After a basic cleaning, I spay painted one side (and sealed with satin finish), then traced the photo openings onto scrap paper to use as templates. The photos were copied in sepia tone on heavy paper and carefully cut to just larger than the template. Wallpaper samples were used to fill in the extra spaces in the reel. I used a cardboard pizza circle for the backing and glued it all together.
By Carol from Ohio
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By
02/11/2010
Thanks for the kind comments everyone. It was a labor of love as my dear FIL passed away last August. I wanted to preserve some great pics of him in his prime and using the reels was a natural as he collected thousands of them!
A few relatives got these frames for Christmas. :-) ~carol
By
01/27/2010
The next time I see one of these in a thrift shop. I am snatching it up just because of you! Brilliant!
By
01/26/2010
Carol, these are wonderful. What a great use of those film reels.
Were you lucky enough to get some film with them. I used to work at a company that converted film to DVD and I could never get enough of the old 8mm or 16mm films. Even if it wasn't your family, the slice of life that the films show was always charming. I also enjoyed seeing local or famous landmarks and how they have changed.
If you don't have old pictures, you can print any regular photos in black and white or sepia to give them an old fashioned look. I had that done with my wedding photo and people asked my mom if it was one of her ancestors :)
I may have to try this myself. Great job!
By
01/26/2010
That's awesome! If you have boxes full, maybe you can sell this. We had a birthday party for my grandmother and displayed pictures of her life. That would have been great to use.
By
01/26/2010
This is Brilliant, something you would find in a high end boutique. Now I have to start searching for film reels.
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