Ring Holder
Obvious statement of the day: I love to cook.
But did you guys know I also love doing random crafty projects?? I've sewed a Christmas tree skirt, I've made a mosaic table, I've created framed images, and I've made a snuggie, amongst many other random things. And my craftiness has gone into high gear these past few weeks since I decided to repaint 4 pieces of old furniture for my new apartment. (Yea for being cheap.) So I thought to myself "why not feature some of that stuff here on food-ology?!?"
Yes, I realize this is a food blog, and painting furniture is not the same as cooking food. But it's all about creating something with your hands and losing yourself in your art- whether that be painting with a brush or painting with a spatula. So maybe I should start referring to this as my food+ blog (aka: food plus other cool shit blog). It'll still be a food blog, but once in a while I'll throw in some fun crafty entries.
Today is one of those whiles. And it starts with this gorgeous ceramic box:
Before leaving the Bay Area in April, I took a long weekend trip down south to Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo (and stayed in a yurt on my way back home). It was one of the best trips I'd taken in all my years in California, and while there I found this gorgeous ceramic box at an antique shop in SLO. I immediately fell in love, but my cheap ass almost got the best of me. Thank goodness my roommate convinced me it was worth the $30, because if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have bought it (or the gorgeous 1950s dress and the cute going-out dress she also convinced me to get later that day... ahhhhh, what is it about being on vacation that makes me want to spend alllll my money?)
Anyways, I purchased it because of its lovely detailing, but didn't really have any particular use for it.
As of a few days ago it was holding all my necklace pendants, but then I decided I wanted to turn it into a ring holder. Why?? Because (a) they're a mess, (b) I needed to organize them and (c) I've never found a pre-made ring holder I like.
Nice ring holders are just not easy to find! Sure, one little compartment of some giant-ass jewelry set will have a nice section for some rings, but I wanted one piece dedicated for rings since I already have my own way of displaying earrings and necklaces (a project I'm currently working on, so stay tuned for that!)
So I started googling and you tube-ing "diy ring holder" and found a lot of great tutorials. For some reason though I liked the ideas presented in this one the best, so I decided to do a modified version of it. (I also found this tutorial later on and this technique may be even better than the one I did, so I'm sharing them both here today.)
So you wanna see how my ceramic ring holder turned out??
Pretty fucking amazing if I say so myself!!
I suggest watching the you tube videos I've linked to (above) for a better demonstration, but here are some step-by-step photos of how I made my ring holder.
1. Insert a piece of cardboard into your nice ceramic box so you don't ruin it.
2. Cut a piece of your fabric at least 5" wide by (whatever the length of your box is)" long. Place it fancy side down and add some fluffy fabric or foam to the ends to give it extra body. If you have fabric glue, you can use it here, but I'd suggest staying away from the center portion (do as I say, not as I did...)
3. Roll the bottom part of the fabric until you've reached the mid-point. Then hold it in place while you roll the top half of the fabric to meet it in the center.
4. At this point your fabric is rolled from the top and the bottom
5. Now grab this, fold in half (lengthwise), and pinch the two ends together. Note: you don't want these two ends to be glued/stuck together, because that is where your rings will slide in.
6. At this point you can either glue gun or tape the bottom of your strips of fabric to your box. Since my strips wouldn't stay closed (see how I'm holding it in the picture above?), I had to make all my strips first and then place them in the box at the same time. As you can see I made 4 strips of fabric, which gave me a total of 8 segments for ring holding.
7. And as always, a close-up shot of the goodies!
I can't tell you how happy I am with the end result of this project. It looks so beautiful and it really is insanely functional. And I love the fact that you can use whatever box or fabric you like to make this a truly custom piece of functional art.
Just think how neat would it be to make this out of a cigar box? Or a hollowed out book? Or a hand-made wooden box? Or an antique box? Just make sure your container is deep enough for your rings (mine baaaaaaarely made it). Other than that, the possibilities are endless!
