Cut Out + Keep

Mini Table Blackboard With Duster And Chalk Box

Make a free standing chalkboard from a simple picture frame

https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/mini-table-blackboard-with-duster-and-chalk-box • Posted by Bobben

Making a miniature blackboard from a simple picture frame with mini duster and chalk holding box attached. Great to place anywhere to leave notes like shopping lists or phone messages! This one is made of an IKEA double sided frame allowing you to blackboard each side, makes it great to sit in the middle of a table.

You will need

Project Budget
Cheap

Time

1 h 30

Difficulty

Nice & Simple
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Description

Making a miniature blackboard from a simple picture frame with mini duster and chalk holding box attached. Great to place anywhere to leave notes like shopping lists or phone messages! This one is made of an IKEA double sided frame allowing you to blackboard each side, makes it great to sit in the middle of a table.

Instructions

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    Firstly take the glass or perspex (see through) part of the picture frame out and lay it down on some newspaper to protect the surface from paint. Get your blackboard/ black matte paint - note it must be matte paint, you can get it online cheap or get a tester/ sample from a diy store which will only cost £1.50. Using a paint brush paint on the blackboard paint as smoothly as possible, making brush strokes all in the same direction. Once the whole thing is covered leave until it is dry (around half an hour). Once dry look at it against a window or light to make sure you can't see any gaps, if you can give it another layer of paint.

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    Now make the duster. Get your thick material. I used a thick cotton duster cloth for material, felt would work well too. Take a strip of about 1cm thick and 10cm long. Apply two lines of glue along the long sides of the fabric then roll it up on itself as pictured, so it forms not a tube but a cuboid. Then glue the end so it stays put. Next get several peices of card slightly larger than the fabric you just glued to a cuboid. Glue them together. You can cover the card with fabric itself (i covered mine with faux leather) or paint the top of it for a more finished look. Get a length of string approx 25cm long and glue it on top of the fabric block then glue the card on top of that you once dry you have a duster on a string.

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    Now that the blackboard bit is dry lie it so the non-painted side faces up and lay the string from the duster over length-wise to one side. Then lift it pulling the duster through the frame then fixing the blackboard in place. tie a knot in the string so the duster hangs on the front, but make sure there is enough string before the knot so you can reach all corners of the blackboard for dusting.

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    Finally make the chalk box. Get white card and make the image shown, folding lines and cutting where it indicates.

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    Now attach chalk box by taking the bit that sticks up (**** on diagram) and bending one part of it downwards into the edge of the frame and letting the other bit sit flat.

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    Finished!