OK, this is definitely one of my favorite recent projects. My brother gave me a decrepit vintage art set he found at a thrift store.
I was actually kind of angry at him for bringing more junk into my house, and this looked like such garbage. I told him I hoped he didn’t pay too much for it, and secretly wanted him to take it back home with him.
But inside was this artist’s painting palette with paint pellets attached. It was unused, virtually untouched and had managed to stay intact despite being at least 50 years old. I decided it needed to be framed immediately.
I bought this cheap T-shirt frame at Michael’s for $5 (regular price $9.99, but on sale B1G1). It’s 13 inches square and about an inch deep. Perfect.
I found a piece of scrap fabric (an 18×18 inch sample swatch from my crazy clearance haul) to use as backing. It’s a nice creamy off-white with a nubby texture. (Disregard those T pins in the photo. I tried using them to mount the palette to the backing sort of like I did in this other shadowbox, but that didn’t work out.)
After ironing out the creases, I stapled the fabric to the thin cardboard backing around the edges and trimmed off the excess. Spray adhesive might have been a better option, but I’m out and I didn’t want to buy more just for this project.
After my failed attempt using the T pins, I decided to use a 3M Command strip instead, as not to damage the palette. I’ve used them to hang things on walls before, but never considered using them to mount unusual objects inside a frame. I cut a hole in the middle of the fabric to accommodate the strip.
And following package directions, I put one half on the backing…
and the other half on the back of the palette. After everything was secure, I put the frame back together.
