Art gallery

The mantelpiece I described in the previous post gave me the idea of an art gallery. I had a rather shallow wine box where I couldn't make anything that demanded depth, but lots of pictures on the walls would be just right.

I made wallpaper from ordinary coloured printer paper and used self-adhesive paper border for cornice. The floor was temporary when I made it over a year ago, but it is still there. I made the mirror frame from grill sticks to match the decoration on the mantelpiece. The angels on the mantelpiece come from Christmas crackers; they were a hideous blue-green colour so I painted them gold. The angels over the mirror come from a hobby shop. The two oval picture frames are also from a hobby shop, but generally the point of having an art gallery was to try various ways of making picture frames. The one above the oval frames is made by placing the picture (cut from a magazine and glued onto card) on a piece of tin foil and folding it over the edges. It creates an effect of a heavy gilded frame. The round frame on the left is cut from a very special Russian candy box: I have another frame like this in my Victorian house, but I will probably never find this candy again.

 

Candy boxes are excellent material for all kinds of things. Here is another one, perfect for a picture frame. 

 

Otherwise, using lolly sticks is the easiest way to make simple frames.

That said, who wants a simple frame if the point of the box room is to make as many different frames as possible? I'll show some more in the next post.