Tiny Easels

I love this so much.

I remember seeing this craft a while back, and loving it, and then not doing anything with it and forgetting all about it, but then - and I don't even know why - it popped into my head the other day. 

A quick Google turned up this amazing Instructable, but since I can't always watch videos at work, and since I like to take photos as I do stuff so that I remember how I did it, and since why the heck not, I decided to take photos of the process and post it on here.

What You Need

• 6 clothespins (the kind you pinch open, not clothes pegs)
• 1 small dowel - a toothpick will work in a pinch
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

That's it. So easy.

What To Do

1. Plug in your hot glue gun to preheat. The rest of this goes pretty fast. Now, take apart 2 of your clothespins. This is easily doable by twisting the top part away from the bottom part. 
2. Take one of the half-pins and apply glue to the edge that was the bottom inside when it was a whole pin (see photo). Glue to the bottom inside of one of the whole pins. Repeat twice more, since you need three of these. I made sure to make all 3 of mine facing the same direction, but I really don't think it makes much of a difference. You should now have three identical pins with glued-on legs, one complete and untouched pin, and a small dowel.
   
3. Thread the dowel through the top holes of three clothes pins. I turned the middle one upside down here, so they were all facing in the same general direction. NOTE: This looks much nicer when it's done if your front legs (the outside two) have the extended side of the pins on the table, and the unglued side on top.
   
4. Gently pinch the two outside pins so they are touching the center pin, while angling them outward like a capital letter A.
    
5. Dab hot glue at the base of the whole clothespins, and lay your last (whole) pin on the glue, thus attaching it to the easel. This is the stand where you can rest your artwork.
6. Stand up the tripod by allowing the center pin to fall back, as a third foot. You can see the dowel sticking out both ends of the top of your easel. You can either break of the unneeded pieces, or mark the spot with a pencil and cut it off. (My dowel was thin enough to use a pair of scissors to cut it.)
   
7. If desired, dab hot glue onto the dowel where it meets the pins, to keep the whole thing in one piece. I also added a dot of hot glue to the bottom of each leg, to add traction, so it stands up without slipping. Paint or decorate as you please.
8. Add artwork/post-it notes, or photos to your easel, and enjoy.

  

How It Went

I actually have this project on the calendar for next month, but I wanted to make sure I had the steps all set to go ahead of time - this was a test to make sure it wasn't frustratingly difficult, and it was perfect! I'm really looking forward to this one. I hope I get a nice crowd. The plan is to make tiny easels, and then paint "Mini Masterpieces" to go on top of them. (Maybe I'll even bring in my Bob Ross Funko to take photos with the tiny paintings! How cute would that be?)

Having said that, I have my sample on my desk, and even though it's only been there for a day, I've already gotten several compliments on it, from people of all ages. I wouldn't do this with the younger crowd, because hot glue, but it would make a nice adult craft, too.