Anthro Display Hack: Hat Stand

I'm planning on adding hats to my Etsy shop soon, and have been searching online for inspiration and advice for photography. One site somewhat obviously suggested checking out companies whose product photography you like, and I immediately thought Anthropologie. Their product photos are taken on a white background and use few models, which is what I like in my photography. Here's the hat stand I came across that I fell in love with, and is also my model for my copycat stand:

Cute, right? A simple wire hat stand. I found the original source to buy one, but it was almost $25 including shipping. Call me cheap but I'm not willing to pay that, so I made a trip to JoAnn's, picked up some wire, and made it yesterday evening. Here's what I came up with using $2 of wire:

Boom. Mine is shorter and appears larger in this photo but it works. I have to work on getting a few kinks out of the base, but overall, a success. See the quick tutorial below. I wasn't planning on this being a tutorial, so if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.

Click on photo to enlarge.

1. Get your supplies: Tape measure, 12 gauge wire (two 3 yard rolls), wire cutters, and a bowl that measures approximately 18" around.
2. This is the wire I purchased. It was $1.99 a roll but with two 50% off coupons from JoAnn's, it was $1.99 for two rolls. You don't want any wire much thinner than this or it won't be able to support a hat.
3. Cut four-one yard long sections of wire. Measure to the halfway point (18") of each section. This will be the top of the hat stand. Mold one piece of wire around the overturned bowl until it intersects. Twist to hold in place. Measure 2" down from the circle you just created and bend the wire outward. Using the bowl again, bend the wire down until it forms a half circle. See photo. Repeat until you have four shaped wires.
4. Set your four forms inside each other and fan out until it resembles a sphere. Attach them together at the top with a small piece of wire.
5. Wrap wire around the top and bottom of the straight section to hold in place.
6. Cut a piece of wire approximately 20" and make a circle around your bowl, wrapping the wire ends around each other to hold the circle's shape. Wrap each of the end wires of your stand around the circle and trim.
7. Cut another piece of 20" wire and make another circle around your bowl, wrapping the wire ends around each other to hold in place. Connect around the middle of the sphere in four places.

That's it! I think I'm going to use these at an artisan's market this spring and fall to show off my hats! Might even make some taller and shorter to complete a display. I haven't decided yet if I want to spray paint the stand, leave as is, or do something fun like wrapping strips of fabric around and gluing. Such a fun project!

Friday Findings

I'm going to start including more neat tutorials that I've found in the course of the week here. Doing is better than just looking, right? Hubba and I just bought the wood to make the coffee table! There are a lot of other plans on Ana White's website, too, if you're looking into making furniture.

DIY Coffee Syrup :: DIY Felted Billy Buttons :: Coffee Table Plans :: Stripy Cowl Pattern

Make a Light Box for Under $20

Winter makes me lazy. I get out of work and the sun has already set, it's cold, and I just don't feel like doing much of anything. The only free time I had to take photos in natural daylight for my shop is on the weekend (which I never think of doing at the time) or on my lunch break. And the lunch break photo session doesn't happen often. So when I came across this tutorial to make an inexpensive light box, I made it right away. No more excuses, laziness!

Here's what you need and about what it'll cost you:
A big box, the squarer, the better (Free)
A piece of poster board ($1 at Dollar Tree)
White muslin fabric to cover the holes (I already had this but you can buy $2 a yard cheap stuff from JoAnn's)
Two lamps (Standing lamp was $5.99 and clip on lamp above was $9.99 at Target)
Daylight bulbs - 60 watts ($5 for a pack of 4)
Box cutter, tape, scissors

Buy your lamps before getting your bulbs so you can check the maximum wattage your lamps can handle. I bought 100 watt bulbs before finding that the only lamp that could support that bulb would cost $30.

Follow the tutorial here to put it all together!

Here's the first photo I took without any adjustment:

And after a little adjustment in iPhoto to brighten it up:

Not perfect, but it'll get there. I might take the photos into CameraRAW or Photoshop to lighten up the shadows more. But overall, it's a success!

Friday Findings

Embroidery :: Flowers :: Cowl :: iPad Case

Fabric Love - Pure by Stof House Designer

Modern designs, simple color pallet, large, simple prints .. ahh, this is my kind of fabric! Stof House is a large fabric distributer in Europe based out of Denmark. It was hard to find information on this collection specifically, but I think it was designed by one of their on-staff designers.

I'm working on my first quilt (eek!) and am using the seed heads in grey (bottom right corner) as one of the fabrics. It is beautiful in person .. high quality quilting cotton and just perfect.  I'll fill you in on the quilt soon, but as my mom said, "I've never heard of anyone starting to quilt with hexagons." Should be interesting!

To order some of this collection, which was just released recently, visit Hawthorne Threads. They have more color choices then what I have displayed above. For more on Stof and their fabric collections, click here.

Create Your Own Font for Free!

Seriously .. so excited for this! One of the reasons I've been wanting an iPad is to download all the cool apps, including FontMaker to make a font with my handwriting. Now I have one less reason to get one! On myscriptfont.com, you print and fill out the template, scan it in per the instructions, and download your font! Super cool, right? And free!

The image above was created in Word using the font I made. I just used a regular gel ink pen (I didn't have any medium size felt tip pens) and it worked fine other than a couple of light areas on the U V W and w.

Thanks to The Cheese Thief for posting this!

Crochet Bow Pattern

I've been making bows like crazy! They're really simple to crochet and look super cute with a high bun, as an accessory on a bag or for clipping back your (or your girl's) hair. I'm going to add a whole slew of them to my Etsy shop so if you don't know how to crochet, you can buy some cute bows soon here.  This is my first crochet pattern, so if you have and questions or need clarification, leave it in the comments and I'll respond!

Little Bow Pattern
Worsted weight or cotton yarn, size 4mm hook
American terms: ch=chain, hdc=half double crochet, hk=hook, st=stitch, sc=single crochet, sl st=slip stitch

Main Rectangle:
Ch 20 or desired length of bow.
Row 1: Hdc in 2nd st from hk and each across. Ch 1. Turn.
Row 2: Hdc in each stitch across. Ch 1. Turn.
Rows 3-4: Repeat row 2.
Sc around entire rectangle, with 3 sc in each corner, to create a finished edge. Fasten off.

Small Middle Rectangle:
Ch 10. Work on one side of chain. Sc in 2nd st from hk and each across. 3 sc in last ch. Sc in each st returning (down the other side of the chain), ending with 2 sc in the final chain. Sl st to first st. Fasten off with a long tail.

Pinch the main rectangle together and sew middle rectangle on using the long tail. Fasten off.