Thursday, January 27, 2011

{old rusty rusty frames}

{rusty corrugated tin frames}
I saw some corrugated tin picture frames, similar to this one, several years back. I was in love... But of course I was bound and determined to figure out how to make some my self.. I lived in the city then and rusty corrugated tin was hard to come by. Almost 2 years ago my family and I moved out of the city and into a small town in the country. There's rusty tin everywhere, but you can't go around stealing tin off of people's barns right ;)

In the fall of 2009, on my deer hunt ,my husband and I came across the mother load of rusty corrugated tin.  In the middle of no where in a huge wash.. Jack Pot...  All the pieces were part of an old barn or shed at one time, but had fallen down and was mostly covered by sand.. After hunting season was over, we hooked up to our flat bed trailer and headed back out there.. 

I have had this stack of rusty tin for over a year now and have been procrastinating on my project.  Why???  Well 1. one day I tried cutting through the tin with tin shears and holy crap that stuff is hard to cut through..  2. I have been afraid to use my husbands metal grinder which would cut the tin, and 3. I just wanted my husband to do it for me. 

The other day I finally got brave and busted out the hubs grinder and started playing around with it.  Surprisingly it was really fun! I got the hang of it and now I'm grinding on all kinds of metal.

Here's a little step by step tutorial on one of the frames I made.





First I cut out the tin for the frame.  This one I cut approximately 6"x6".  Then I traced a 3"x3" square for opening of the frame. I based this off of a frame I had already.  I then went over my pencil marks with the grinder so I could see where I needed to cut. 

My air compressor is not that big, so trying to cut this square out was taking way to long.  I got the grinder through the metal and made the hole big enough for tin snips to fit in and finish the job. 


After I got the square cut out, I went over the edges with the grinder to smooth out any rough or sharp edges. 

This is one I've completed.  It's big and chunky and I love it.   I didn't want nails or screws showing on front so I used clear Liquid Nails to glue the glass on the back and all the wood that holds the picture in place.  It took a long while for the glue to dry (like 24 hours) but that stuff (liquid nails) works wonders and my backing is on there for good. 

I love the curvyness they have, the rusty patina, and knowing that these pieces where part of a structure way back in time..  Love Love.....

Soon I'll have some of these up for grabs on My Etsy.

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