Yours in doing domestic things other than cooking,
Jacqueline
But did you guys know I also love doing random crafty projects?? I've sewed a Christmas tree skirt, I've made a mosaic table, I've created framed images, and I've made a snuggie, amongst many other random things. And my craftiness has gone into high gear these past few weeks since I decided to repaint 4 pieces of old furniture for my new apartment. (Yea for being cheap.) So I thought to myself "why not feature some of that stuff here on food-ology?!?"
Yes, I realize this is a food blog, and painting furniture is not the same as cooking food. But it's all about creating something with your hands and losing yourself in your art- whether that be painting with a brush or painting with a spatula. So maybe I should start referring to this as my food+ blog (aka: food plus other cool shit blog). It'll still be a food blog, but once in a while I'll throw in some fun crafty entries.
Today is one of those whiles. And it starts with this gorgeous ceramic box:
Glass mosaic on a brown ceramic box, found at an antique shop in San Luis Obispo
Anyways, I purchased it because of its lovely detailing, but didn't really have any particular use for it.
Really, how could I pass this up?!?
Nice ring holders are just not easy to find! Sure, one little compartment of some giant-ass jewelry set will have a nice section for some rings, but I wanted one piece dedicated for rings since I already have my own way of displaying earrings and necklaces (a project I'm currently working on, so stay tuned for that!)
So I started googling and you tube-ing "diy ring holder" and found a lot of great tutorials. For some reason though I liked the ideas presented in this one the best, so I decided to do a modified version of it. (I also found this tutorial later on and this technique may be even better than the one I did, so I'm sharing them both here today.)
So you wanna see how my ceramic ring holder turned out??
Pretty fucking amazing if I say so myself!!
I had this scrap of faux-leather fabric and I couldn't believe how the brown matched
the ceramic box perfectly! FYI: fat rings (like the ones on the bottom left) don't store
that great using this method, so I just left some extra space for them on the side of the box.
1. Insert a piece of cardboard into your nice ceramic box so you don't ruin it.
2. Cut a piece of your fabric at least 5" wide by (whatever the length of your box is)" long. Place it fancy side down and add some fluffy fabric or foam to the ends to give it extra body. If you have fabric glue, you can use it here, but I'd suggest staying away from the center portion (do as I say, not as I did...)
3. Roll the bottom part of the fabric until you've reached the mid-point. Then hold it in place while you roll the top half of the fabric to meet it in the center.
Yes, I know, that's my foot. I needed something to hold the bottom section
as I took a photo, and unfortunately I don't have three hands...
4. At this point your fabric is rolled from the top and the bottom
5. Now grab this, fold in half (lengthwise), and pinch the two ends together. Note: you don't want these two ends to be glued/stuck together, because that is where your rings will slide in.
6. At this point you can either glue gun or tape the bottom of your strips of fabric to your box. Since my strips wouldn't stay closed (see how I'm holding it in the picture above?), I had to make all my strips first and then place them in the box at the same time. As you can see I made 4 strips of fabric, which gave me a total of 8 segments for ring holding.
7. And as always, a close-up shot of the goodies!
I can't tell you how happy I am with the end result of this project. It looks so beautiful and it really is insanely functional. And I love the fact that you can use whatever box or fabric you like to make this a truly custom piece of functional art.
Just think how neat would it be to make this out of a cigar box? Or a hollowed out book? Or a hand-made wooden box? Or an antique box? Just make sure your container is deep enough for your rings (mine baaaaaaarely made it). Other than that, the possibilities are endless!
Yours in doing domestic things other than cooking,
Jacqueline
I want to see the painted furniture.
ReplyDeleteThis a great idea, and it turned out so pretty! I definitely want to try this :)
ReplyDelete(And I'm curious to see your necklace display project too!)
ReplyDeleteI love to see crafts along with food, after all they are all forms of art! Love your ring holder, it's really creative and the different shades of blue are amazing! Looking forward to seeing more of your crafty you :o)
ReplyDelete