Welp...this is the second time this week I have chosen hanging out with my mother over getting my Pinstrosity post up on time...but if you knew my mom you'd completely understand why that's not even a hard choice...my mom is awesome. Not that y'all aren't, but I'm pretty partial to that wonderful lady. It's fun to live where we can spend a day together every so often. So those days that I'm absent or quite late in getting up my post I'm probably either out with the worlds greatest woman or I'm distracted by something orange (have I mentioned I love orange? I do. I've loved it my whole life...it's kinda fun to have it in style right now because I can actually find orange stuff)...or possibly both, like the other day when I went shopping with her and drooled over an awesome orange skirt.
Today's Pinstrosity makes me think of my mother a little actually. She really loves copper (and I inherited that love). They have a copper colored metal room on their home and it's gorgeous. Whenever I see a shiny pretty penny, I think of her. So why does that make me think of my mom? Here's why:
The Original Pin
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| http://www.epbot.com/2010/09/money-money-money.html |
A penny covered tabletop/desk. It's really pretty and fun! I've seen this done with floors too and it looks awesome. But I'm not the only one who thinks so...Sandy thought so as well and decided to take this project on for her table. She called her 8-year-old twins to come help and glue and pennies went all over the table...only not quite in the neat and orderly fashion as you see above. Take a look:
The Pinstrosity
Sandy said, "...they put too much glue, it dried opaque and awful, and we forgot to alternate the pennies to fit into each other...we laid them directly on top layer by layer instead of nestling the next penny a row above into the space between two pennies...giving it way too much space in between (for more of that glue to show through!) Awful and hilarious!"
I'm not sure what happened to the table after this...Sandy never said. But it looks like they had quite the finishing project ahead of them whether they tried to finish the penny top or if they had to scrape them off and refinish the table after. I've been wanting to try doing this, but I'll admit I'm a little chicken. It looks so pretty though...maybe someday I'll get up the guts to try it out.
We're always telling you to not be afraid and to let your creativity flow...but this may just be one project that you shouldn't improvise on too much unless you really just know what you're doing (which is probably why I'm not following my own advice and I'm afraid to try this out). Maybe I'll just start small with a serving tray or something and get the hang of it there. If you're wanting to try this out, definitely read up on the full directions. Two good posts with instructions on how to do this are:
http://www.epbot.com/2010/09/money-money-money.html with their penny covered desk:
and
http://makeprojects.com/Project/Install+a+Penny+Countertop/85/1#.UPHg42_omqg with their penny covered counter:
I think it's time for me to graduate from penny shingles to a penny covered item...now to find the perfect serving tray to test it out on. What have you covered in pennies?
I hate to say it but as neat as that looks with that many pennies I'd probably have gone down to Starbucks and made some poor person cry as I ordered a latte with a bucket full of pennies ;)
ReplyDeleteJen & John go into so much detail in their tutorials - it would be a shame not to follow them!
ReplyDeleteMy best friend and his wife have a totally gorgeous kitchen that i drool over aaaalllllllllll the time. The counter and back splash are all done in hand laid pennies! I love it.
ReplyDeleteWhat people fail to realize is that the Pennies will oxidize, and look awful in time.
ReplyDeleteThese pennies get sealed under epoxy, an airtight seal, protecting them from such a fate.
DeleteThe counters are covered in bar resin, so the pennies cannot oxidize. They are sealed.
DeleteWouldn't the polyurethane help that?
DeleteAnd tarnish could be a stylistic advantage, depending on your own preference.
What would they be reacting to? I'm pretty sure under that much acrylic they're not getting a lot of moisture or sulphur.
DeleteThat's what the epoxy is for!
DeleteOnce you read the tutorial you will see that the pennies are covered in epoxy. That will keep oxidation from occurring and the pennies will remain beautiful!
DeleteI covered an end table in pennies following the directions at Epbot and I love it! Here are some pictures: http://prairieknitwit.blogspot.ca/2012/08/makeover-madness-part-3.html
ReplyDeleteThe trickiest parts were trimming the pennies to fit in gaps around the edges and then dealing with the epoxy resin, but I love the end result, bumpy bits and all.
Did Jen show this on her blog? It all looks familiar and amazing! Great job!
DeleteYes, I emailed Jen and she put that picture on her blog.
DeleteThanks!
Hooray, my two favorite blogs -- Pinstrosity and Epbot -- together at last! And Jen from Epbot and I share your love for orange. I have always loved that penny desk tutorial. Someday, perhaps . . . I also love this nikel floor http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/nickel-tile-floor-a-seattle-ba-127976 and you wouldn't have to fuss with the epoxy, which is the scariest part to me.
ReplyDeleteKendra, I was thinking the exact same thing! I was reading Jen's blog this morning and saw she made Pintrosity! hahaha! And yes, they both love orange too! How funny is that. Although I love orange myself. What's not to love.
DeleteThat nickel floor looks pretty amazing!
I cover an old card catalog in 2012 pennies. I never counted how many it took, just wanted them all to be the same year. And most of them are, except for a 1950 for my mom, a 1972 for my sister, 1975 for me, 1998 for one neice and 2005 for the other neice. If you want to see them, you can check out my picture on fb, Angela Horton
ReplyDeleteMight have to investigate doing something like this for the splashback idea Jen suggested. We need to get one made up, and this would be sooo cool. Actually, might start with making a placemat for our coming baby. That would be a safer bet.
ReplyDeleteMissy Ann, above, mentions the pennies oxidizing in time. Will they, though? I mean, they are covered in epoxy, so they won't be exposed to air or to oils from people's hands, so I wouldn't have expected them to. Is there anyone who can tell me more about this?
ReplyDelete-M
FYI..If you want the pennies to all be shinny before placing them, place them in a bowl of ketchup for a few minutes, wipe it off and your pennies are shinny. Scary to think that a common food can clean metal and yet be safe to eat, but it works.
ReplyDeleteIt's just the slightly acidic vinegar in the ketchup. My great grandmother used to clean a ton of stuff with vinegar. Nothing scary about it :)
DeleteThe last picture in this post is our countertop. When we went to the MakerFaire in 2012 we exhibited with this process and wrote a very detailed handout with instructions and calculations. You can download it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artifacturestudios.com/how-to/