because I
stuck it too quickly.
Finally, it’s
now time to glue your frame back together. I mainly used a hot glue gun, but one of the frames I had to unscrew and screw it back together again.
old picture upcycled and transformed
into a modern chalk board
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