FIRST, Happy Labor Day Weekend!!

I hope your weekend is filled with lots of non-laborious activities.

(Also, Happy Birthday Dad!)

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After seeing some greeting cards based on a similar premise, this idea of pushpin (or thumbtack if you prefer) art was born.

During a major session of magazine reading, I came across a pictures of a woman’s office. She had a poster on her wall that said “Ode to the Joy of Life” on it. I ripped it out and saved it (as we all did in the pre-Pinterest days). I’ve been saving it for years, but as soon as I was thinking about my pushpin idea I knew I wanted to use that phrase. And a project was born.

To start, I put together the letters in Adobe Illustrator. I knew I wanted a font with accentuated fat and thin sections to emphasize the pin holes (this is RiotSquad, for any other typophiles out there).  I reversed the text and turned the opacity levels down to 10% (or you could just print a light gray color). I printed it on white cardstock.

(Sorry for the wonky shadows. It’s that pesky dining room chandelier again.)

Then I grabbed a…. wait for it… pushpin.

You may not recognize it. It’s a highly unusual and expensive tool.

To begin, I used the complicated technique of poking through the paper. I outlined the letter first and then filled the inside.

It took a little while to determine the proper depth as the pinhole grows in size in accordance to the pin.

And that’s all there is to it. I wouldn’t plan on finishing this project in one night. Your hands start to cramp. It’s a good leave-near-the-tv-and-work-on-it-aimlessly kind of project.

My only advice?

1. Be gentle. You can tear through the paper in the delicate parts.

2. Don’t use a death grip on the paper. You will wrinkle it. (If I was to do this again, I might put a piece of cardboard underneath so I wasn’t holding it so tightly and the pin could push through into the cardboard.)

Now I just need to decide how to display it.

It could be cool with a bright colored paper behind it. It’s also fun to hold it up to a light and let all the light come through the holes.

Only time with tell.

Project Cost: I will round up to 5 cents.

Have you tried pushpin art before? Can you think of a less expensive project tool?