Rolled Magazine Cork Board

  • Difficulty Rating: Beginner
Tags

Beginner, Glue, How-To-Projects, Inspirational Articles, Kendra McCracken, Papers,

Tools used:

Cutting Mat 18x24

Cutting Mat (18" x 24")

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Rolled Magazine Cork Board

On a recent trip to the mall, my 10-year-old and I decided we were uninterested in following his older brother into the sporting goods store so we wandered into a little store next door.

It was full of fun, eclectic things like mood rings, beaded door curtains, and picture frames made from the keys from old keyboards. We also found a frame that was covered with rolled magazine pages that we really liked but it had a $40 price tag on it. Not only was it not in our budget, I thought we could come up with something for a 10 year old that would get a little more use than a picture frame would. We decided on a framed cork board. This craft is one that will require the help of an adult if it's for a younger child. It's a great project for teens to do on their own.

start with an 11 x 14 canvas and a 12 x 12 cork panel

To create the base, we started with an 11 x 14 inch stretched canvas and 12 x 12 inch cork panels.

cut the cork panel to fit inside the canvas

Using a Fiskars Rotary Cutter, Cutting Mat, and Acrylic Ruler, we cut the cork panel to fit inside the canvas.

make the cork borad deeper

I wanted the frame of the cork board to be deeper so I built it up with strips cut from a foam core board, again using a Fiskars Rotary Cutter, Cutting Mat, and Acrylic Ruler. The fact that we were recycling magazines to make this project was a good lesson for my son. Using Styrofoam to build of the frame would have continued that good lesson, but my search left me empty handed so we opted for the foam core.

tightly rolling the magazine strips

Next came the time consuming part. I did this over a period of several days while we watched movies. Using a bamboo skewer to keep the rolls uniform in size, I tightly rolled the pages of an old magazine and a couple of my son's favorite toy catalogs. A swipe across the edge of the magazine page at the end of the rolling process was plenty to keep the pages tightly wound.

cutting the rolls to be uniform and flush with the frame

I then measured the outside edge of the frame from back to front and cut some (not all!) of the rolls to that height using the Rotary Cutter and the Cutting Mat. I was careful not cut them too tall. They need to be flush with the front of the frame so the rolls that cover the top of the frame make can contact with it.

adhering the rolls to the frame

The rolls adhered very securely with Mod Podge and we didn't have a single one pop off. I made sure we generously covered 1/2 of each roll with the Mod Podge so they would adhere not to the base but also to one another.

After completing the outside of the frame, I measured from the inside of the frame and we lined it with rolls. We finished by covering the top of the frame.
When we were finished, my son was excited to see it looked just like what we'd seen in the store and we did it for the cost of a cork panel, a stretched canvas, and some Mod Podge, which was considerably less than $40.

And it is now proudly displayed on his desk in his room!

Supply List

11 x 14 stretched canvas
12 x 12 cork panel
Glue stick
Mod Podge or other white glue
Old magazines