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Display Ideas: Polaroid on a String & More

5.21.09 polaroid display 2.jpgOur father recently sent us a batch of the "best of" Polaroid photographs from our childhood. Spawned by our current love for the format and a vague memory of a shot with ours truly and He-Man (we're talking adult He-Man impersonator--not a toy, folks!) at a childhood party, we asked for a few for our collection currently on display. With our newly unearthed additions of some pretty classic shots (it turns out the vague memory was pretty accurate) we're looking for some fresh ways to display them.

 
 

We have long had a grid of Polaroid images sticky-tacked to the wall, much like Olivia Leigh's featured on Apartment Therapy here. We have just moved in to a place, though, with dormer ceilings that leaves us very little wall space. The simple but great idea above was found over at DoubleTakes, and seems like just the solution we needed.

We happen to have a set of curtain wires and clips laying around that we bought from Ikea. It turns out the set doesn't support our curtains very well, but would be perfect for some Polaroids. This is a fantastic idea that will allow us to change our images often so that we can rotate through our ever growing collection.

For those of you still staunchly indifferent about the demise of Polaroid (and yes, the hopeful resurrection as detailed here) let's hope that this idea that we found on Gizmodo comes to fruition.

5.21.09 polaroid display 1.jpg

For those who are not nostalgic for the unique color palette of the old instant film, and those who think digital as a replacement is just as good, we give you this digital frame in the style of a Polaroid photograph. The trademark white border is complete with a dry-erase finish allowing you to mimic the labeling of your photograph. Just a concept now, we would buy one if they came out...

(Re-edited from a post originally published: 5.21.09 - JL)

Tags

inspiration, collection, display, Polaroid film, digital photo frame, photo display

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Comments (11)

I just bought a vintage polaroid sx70 landcamera and the super expensive film so I could do this exact thing in our new apartment.

posted by cassielynn on May 21st 2009 at 2:40pm
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Yikes. I would hate to think what the clip might do to the surface of the Polaroid over time ....

posted by JenDC on May 21st 2009 at 3:00pm
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maybe it is padded with felt or something?

posted by Lizzykewl on May 21st 2009 at 3:04pm
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Ooh, good idea. I have a slew of old, yellowed childhood Polaroids. I think I could clip them to the white borders to avoid further damaging the images... which reminds me, I need to buy a decent scanner to save this stuff before it fades into oblivion. Thanks for this post (and the nudge).

posted by rosenatti on May 21st 2009 at 5:57pm
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... aaand, looking at the above picture again, it looks like the person at DoubleTakes was careful about clipping along the picture border, too, and it looks fine. Problem solved!

posted by rosenatti on May 21st 2009 at 5:59pm
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I just use clothespins.

posted by MansardRoof on May 21st 2009 at 9:12pm
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where can you buy/how can you make one of those wires with clips?
Thanks!!

posted by Mo-Mo on September 16th 2009 at 8:32pm
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urban outfitters has a Polaroid frame. It is plastic so I bet you could write on it.

http://bit.ly/cyrS

posted by holdingmyheart on September 16th 2009 at 8:44pm
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I have this sort of set up in my hall - string, thimbtacked, and wood clips that I bought from a craft store. I think they were meant for scrapbooking. Not with polaroids, though, with recent photos, and the idea is to switch them around. It really makes a difference in our long, narrow, dark hallway. It gives it length, unites the space, and makes me smile very time I walk down the hall, seeing my friends and family smiling back at me, as well as some photos I'm really proud of.

I have that wire for my curtains and it was sagging, so I bought another in between piece. If you don't have it unsupported for more than about two metres, it's fine.

posted by Kaviare on September 16th 2009 at 9:04pm
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mo-mo: That wire with clips in the pic is from Ikea. I have one for a closet door curtain setup.

posted by travers on September 17th 2009 at 9:28am
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For my wedding we had a few scavenged batches of polaroid film, and I display them like so: teeny little wooden clothespegs and strings of lace (some stuff off a reel i got from Hancock fabrics for about 80c) pinned against the wall. Whoever comes to our house comments how cool it is

posted by inti on September 17th 2009 at 3:15pm
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