Ashley here, and lately I've been working on a pretty cool project that's fairly simple that I thought I'd share with you folks before we jump into the crocheting. This post will be about recycling old license plates into pretty cool wall art!
These are four of the plaques that I've made that are displayed at a local shop called Sugar Magnolia's, so if you're local you can go take a closer look.
Before you start, you'll need to gain access to a few things:
1.) Ear plugs or noise cancelling head phones. Ear plugs are cheaper, so keep that in mind.
2.) A band saw (luckily my husband has one of these, so I used his)
3.) Wood to attach your letters to. I used a simple 2x6 piece of white pine.
4.) A miter saw OR if you purchase your wood from somewhere like Lowes or Home Depot, they can cut your wood to the size you need it.
5.) A power drill with a small drill bit.
6.) Nails slightly larger than the drill bit size.
7.) A hammer.
8.) Hanging hardware (sawtooth hangers or eye-hooks)
9.) And of course, license plates! The more the merrier, as you'll want a variety of letters and numbers.
Okay, getting started!
One of the things I will always stress is proper ear protection when using power tools. Those tools are loud, and there's no project worth going deaf over. Plus, ear plugs help take the "scary" out of your first power tool experience. So get some that are memory foam material, squish them between your fingers, then put them in your ear before they puff back up. Can you hear me? No? Good, we're ready to get started!
This is Mr. Band Saw. Ours is a little older, so we had to special order the saw blade band. There are many different types of blades, depending on what you plan on cutting, so check your local hardware store to get the right type of blade for cutting metal. Also, if you have a work table/bench, take the time to attach your saw to it. I had to sit on our garage's concrete floor for a few hours, and let me tell you, it's not fun. Plus, it has a tendency to "walk" if it's not attached to something, so I had to keep pulling it back to me.
Our band saw has a button on the front (orange square thing in the bottom left of the picture). You push it once to start the saw, and again to stop it. It's much easier than flipping a switch. Get used to hitting it repeatedly. You'll need to stop occasionally to clean aluminum shavings off the metal skid plate, and it's better to know where that button is quickly to save time. Also, I drew lines on my skid plate so I'd be able to tell if I was feeding the license plate through straight.
A good rule of thumb my husband told me was, "If you're not using it to push the plate through, tuck it in."
If you're anything like me, when you first start the saw, you'll be nervous. My best advice is to find the straightest plate you have in your collection and keep a firm amount of pressure on it while you're cutting. Line it up with the lines you may have drawn, and slowly but smoothly push it up to the blade. It might kick a little, but cutting the plates face up eliminates most of this. Don't get discouraged if your cuts aren't perfectly straight, you'll be able to remedy that when you attach them to the wood. If you cut completely through the middle of a letter, obviously you won't be able to use that one, so try not to do that. Of the 30+ plates I cut up, I only lost one number, and it was my first time using a band saw, so it CAN be done!
Place a box to your left, and as you cut pieces, toss them into the box. Start with the left end of the plate first, and cut the letters and numbers until you meet the center where there's usually a gap. Then flip the plate around and cut the right side off (the letters and numbers will appear upside down). Toss the center gap into a separate pile, as these will serve as "spaces" if you have multiple words for your plaque.
Okay!!! The hardest part is over! Unless you have a curious cat that constantly wants to be the center of attention *cough, Tweak, cough*! The next step is to spread all the letters and numbers out and organize them into stacks. Maybe you won't have letters and numbers from 30+ plates, so this won't take you too long. If you ended up with a lot of plates from one state you'll start to notice that you have a TON of one or two letters, and are kinda slim on other letters. For me, I had PLENTY of "A"s and "B"s and TWO "I"s... Thankfully this project is forgiving and an upside down "1" can be an "I" and a backwards "3" is suddenly an "E"! But you'll have to get creative.
Now that you've laid out your letters, it's time to think of words (if you haven't already). You might want to do your name, or something inspirational to hang over your bathroom mirror or coffee maker. Have fun with it! I almost made one plaque that said "FREE CANDY". I needed the "N" though, so I scratched that. After you come up with words, lay out the letters to see how they line up. Luckily, license plate height doesn't really vary from state to state. But at you can see from the picture of the word "BEAUTIFUL" I had to you an "A" that was an "end piece". This isn't a big deal, because you can just place the letter (or number in this case) over it slightly. You'll be nailing these down, so they aren't going to go anywhere, and slight required layering will add dimension.
Next, lay out the letters on the piece of wood you have. Once you have the word arranged on there, draw a line. You will cut along this line. If you want your letters to hang off the edge (for a more "floating" like effect) shift them about two centimeters over to the left, then draw your cut line. Now you can either cut it on a miter saw, or have your husband do it for you. I opted for the latter, because I was completely over loud power tools at that point. Really, any saw would work; table saw, miter saw, circular saw, etc. Whatever you have laying around that can cut a straight line.
Now you've got your plank! Awesome! Almost there! Get your drill out, and drill two holes in each letter/number, one above and one below the actual raised portion. These don't have to be perfectly aligned. If you have a "V", just go to one side on the bottom and in the middle at the top. A helpful hint is to place a scrap piece of wood under your letter or number, to brace the letter and also keep you from drilling holes in your floor.
Now for my favorite part, the hammer and nails. I think I was a carpenter in a past life; not because I'm good with a hammer, but because I just enjoy hitting something so hard it sends a nail through wood. This is probably the easiest part. First, lay your letters out on the wood, to ensure they line up correctly, and to find where exactly you need to nail your first letter. The first letter placement is key, because if it's off, the whole plaque is off. Place a nail in the pre-drilled hole, and nail it into place. You might bend a few nails or have to pull them out because your letters aren't aligning, so make sure you have plenty. You might also want to add glue to the back of your letter before nailing it in place, just for extra security. Also, don't fret if you have to pull a couple of letters off after nailing them. I had a tendency to be so worried I wouldn't have enough room at the end for the last letter that I spaced them too close together, had to pull a few to spread them out a little more. It's trial and error with each plaque, but that's part of the fun!
Finally, you'll want to add your hanging hardware. You can go with sawtooth hangers that will require tiny nails (these nails usually come with the hardware) OR you could do two eye-hooks and string a piece of ribbon, string, raffia, or wire through them. It really all depends on YOUR style!
And now all that's left is to sit back and enjoy your handiwork!
