Making Lace Spools

Hello Everyone!

It is a nice Spring day outside. I went outside for

just a few minutes and already started sweating

to death. Not my cup of tea, so I went back indoors.

 

Today I thought that I would show you how I make

Spools to wrap lace or ribbons around.

If you thought that these are hard, well they are not.

They are super easy and fast to make according

if you have the stuff.

 

I love the vintage spools and I do not care if there

is writing on them or if one side of the end piece

is bent or broken. To me it just adds character.

 

These are the Lace Spools that I made yesterday.

They are easy, peasy!!

 

 

Materials are few. You need a tacky glue, (I use

Aileen's tacky glue),  an X-acto knife, and

cardboard. For cardboard I generally use the

cardboard that is on the back of these note pads.

And of course you need these - Reynolds wrap or

a plastic wrap roll. You want to use stiff and sturdy

cardboard rolls. I like using the Reynolds wrap rolls.

That is my preference. A note to thyself, unless you

use Reynolds wrap a lot and go through it quickly,

then it takes time to collect these rolls. So if you

have a lot of spools you want to make then ask a

friend to give to you their cardboard rolls. Then you

can make tons of them.

 

I have a short cardboard roll and a long one. It took

me a while to collect these. But that is okay because

I do not want to spend a week making a hundred of

these at one time.

Today I will be using the short cardboard roll.

Try not to waste any of the cardboard rolls that you

use. Also keep in mind that if you accidentally cut

the roll too long, then you can cut off excess. And

then you can always glue it to another cardboard

piece to make the roll longer if needed. I did this

for the tiny lace spool as in the first photograph.

From this short cardboard roll - I made 4 spools

of different sizes.

 

This cardboard on the back of the note pads are

thin and can be cut with scissors. So do not fret.

There are many ways to make the end pieces thicker.

One way is when you cut out 2 pieces then glue

one piece to the other and let dry. Be sure to place

something heavy on top to keep it flat.

If you want something thicker then try a note pad

with thicker cardboard or buy some cardboard

if you do not have any.

You can use corrugated cardboard if you want to.

That would give dimension and texture. It could

be quite pleasing to the eye.

However, on the vintage lace spools - the end pieces

are not thick. They seem to be the same thickness

that is on these note pads.

 

These are the laces that I will be putting on

the spools. I have to get rid of that plastic

blue thingy. That blue thingy is not for me.

Here are the sizes for the lace just to give you an

idea for the spools that I need to make my lace

spools.

The beige cluny lace is 1.5 inches wide.

The rolled white lace is 4 inches wide.

The off-white lace on the plastic blue thingy is

almost 5 inches wide.

The little tiny one that you see in the first

photograph, that lace is not quite 1.5 inches

wide.

 

I used a Morton salt box to use as a

template for the round ends at the end

of the cardboard rolls. This is a nice size

for the beige cluny lace that you see above.

I did not have that much lace to wrap

around the cardboard spool, but I wanted

the cardboard end to be bigger, because

I know I have more of that cluny lace

somewhere to finish wrapping around

that cardboard roll.

A rule of thumb is - not to make the

outside cardboard to much bigger than

what you need.  Take note that on the

tiny lace spool in the first photograph

is the perfect size, since I do not own

anymore of that lace. So keep this

in mind when cutting cardboard for

those ends.

As you can see, I have already drawn

around the bottom with an ink pen,

you can use a pencil if you prefer.

 

Be sure to cut out 2 pieces. One for the top

and one for the bottom. Do not fret any if they

do not totally match or if you accidentally cut a

piece off. No body is going to notice unless you are

selling them.

If you want to apply decorative scrapbook paper or

paint them, then do so. You can cover the cardboard

roll with paper, or paint it to match if you prefer.

This would look very pretty!

I prefer my lace spools to age gracefully. So I do not

do anything with them, except to make them. Later

I might write on them.

 

Here are 2 of the spool ends with one end cut out

already.

 

Both spool ends are cut out. Ready to go for me!

 

Here is my Reynolds wrap cardboard roll. I put

the rolled lace beside it and marked it.

 

Here you see the mark.

 

I drew the line all around the roll. It was fast and easy

because of that darker area that you see - which was

double-sided tape.

 

Be careful with the X-acto knife!!!!! They are sharp.

Probably all of us at one time or another have stuck

our fingers or cut ourselves with this knife.

Anytime that I cut myself - I call it

"MY BATTLE SCARS"!

 

Done - it is cut away now and straight.

Good job Conny!

Now is the time to paint or paper this piece

if you prefer it better than just plain cardboard.

Remember to let it dry first before proceeding on

to the next step if you do so.

 

Okay - so now butter up one side with your

glue.

 

Stick the glued side down onto the cardboard in the

middle as you see here. Be sure to add some pressure

or place a 'not too heavy' book on top. To me it

dries fast. Anyway let it dry.

 

Since the one side is dry or almost dry. I then proceed

to buttering up the other side of the roll with glue.

 

I hold it and blow on it till dry. Which only takes a

few minutes. I watch a little television with it, so it

does not bother me to hold it. You might would like

to blow dry it with a hair dryer.

 

When the glue is dried thoroughly on the ends, then

take a piece of clear tape and apply to the lace and the

round roll and start winding your lace around it.

 

All done!

One down and 3 more to go.

 

For the white lace I used this tall plastic container

for the end spools. It holds some of my buttons.

Eventually I will make me something to hold

my buttons and get it out of this plastic thingy.

 

Am sorry for the blurriness. As you see here on

the top of my button box - it is almost 5 inches

across.

 

Again, measure your lace. For this one, I rolled

the white lace onto the cardboard roll. I put a

small mark there. I did not like this mark, cause

when I pushed down on the lace, I realized that

I could make it smaller. So I made another mark

much lower and I cut on that lower mark.

 

Here is the lace spool finished.

 

For the really TINY LACE SPOOL as is in

the first photograph - for those SMALL end

pieces - I used the BOTTOM of one of my large 8 ounce

bottles of acrylic paint for the template. That

was a perfect size!

 

For the OFF-WHITE LACE that was on the plastic

blue thingy - Again, I used the Morton salt box for the

template. I have no more of this lovely lace.

 

FOR RIBBONS - you can use the entire cardboard

roll. Just wind many ribbons around the cardboard roll.

Make your cardboard end pieces according to how much

ribbon is rolled around onto the roll. In other words, if

you have ONE ribbon that has many yards of it. Then,

that is going to be bulky.

If the other ribbons that you wind around the roll

are under a yard long, that it is okay. It does not matter.

Just make sure that the cardboard end pieces are big

enough to hold what you need to put on the roll.

The end pieces help keep the ribbon on.

I think you understand what I am saying.

If you want to paper or paint be sure to do that and

let it dry THOROUGHLY before winding your ribbons

around the roll. You do not want your ribbons to stick

to the paint or the glue.

 

You can also glue FABRIC around that cardboard roll and

tuck the ends on the inside of the roll. That would be

very pretty. If your ribbons are under a half-yard, you

probably would not need any end pieces.

 

This ribbon idea is not my idea. I have seen it on many

French blogs and they are gorgeous. Many times

google does not translate properly so I do not know

if they have directions or not - so I thought that I would

do so in case they did not.

Sorry that I did not think to make one of these to show

you.

 

HAVE FUN making the spools.

I would love to see a photo if you make any of them

in cloth, paper or paint.

 

HOPBLOGGER