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Lanyard Collage Display Tutorial
August 27, 2015
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| Completed project |
Although I like to scrapbook, I wanted a better way to keep my lanyards from the Comic Cons I’ve been going to. I haven’t been to many, but I want to start going to more in the coming years. I began searching for ideas on Pinterest, and couldn’t find anything specific for lanyards or comic-cons. There were plenty of ways to display medals and bibs for races (5k’s, marathons, etc.) so I figured I could something similar for the lanyards. I had a difficult time deciding on the style I wanted, but I decided to use this over-the-door coat hanger I’ve had for years and hadn’t used. The original plan was to use drawer pulls, but once I realized the coat rack would fit perfectly onto the wood plaque I had bought for this project, I just had to use it (and save some $$ in the process)!
I had a bunch of Entertainment Weekly magazines in a pile for recycling so I went through them cutting out pictures of anything I was interested in. I cut out pictures of other popular shows, too, in case any friends would want one of these, too.
Supplies:
Wood Plaque – Under $10 (w/Michaels 40% off coupon)
Mod Podge – I used gloss since it’s what I had on hand
Paint brush – natural bristle is best, but a foam brush will work
Coat rack – had on hand (or use hooks, nails, drawer pulls, etc.)
Screws and washers – Under $2 for both
Picture hanging hardware – had on hand
Pictures cut from magazines
Instructions:
- Using magazine pictures is great because they don’t bleed like self-printed photos and they are thin for overlapping. Plan out how you want the pictures placed on the plaque (DO NOT GLUE). Once you are happy with your layout, take photos on your phone or camera, then, carefully place the pictures aside in the same layout as they are on the plaque.
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| Figure out the photo placement |
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| Pictures placed to the side – close to arrangement |
- Spread a thin layer of Modge Podge on a section of the plaque you are going to cover (TIP: I should have placed a coat of Modge Podge on the plaque to seal it as the wood was very porous and made the pictures wrinkle too easily.)
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| Starting the Modge Podge gluing |
- Once all of the pictures are glued onto the plaque, spread a thin coat of Modge Podge across the entire surface moving either horizontally or vertically. Let dry according to directions, then repeat. I used 4 coats, 2 going vertically, then 2 more going horizontally across the plaque. Allow to dry 24 hours or at least overnight before beginning the next step.
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| You can see the wrinkling and the modge podge isn\’t dry |
- I turned the plaque over and positioned the coat rack on the back. I used 4 – ½” long metal screws (meant for use on metal) to attach the rack to the back of the plaque. I had to use washers since the heads of the screws weren’t quite wide enough to hold the rack in place between the bars (see second photo below).
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| Place the coat rack across the back of the plaque |
- The place on the wall where I planned on hanging this plaque already had two nails in the wall where I had a large photo frame, so I used these “teeth” picture hanging hardware ( I don’t know what they’re really called) for the plaque. This saved me from pulling the nails out and putting more holes into the wall of my apartment.
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| Attached the hardware for hanging. |
I’ll need to find my other comic con lanyards to hang on my new display, and I’m excited to continue adding to my collection.
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| Finished product hanging on the wall |
Have you made this project? How do you display or store your comic con lanyards/badges?
TTFN
-V
Weird Life of V 