Project ideas
Hi Susan; here are some ideas that we framers have done up here in the soggy NW.
1)wind chimes from metal scrap. Also chimes from scrap glass, cut and colored with stained glass paint - remember those old japanese wind chimes made from glass with colored rice papers glued onto them?
2)book markers and paper matboard ornaments: cut scrap to size and shape, then paint or decorate with surface paper scrap, add ribbon for hanging, or floss for a tassel.
3)xmas ornaments out of matboard scrap: cut window, insert picture, glue on backing of scrap matboard, add ribbon for hanging. I like them best when they add glitter to the pictures!
4)bird feeders strips - scrap matboard covered with lard, rolled in bird seed, add hanger of string or wire. Can also do this with leftover toilet paper tubes, just slip them on a dowel with a matboard bottom glued on to hold them in place, screw in an eye screw, wire, and hang up. Sounds ooky, but a customer sells these for $4 - $6 at fairs and usually sells around 100 at a time.
5)wall sconces: base is moulding scrap, run cord up centers, attach light base on top, and use thin plastic for the shade. Hard to describe, but the framer who does these makes them look really cool.
6)flower press - left over scraps of rag can be used as the sheets for a press made from wood base and top, and screws. Can find this project in many books and sources.
8)Rosie O. has a book out where she shows how to mash flowers and leaves onto matboard so that the color transfers to the board (like a picture!), then puts them into readymade frames.
9)the typical boxes out of leftover moulding, but also boxes out of matboard. We have made oval boxes, heart shaped boxes, octagonal boxes. There are directions for making these in many craft books. Can leave them colored by the matboard surface papers, or cover with fabric or wallpaper.
10)Mush up rag matboard scrap (without the surface paper) into a slurry, then add dried flowers or leaves, spread it out on a cookie sheet, let it dry, and trim to shape for handmade paper cards. Can also add flower seeds and give them as a growing card - plant it when done reading it and let the flowers grow.
11)game boards out of a wooden frame, mat scraps, glass or plex top. Put legs on it and it becomes a game table.
12)collage art - use the matboard scrap as the background, add whatever you find, then stick in a scrap matboard frame. One kid picked up everything on the floor of his garage - old nuts, bolts, nails, cat fur, a used disposable razor, some wood shavings, etc. arranged it onto a scrap, and created a 3-d image that looked professional enough that we entered it into an art fair and he won.
13)scraps of glass can be made into small boxes using copper foil. The kids can paint scenes on the glass before assembling the box. insert a candle in the center and voila, a candle holder.
14)if you have access to a kiln, you can slump scraps of glass with colored glass and make "art".
15)glass & mirror scraps, or pieces of matboard cut into shapes, can be used to create mosaic images, then framed. Several class projects I worked with used small matboad pieces glued into place on a poster (we used Van Gough's sunflowers), with some small chips of bronze mirror added for accent, framed it, then put it into their school auction. Have also done one where each child created a small mosaic out of their matboard tiles. I mounted all of the tiles on one large sheet of matboard backed with foamboard. Looked like an expensive tiled piece.
16)race cars out of matboard scrap. lots of fun. Draw out the body, cut it out, tape it together, add some nice wheels, have a race. Will need to weight body with wood scrap - or put in a magnet, make a metal race track, and use dowels with magnets under the track to race the cars.
There are lots of other things some very creative framers have come up with, but I think I have gone on long enough. Hope this helps!
OOOOH- don't forget about etched glass projects - works for those candle holders. Also. some moulding fallouts when cutting the miter make interesting knobs for boxes, cabinets, etc.
