How can I make a drying rack for my kids art projects?
I know a lot of art projects with my children, but I have no place to dry. could anyone have ideas how to make a drying rack or something I could, which I use for projects until they are dry? All suggestions are welcome! Thank you!
Tags: drying, Kids, projects, rack
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on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 10:11 am and is filed under Kids Art.
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You can use a simple clothesline that you clip the artwork to with clothespins until it dries. Very easy to do. You just need some rope or twine and you take it down then you do not need it.
When people replace their refrigerators they throw out the racks with the old appliance. Refrigerator racks make GREAT drying racks for art projects. They are like cooling racks for cookies but BIG. You can put a piece of wood under each end if you need air to flow under the project.
My mother used to use a free standing wooden rack for drying clothes in the days before power dryers. Maybe you can find one in a thrift store, or other second hand store.
Just hanging many of them on strung cording with clothespins, e.g., would work but that wouldn’t work well for things that need to lay flat so bits or thick paints/etc. on them won’t run/droop/etc.
For those kinds of projects, you could also make your own drying rack with a large cardboard box.. just get one big enough to hold the size of thing your kids usually make. If your kids make only small things, just buying a vertical cardboard or metal file with a few rows (“shelves”) could work too (from an office supply store).
Once you have a box of the right size, there are a number of cross-pieces you could install, and in various ways to make the “shelves.”
…You could poke 2 holes in each side (left and right) of the box for each “shelf,” then insert thin dowel rods, lengths of PVC pipe, or even non-stretchable cording that’s knotted just outside the holes to hold it taut (glue or tape the rods in place, or glue on a bead of some kind on each end just outside the holes).
…Or you could cut out some sheets of corrugated cardboard that are the same width as your box, then tape or hot glue them in place inside the box as shelves.
(You could also cut the top off of the box if you want faster air circulation/drying, or cut other holes in the back, etc.)
You and/or they could also decorate the outside or even inside of the box too, if you want… Contact paper, cut outs, photos, laminated drawings, etc, etc.
HTH,
Diane B.