Make It: Magnetic Poster Holder

I have loads of posters, prints, photographs, etc that have been subjected to either tacks or sticky substances that end up tearing paper. However, I've been desiring a way to upgrade the look a bit, and not cause harm to my artwork. I saw a poster hanging kit at Paper Source, but it was around $25, and I was not feeling that. While I appreciate an upgraded look, I am also quite frugal. I thought to myself "I can improvise". For Christmas, I made my bestie Mimi a poster with a wood border that could hang on her wall with ease. It looked something like this:

I recently added more wood trim to some art work to hang in my room and I posted the super easy process on Instagram. A few people pointed out that I should try making the strips of wood magnetic, since I was gluing them to the art, which in turn was ruining it (just like the original problem!!). Duh. My friends are so bright. So I set out to make some magnetic wood poster holder things. In my humble and inexperienced opinion, they turned out pretty dang cool. I thought I would share a "step by step" guide on how to make these, so that you too, can save some $$$$ and hang that pretty artwork on your walls!!

Here we go.

Materials list:

- Unstained / stainable wood trim. I found this in the trim section. You'll want something thick enough, but not too heavy.

- strong(!!!) magnets (I used 12 of them) that are shallow enough to fit into the holes that you will drill. I used the brand below and purchased at home depot. If you do not have access to a drill, you could use a magnetic strip that is either self adhesive or can glue on. The strip was more expensive, and I knew I had a drill that I could use, so I opted for the other kind.

- heavy duty glue

- twine

- drill and proper sized bit

Total time it took to complete the project: about 15 minutes (not including drying time)!!

Price per holder: about $5-$7 including magnets.

Step one:

Measure your print / art / etc and cut 4 pieces of wood to the same length. I made mine 2 inches shorter than the actual width of the print, so that the hanger thing could fit other prints as well.

I used a small chop saw for this, but a hand saw could work too!

I then sanded down the edges of the wood.

Step two:

measure out where the holes will go. I put my holes two inches in from the edge, and then right in the middle.

Step three:

Pick your drill bit. It has to be big enough for the magnet to fit in! I used a 3/5 size bit.

I then practiced making holes because to be frank, I knew this would be the part that I would screw up. Applying the right amount of pressure to the drill so that the hole would be deep enough, but not TOO deep t where it would break through. I practiced on a spare piece of wood.

Step five:

Drill 12 holes and make sure they are in the SAME SPOT. Like, really. Double check. This is where I messed up so learn from my mistakes!! I recently had a meeting with my boss and a consultant and the consultant kept using the phrase "measure twice, cut once". He said it at least 7 times and I kept thinking "lol I wish I was that type of gal."

Be that type of gal/guy, y'all.

It will save you a headache later.

Step six:

add a hefty amount of strong glue to the hole and put in your magnet. Make sure the magnet is facing the correct way and will attach to the magnet across from it. You know how sometimes magnets don't want to stick together?? Yeah, make sure you check that! Don't wait until you already glued them in and they are dry... and then have to pry them out.... ha! Again, learn from my mistakes.

let dry over night or for at least 5-6 hours. The magnets are so strong that they will pull each other out of their holes if the glue is even the slightest bit wet.

Step Seven:

We are almost finished!!!

I used a small hand saw to create grooves for twine. I then measures out the twine and glued it into the wood, so that the twine was flush with the wood. After it dried, I cut the ends.