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Gypsy Caravan Wheels

Filed under Art Projects, Swaps, Tutorials

I received lots of queries about adding wheels to the Concertina Chipboard Pennants for the Gypsy Fortune Teller Swap. So I played around and found some items that work well together (and, most importantly, don’t involve glue — important if you’re participating in the swap and want your pieces to travel cross-country twice and stay together).

Note: wheels are not required for the swap. But there are some cute samples by the Design Team, like the one at right by Rhea Freitag, that do use wheels. More photos of Rhea’s project are in the Gallery.

And what I’m suggesting will work on other projects, too.

So, in no particular order:

 
1. Use Bottle Caps plus brads (plus filigree, but that’s optional).

The bottle caps could also be the new Flattened Bottles Caps (in silver or black).

Three samples are below (and in the second row of photos, some side and back views to give more details on what I had in mind). If you want your caravan to be free-standing and the wheels to look finished from both sides, you can wrap craft wire around the brad backs & then through the hole in the chipboard (so you can use a decorative brad on both sides).

Other item in those photos:

Antique Gold Fancy Flower Filigree

Amber Vintage Brads

Bronze Washers

Clock Face With Hole

Fluted Ring Pull

Hot Air Balloons Collage Sheet
 

 
2. Use filigree with Screw Posts (Chicago Screws).

This was a happy accident. The new 47mm Antique Gold Filigree have a really large center hole, so they can accommodate the Screw Posts (and there’s a new black Screw Post color option, too).

I showed making a sandwich with 2 Concertina Chipboard Pennants in these photos (and also used a few Finishing Washers to fill space, as the 5/8″ Screw Posts have a mixed minimum length.

 
3. Use the same 47mm Antique Gold Filigree, but with buttons & bobbins.

Another happy accident — the shank back on the Antique Heirloom Buttons snugly fits in the center hole of the Bobbins, so no other fastener (wire, glue, whatever) was needed. Note: these buttons are plastic so the shank is a tiny bit flexible (which helped, as I had to push the button pretty hard to get it to snap into the bobbin). Other buttons would probably work, too, but I think plastic is better than metal for this use.

I probably should have made another sandwich (with a second chipboard pennant) but if you’re aiming at a free-standing caravan and don’t mind the thickness (of the bobbins) this solution is really easy.

  
Posted by Leslie, July 21st, 2012

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