Wooden Poster Frame Tutorial

Monday, July 18, 2016
3:22 PM

Wow.  It's been a while.  I've been so busy with school and company and traveling, I've never had enough time or energy to write a new post!  But not today!! I'm officially finished with finals!! *Round of applause* I would like to share with you guys a new project I just completed.

I ordered three Cavallini posters a few weeks ago.  (They are actually called decorative wraps on the website).  They are super cheap--I'm talking less than $4 a piece.  The wraps are beautiful vintage looking posters.  There is such a huge selection on the website.  I debated about the ones I wanted to get for a few days.  I almost bought way more than I needed just because they are such a good deal! After much debate and many phone calls with my sister, we picked these three:

1.
 
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2.

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3.

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I have many, many more favorites, but these were the three I thought looked best together.

After I ordered the posters, I tried to think of a creative and budget friendly way to hang them on the wall.  I thought of washi tape, clothes hangers, and frames.  None of these ideas really spoke to me.  I tried looking for cool wooden pant hangers for a while, but soon became bored with that idea.



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I finally decided on wooden dowels and string.  I was going to glue the dowels to the back of the poster, weighing the paper down so that it didn't curl up.  (Note: the posters came in a tube, making them susceptible to rolling up, even after they've been weighted on a flat surface for a few days.)

I wasn't too thrilled with this idea, but it seemed easy.  I wanted to put these posters on the huge blank wall in my living room asap!  I've had that blank wall for months, and now with these posters at my house, it seemed like the end was in sight!

I went to a local craft store and purchased all the needed materials.  On my way out the door, I saw a Cavallini poster hanging up in the store with the cutest wooden poster hanger.  My husband and I went to a store worker and asked how the frame was made.  The woman showed us some kits used to make the frame.  The kit was pretty spendy, especially since I would need to buy three. When we told the woman we'd pass on the offer, she then showed us how we could make it on our own.  I WAS SO EXCITED.  Here's the tutorial below.

Materials needed:

1. Balsa wood*
2. Twine
3. Glue**
4. Measuring tape or ruler
(Optional material: stain for the wood.  Do this before the wood is cut and glued.)


*Balsa wood is very thin and soft, you can cut it with scissors or tear it.
**I used a hot glue gun because personally, I think it's easiest glue to use.

Step one: Cut or tear the wood into desired width and length.  I did a width of 1" and a length of 20 1/4".  Each poster will need 4 strips of wood, two on the top--front and back--and two on the bottom.

Step two: Glue two wood pieces, one on the top and one on the bottom edge of the front side of the poster.  I only glued about half of the width of the wood directly on the poster.  The rest of the wood piece was hanging over the edge of the poster.

Step three: Flip the poster over.  Line up and glue one more piece of wood to the bottom edge of the back side of the poster.  Match this piece of wood to the wood that was already glued to the front.  Note: This step is not essential, because it will not be seen, but I found that I needed the extra weight to flatten the poster against the wall.

Step four: By this step, the bottom edge of the poster should be covered with two pieces of wood, front and back, while the top edge only has one piece of wood on the front.  Cut a piece of twine to your desired length.  (The twine is used to hang the poster.)  On the top edge of the backside of the poster, glue the ends of the twine onto opposite ends of wood. (See picture below) That way, the glued ends of the twine will be covered in the next step.


Step five: Glue the final piece of wood onto the top back edge of the poster, covering the ends of the twine and ta-da!  You have your finished, framed poster!!

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Here's my finished project!!  I'm so excited to finally have these beautiful posters hanging on my wall.  Goodbye boring white wall, hello beautiful art!!



I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial!  Let me know what you think in the comment section below!

Love, Emily

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