Altered Clothespins
by Helga Strauss
Brighten up your world with altered clothespins! They're perfect for displaying your favorite photos and art in a creative, unique way. After making a few, I'm hooked and can't wait to make lots more to put them all around my house. A set of them makes an awesome, inexpensive, artistic gift.
Here are the general supplies you'll need for this class. Basics: clothespins (I got mine from the dollar store – 50 for $1, nice!), ARTchix images, Tacky Glue, scissors. Optional additional supplies: gesso, paintbrush, pens, rhinestones, Animal Beads, headpins, jewelry tools.
Okay, let's have some fun! Cut your desired images to the size of the top of the clothespin. Here I used Royal ATC Background (you could collage over 40 clothespins with just this one sheet!). Spread an even layer of Tacky Glue on the backside of your paper and press it down onto the clothespin. Go over all of the edges with your thumb to make sure your paper is really tacked down well.
Now, put a bit of White Gesso on a paintbrush and paint the clothespin with random brush strokes and around your paper edges. Think Shabby Chic style. It will dry really quickly this way and will look great. If you prefer, you could always paint your clothespins with acrylic paint but prepare to wait a while for them to dry.
Another option is to cut out your desired paper image (ATC Inspirations shown here), adhere with Tacky Glue and then color your clothespin with markers. This Copic marker worked great!
After you've collaged and painted your clothespin as desired, you can stop there...or you can add an extra bit of excitement. How about adding some cute Animal Beads?! If you've made earrings before than this will be a snap for you. Simply slide your desired beads onto a headpin.
Then make a hook with round nose pliers.
Slide onto the clothespin. (You can add a jump right here at this point if you'd prefer).
And twist the wire around and around and clip off excess with pliers.
And here is the delightful clothespin displaying one of my Artist Trading Cards. Love it!
You can also add magnets to the back of your clothespins so that you can hang them on your fridge, metal filing cabinet, etc. I simply cut off a few bits of magnet tape and adhered them to the back of the clothespin with E600 glue.
This clothespin is showing off another one of my collages on our fridge. : )
Beautify your gifts by adding an altered clothespin holding a collage. See how it brightened up this simple Starbucks bag.
On your gifts, you could also put a set of 3 altered clothespins holding a pretty card.
More fun clothespins to inspire you using our Create Art image sheet and Porcelain Animal Beads.
More lovely altered clothespins to spark your creativity! Make a whole bunch for yourself and to share with loved ones. This is such a fun project! A great way to spend a bit of creative time, an afternoon or an art day with friends.
Did you make something inspired by this class? Please email or or post pics to the wall of our Facebook Fan Page