I hope Michelangelo doesn't mind...

We were gifted with a giant print of Michelangelo's "Creation of Man" as a housewarming gift back in 1999. Over the years, hanging near large windows, this painting faded to blue from the golden browns of its original. I knew I could repurpose the frame and the canvas into something useful. I always have loose photos leaning against framed images, candle holders, against books... basically anywhere I could prop them, so I could see the faces of my loves. Having used chicken wire for lots of other purposes over the years... besides confining chickens... I decided to construct a giant framed "bulletin board" to display all those snapshots.



The before...



After disassembling the painting, I sprayed the frame with a few layers of Krylon Interior/Exterior Paint in Black...



I used wire cutters to cut chicken wire to size and spray painted black...



I sanded the painted frame lightly to add that "I've lived and loved and have stories to tell" sort of feel...



I covered the canvas with a thin layer of batting, then with natural linen; wrapped fabric to backside and secured with a staple gun. I laid painted chicken wire over front of covered canvas and strategically attached it with staples where they would be covered by edge of frame.



I placed canvas back into frame and secured with straps stapled across corners on backside. I used heavy wide ribbon.



Because of the narrow hallway, I couldn't seem to get a photo that did this project justice! I absolutely love having a special place to hang all those pictures of our favorite people! I can't seem to bring myself to taking down all the photo Christmas cards we received this year and our family is in serious "production" mode, so we have loads of adorable faces gracing this project!



To clip the photos in place, I use miniature clothes pins that I inked with Clearsnap Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan then stamped with a french script stamp with black ink.

It's so much fun to give new life to something old!