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7 Jun 2013

VINTAGE AUDIO REEL ART

Today I have a super simple DIY that would make an awesome gift for Father's Day.  I made this vintage audio reel art for my pilots' Daddy as part of a Father's Day office/den spruce up.  


When I first grabbed this audio reel from my dad's collection, I thought I would hang it on the wall in Tech Guy's office/den.  When I started laying out some of the picture frames that  I wanted to put up along with the reel I felt like it needed a little more three dimensional interest.  I turned to Tech Guy and asked him if there was a way to mount this reel on a stick.  He then came up with the idea to use a threaded metal rod.  It was a pretty simple process:
1.  Find an empty vintage audio reel and a threaded metal rod (available at the hardware store)
2.  Put glue (we used a contact cement) on both your rod and the reel where they will be touching each other
3.  Slide the rod in to the space where the audio tape would have been and let the glue dry
4.  Obtain your pieces to assemble the base: 2 nuts, a washer and scrap wood for the base (we used leftover cedar that was cut to 5 1/2" square and sealed it with Waterlox)
5.  Drill a hole through the middle that is the width of your rod. To countersink your nut on the bottom drill the bottom again with a bit the size of your nut and drill to the depth of the nut.
6.  Assemble the pieces together as shown in step 4. - tighten the rod to to the base using the nuts and washer.

That's it!  Not too bad. No?

Here are some more pictures of it in place.  I love how it flows with the art on the wall, but adds a little depth.

The other side of the reel is actually black which I think is pretty fun (I should have taken a picture to show you!).  I could always flip it around if I feel like the room needs another hit of black.  This little DIY is perfect for Tech Guy since he is in the home technology business and perfect for my audiophile dad as well.  The same concept could be used for any number of items you want to turn into art by putting them on a rod/stick (movie reel, steering wheel, driftwood, etc.).  I kind of like Tech Guy's shiny, vintage lollipop art.

11 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Kathryn. I think Tech Guy thinks it's pretty cool too. :)

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  2. love that! I should try to get a hold of a movie one to make for Dave....we met while working at a movie theater :)

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    1. How fun that you two met working at a movie theatre. I think you'll just have to find a movie reel then! :)

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  3. Absolutely love this project! I was at a thrift store yesterday and I even saw a movie projector there... Love how yours turned out! What a great gift!

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  4. This is really cool! It reminds me of a sculpture I once made with an old bicycle wheel.

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  5. I am visiting my sister next week and when we set up the visit I warned her that I wanted to look for some of my dad's old film reels. I can't wait to get them to start some sort of project.

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  6. Clever project! I love how you repurposed this into decor. It would look great too with multiple reels at varying heights. Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Angela. Varying heights would look great too - love that idea!

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  7. I really like this—reminds me of Marcel Duchamp's bicycle wheel! Would you be interested in posting it to Kollabora, the crafting and DIY community? I'm hoping to get more people who make slightly edgy, abstract stuff to start hanging out over there, especially in the home decor section, which has been looking kind of sparse lately.

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