Old Photo Frame
If you are bored of your old photo frames but not willing to spend money on new ones (or even better looking more expensive ones), here is how you can give your old photo frames a make over (and indirectly, your old photos) to make them look more expensive.
- I know this will make it sound like a pre-school project, but dried pasta is an essential part of this project. Use bow-shaped pasta, seashell-shaped pasta, spirals, or even a combination of all of the above to help add character to your frame. Pick out the dried pasta that are still in one piece and set them aside. You can use any dried pasta in any shape (except lasagne because they come in one big piece) and let your imagination run wild.
- Once you have picked the perfect pieces out, start arranging them around your frame to get a rough idea of how your frame will look like when it is done. Play around with the shape and position of the pasta. However, I do not recommend overlapping the pasta as it might end up looking tacky. Also, you should remove the glass piece from the frame before starting on the project to avoid staining the glass.
- Once you are satisfied with the position of all your pasta pieces, heat up your glue gun. Dab a bead of glue on to the back of the pasta and then stick it down onto the frame at its intended place. Do this for all the pasta pieces. When you are finished, leave the frame aside to dry.
- Besides pasta, you may also use thick cotton string to form part of your frame\’s pattern.
- Start tearing tissue paper into strips which are approximately as thick as your frame. If they are two-plied, pull them apart.
- In a bowl, mix one part PVA glue and two to three parts water until it is diluted.
- Once the frame is completely dried, place it on top of a layer of newspapers to avoid creating a mess. Place a strip of tissue paper onto the frame and brush the glue mixture on top of it until it seeps through and sticks to the frame. Cover the entire frame with at least one layer of \’Papier Mache\’. It is okay to overlap the strips of tissue when necessary to cover the entire surface of the frame. Leave the frame to dry over night. It may even take up to a few days to completely dry depending on the amount of glue and layers you have applied.
- You can now spray paint the frame in gold to give it a rustic finish.
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/2983849225/
