This is my very first post ever and ironically I'm at my parents house not in my dorm...but that's ok because I'm still making this for my dorm. I've made these in the past for my dorm wall but I wanted to do a post to show you how since several people have asked me.
MATERIALS | in order of use
1.
A piece of cork (I’m using a 24” x 12” roll from
Hobby Lobby that I got for $4.99)
2.
An IRONED piece of fabric 2” longer and wider
than your piece of cork (so mine is 26” x 14”)
3.
A hot glue gun (high temp works best)
4.
A spoon
5.
Microsoft powerpoint
6.
A credit card or other rigid card (gift card,
library card, etc)
7.
A squirt bottle with water in it
8.
Paper towel
9.
Scissors
10.
Wax paper (NOT parchment paper)
11.
A piece of cardstock
12.
Scotch tape
13.
An INKJET printer (not laser!)
STEP ONE | attach fabric to the cork board
1.
Heat up your glue gun
2.
Lay your fabric
face down, then lay your cork on top
of it, so there’s a 1” border of fabric
surrounding the cork.
a.
If your cork came in a roll like mine did, you
may need some time to let it sit out so it can flatten. I got a couple of super big family photo
albums and laid them on top of the cork for about an hour to flatten it.
3.
To hot glue the fabric, I start with the
corners. Put a dab of hot glue on each corner, then fold it over and press hard
with your spoon. You could use your fingers, but I don’t want to burn myself,
so I use a spoon.
4.
I then put quick line of hot glue on each edge
of the corkboard and quickly fold the fabric over and press down with my spoon.
For the 24” sides, I split it up into 2 sections since the glue dries really
fast.
This is what it looks like after all the edges are glued down (don't mind the books, my cork board still wants to roll up right now).
STEP TWO | design what you want to have printed
Personally, I love quotes. I’m making this as a catchall to post little
sticky notes, to do lists, etc. so I’m going to put a motivational quote and a
bible verse so my little college brain doesn’t get too stressed when I’m
hanging up my to-do list on my cork board.
1.
Go to Microsoft powerpoint, click on the little textbox icon, and type whatever you
want.
2.
Double click the textbox, then right click, and
click ‘save as picture’
a.
Now delete the words you just typed so there’s
room for you to open your picture
3.
Once you’ve saved your text as a picture, go to the top left corner, click ‘insert’,
then ‘picture’, and find your picture that you just saved and click ‘open’.
4.
Click on your picture, then under the format
tab, click ‘rotate’ then ‘flip horizontal’. This makes your picture reversed so
you can transfer it to your wax paper.
STEP THREE | prep your fabric
1.
Get a credit
card out and put it next to your fabric cork board
2.
Spray your fabric with water from your squirt bottle so it’s a bit damp, then
lightly blot with a paper towel to
get off any excess water (you only need it to be slightly damp, but this step
is crucial or else you will get a very light image)
STEP FOUR | print your design onto your wax paper
1.
Use your scissors
to cut out a sheet of wax paper 8” x
10.5” (slightly smaller than the sheet of paper)
2.
Very carefully tape your wax paper to the center of your 8 ½” x 11” sheet of
paper. Put one small piece of tape on each of the four corners of the wax paper
and the center of each side.
3.
Put your piece of wax-paper-paper into the
printer, and print your reverse image with an
inkjet printer. Be very careful not to touch the ink when it comes out of
the printer!
STEP FIVE | transfer your design to your fabric
1.
I have two images, so I cut my wax paper in
half, then gently peel it off of the piece of paper.
2.
Place your wax paper over your fabric exactly
how you want it, then place it on the fabric. Be very careful because once you
place it on the fabric, there’s no turning back.
3.
Keeping the wax paper as still as possible,
scrape it with a credit card so all
of the ink transfers over.
4.
Now you’re done! I’d probably allow about 30
minutes for it to dry completely. I then just attached it to my wall with push pins. Once I get back to my dorm in January, I'll use command strips so it looks a bit less haphazard.
If you have any questions about any specific instructions or products, then just ask in a comment and I promise I’ll respond!
