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How To: Make Your Own Round Art Gallery

052809_art01.jpgLooking for a fun and easy project for your home? Make your very own round art gallery reusing cardboard tubes hanging around your home, like paper towel holders or toilet paper rolls. After the jump, get all of the details.

 
 
  • Clean the rolls by removing any labels or leftover paper.
  • Mark the rolls by using a ruler and pencil to mark the width of each ring will help you keep the cuts straight and level. Make different sizes to add interest and dimension.
  • Cut the tubes into rings using an X-acto knife and/or scissors.
  • Trace circles around the ring to mark a circle on the photo you want to frame. Cut out the circle using scissors. The circle should be just a bit wider than the outside of the ring.
  • Glue photos to rings by drawing a thin bead of glue on the rim of the cardboard ring. Glue the photo circle in place. Consider gluing the photo to the front of the ring so it stands out from the wall, or to the back of the ring so you can peer in at it.
  • When all the rings are done and dry, use a little white glue on the side of the rings to glue them together.
  • Hang the rings on the wall by putting up a few pushpins or small nails and slipping the rings over them.

Interested in more photo fun? Click here to check out Photojojo for some serious inspiration.

Do you have a fun and interesting DIY art project for the home? Let us know and also upload some photos into the Apartment Therapy LA Flickr pool.

Check out more art projects for the home from Apartment Therapy:


Image: Photojojo

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How To..., diy, how to, art project, photo gallery

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Comments (14)

I think this would look a lot better if the rings were covered with decorative or a solid color paper.

posted by josie6 on May 28th 2009 at 5:21pm
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Ditto. Or painted (maybe to match the wall color?)

posted by slowdown on May 28th 2009 at 5:28pm
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josie6: totally agree...was first thought in my head also. Hopefully you or one of our other readers take up the DIY challenge to show how it looks with decorative paper or painted :)

posted by gregory on May 28th 2009 at 5:33pm
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Yes, all great ideas! We'd love to see some of your work so send us a note if you take on this project!

posted by RebeccaATLA on May 28th 2009 at 5:40pm
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1) paint! definitely. question: would spray paint affect the integrity of the cardboard (wet mushy cardboard comes to mind)

2) what other cardboard tubes are there? paper towel rolls are quite small, as are toilet paper holders. gift wrap tubes?

posted by eleednic on May 28th 2009 at 5:55pm
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This would be a great project to do with Christmas cards. So much better than figuring out what to do with square cards.

posted by baileyb on May 28th 2009 at 6:17pm
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cardboard concrete tube forms from your hardware store

posted by joann2 on May 28th 2009 at 7:10pm
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i think these are totally awesome just the way they are... i might just go to hobby lobby tomorrow (as it closed 15 minutes ago) and buy some rounds and do this project this weekend.

posted by pseudodesigns on May 28th 2009 at 9:15pm
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Duct tape, masking tape, and shipping tape have sturdy tubes.

posted by ohjodi on May 28th 2009 at 9:46pm
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I can't wait to try this! I can't imagine that spray paint will effect the integrity of the cardboard. What a fab idea!

posted by zjasm on May 28th 2009 at 10:10pm
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eleednic: oatmeal containers (quaker oats, generic brands) would be a nice, big size.

posted by SQ on May 28th 2009 at 11:20pm
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You can get different sizes of round cardboard boxes (with lids) from the craft store. They have tops and bottoms you can attach the pictures to, which might be easier than tubes where you only have thin edges to glue the pics to.

http://www.swankydigs.blogspot.com/

posted by Tara77 on May 29th 2009 at 1:59am
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I just made these as a birthday present for a friend of mine and they came out really nice. I painted them as well using craft store acrylic paint, which didn't affect the cardboard at all. Also, I bought poster tubes from Staples and cut those up and they were really sturdy and a good quality, so I recommend them! For anyone trying this, go with a clear glue because when you have to glue the pictures on and the circles together, white glue can look quite ugly. But it was really easy and looks great!

posted by meghanrh on May 31st 2009 at 2:16pm
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i'm excited to try this idea, and i originally wanted to paint the cardboard but then i decided to use colored board instead. (the same board that is used for science projects) . hopefully it works out and looks great!

posted by ratch17 on July 26th 2009 at 9:25pm
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