Look! Found Clothespin Art

While wading through the aisles at our local TJ Max store we came across an interesting find--framed clothespins. Retailing for $30, we think this is a totally inexpensive and DIY-able project for anyone who might be so intrigued. We know we just lost some of you, but for those who aren't rolling their eyes and are already thinking about painting the pins or what shape you could make them into, click through the jump to see how they were being displayed to get your creative juices flowing...

The clothespins were being displayed in a footed-shaddow box that was painted gold. Although we liked the repeating patterns of the clothespins, the overall look just wasn't something we were quite taking hold to.

We think they could be glued into all different kinds of shapes, sizes or patterns. If put to the test, how would you arrange the pins to make a statement in your home? Leave us a comment below!

Comments (10)

umm! I love clothes pins! now I want to go and tile a wall in them or something. That would be fun.

posted by alicia on January 12th 2009 at 10:17pm
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I make clothespin swords for my kids to play with. They like to whack them around until they fall apart. I didn't realize I was creating art! Haha!

posted by BambiJo on January 12th 2009 at 10:37pm
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Junk inside junk!

posted by tam-tbag on January 13th 2009 at 12:37am
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The ultimate in tacky.

posted by peachpie on January 13th 2009 at 3:34am
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The clothespins aren't doing it for me, but I like the concept of creating a repeating pattern of "something" in a footed shadowbox. Now I just need to figure out what that something is...Beads perhaps?

posted by Brandyjane on January 13th 2009 at 8:00am
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I saw this a couple months ago at TJ Maxx: kind of odd...but interesting.

posted by RedMaiko on January 13th 2009 at 10:00am
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I saw those locally as well. I was fascinated that somebody might buy them! (Not that attractive in my book.)

Shadow boxes with repeat motifs are, however, potentially cool. Any small, discrete shape would work in multiples.

I make assemblages sometimes, and one I've been thinking of is a shadow box with a grid of the heads of those little paper drink parasols, opened and glued down in rows not quite touching each other.

Another idea is my collection of pressed four-leafed clovers. For that one, I'd draw a maybe 2 inch grid with a fine marker or pencil or something, and glue a clover to the intersections of the lines, leaving a lot of background.

Using things that are cheap but fun in multiples makes the things seem more important and changes their context.

posted by SherryBinNH on January 13th 2009 at 11:15am
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I could see doing a branching fractal pattern. It might look better than the spiky thing they have going on in the frame.

posted by JH4285 on January 13th 2009 at 12:37pm
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i love seeing stuff like this. It intrigues you, makes you ponder how it could be better or how you would do it. Even if in the end, you do nothing related to clothes pins, but just the idea of creating something out of an ordinary household object...inspirational eh?

posted by nkr707 on January 13th 2009 at 1:12pm
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It's curious how awful this is that it was mentioned in the article. It's not really a matter of how clever it could be, but that the fact that you're going to come right out and expect people to hate it, because it's easily something to hate, but you don't want to hate it for some reason. I have done some research for you:

http://faculty.evansville.edu/rl29/art105/img/oldenburg_clothespin.jpg

http://artshiftsanjose.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/jennings-clothespin.jpg

http://coolthingsinrandomplaces.com/STRANGE%20GRAVES%20OLDER/clothespin-grave.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh310/hapoom/shop%20swap/17/clothespin-1.jpg

http://www.folkartisans.com/images2/prws.jpg

http://www.txroadrunners.com/images/pics/Funny6/ClothesPinFace.jpg

This one is $169 for a 20"x30" print:
http://www.worldofstock.com/prints.php?cu=PAB3989

http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FT6/6L7G/F9T3NQSQ/FT66L7GF9T3NQSQ.MEDIUM.jpg

http://njcenterforthebook.org/images/clothespin-project.jpg

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/11/07/batmans-clothespin/

I think all of these are more interesting interpretations, except for the worldstock photo (series, I believe). Easy DIY and craft and folk art is kind of a blurry spectrum, but let's try to have some standards.