Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Firenze, mi amor

So, there's another craft project that I finished on Saturday but haven't shown you yet.


It involves a set of black and white photograph postcards that I found in an amazing Florentine paper shop back when I was gallivanting and reading books instead of working and reading blogs about houses/cooking/gardening. (Wow, that sounds harsh. You know I love my life now, too, right?!) I knew I wanted to save them for something special, so I've kept them safely tucked away for almost four years.

The project:

I started with 10 white 5x7 frames from IKEA, which not only required mats for the 4x6 postcards but also posed an additional challenge: they have no glass plates to hold the photos in place. So, my cousin Genevieve and I pulled a selection of patterned papers and picked out five - in various shades/patterns of red, aqua, black and cream - that matched the existing colors in the room where I planned to hang them. (I also didn't want papers that would distract too much from the photos, and we were lucky enough to find some).

Then, we made custom mats for each postcard. Each paper pattern was used twice - one for each side of the windows, since the set would be split into two arrangements of five frames each.


We attached the postcards to the mats using old-fashioned black photo corners. This not only allowed me to preserve the postcards (as in, keep them safe from tape and glue) but also added an important visual element to tie the frames back to the rest of the room.

(Side note: you'll notice that I didn't make full 5x7 mats out of the patterned papers. Two reasons: 1. Some of the best elements of the patterns were scattered throughout the papers, and the only way to capture the right colors was to construct mats out of strips. 2. I wanted to save paper, and full mats really weren't necessary.)

And, the finished product!


Seeing these photos of Firenze every morning when I first wake up is an excellent way to start the day, I've learned. Having them in matching frames only makes my heart happier.

So what do you think? I'm still playing around with the arrangement, and have a few more plans in mind for the surrounding wall space. But share your thoughts! And have any of you ever made custom mats? Anything I should do differently next time? Do tell...

1 comment:

  1. need any more paper? I'll be in Firenze in the morning:)

    ReplyDelete