Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The Home Beautiful: A Custom-made Card Holder



 

So, as you all know, I’ve got quite a lot of trade cards.  Not only that, there’s a host of cigarette cards, stereopticon cards, scraps and postcards (mostly related to Punch, King George V and Queen Mary) rattling around this house.  You may wonder what exactly I do with them all.

Of course, I display them.  But, how?  Several companies make postcard holders.  These contraptions consist of metal wire rods which are bent into a curl which holds the card.  I seem to have purchased every last one of them in North Texas.  But, there were a bazillion more cards left—sitting sadly in a pile.  If they could cry, they would.

My father—being a clever chap—never shies away from a challenge.  He’s always making things out of other things.  When you see the raw materials with which he thoughts and hear what he intends to do with them, you can’t imagine that the resulting new object could be possible.  However, it always is.

He very ingeniously crafted this card holder for me to display some of the remaining cards.  Essentially, it’s wire bent into a loop.  A wooden circle was painted black and drilled with holes to hold each wire.  And, there you have it.  Sheer perfection!

This is something that you could easily do at home.  All you need is a wooden plaque.  You can buy these at any craft store.  And, then, you need bendable wire and needle-nose pliers.  So, if you can’t find any of the “store bought” card holders, give this a try.  The effect is really quite lovely and dramatic. 

Now it sits on my kitchen table like a charming floral arrangement of antique ephemera.  Yay!






No comments: