Materials & Steps
All You Need To Know And More
What Will Be Needed?
To make your rocking chair you will need...
- 12 clothespins taken apart (24 pieces)
- white glue
- paint brushes (to apply glue, popsicle sticks will work as well)
BEFORE we start here are some pointers to keep in mind when making your rocking chair...
- When letting pieces dry wrap the surface with plastic wrap, this will let you be able to not worry about your pieces sticking to anything when glue runs.
- When you create a piece, cover the piece in glue to reinsure the stability of your chair.
- This activity is time consuming and at some times tedious, be patient, you won't regret it
STEP 1 : Base & Back
The first thing you need to do to make you chair is to make the back and main base or seat of your chair. To make this take 7 clothespin pieces and glue them all together faceing the same way. Make 2 of these one for seat and one for back. (In this photo it is shown me holding it, DO NOT glue the two pieces together yet).
LET DRY
STEP 2 : Arm Rests
(IMPORTANT - I would recommend making the arms before the legs to make sure you can attach the base and back) Snap 2 clothespins in the smallest crease, glue the smaller pieces in the creases on the clothespins that did not get snapped. Make 2 of these, these will be your arm rests. (Remember to save the left over pieces, these will be used later on)
LET DRY
STEP 3 : Connecting arm and back
Once your arms dry you will have to connect an arm to the back and lay it on its side to dry. (The arms should fit in or around the crease).
LET DRY
STEP 4 : Connecting arm and base
Do the same in step 3 but with the opposite arm and with the base, make sure the chair base and back will match up properly (as shown in photo).
LET DRY
STEP 5 : Connecting base with back
Take the pieces from step 3 and 4 once dried and glue together.
LET DRY
STEP 6 : Making the legs - pt. 1
There are 2 steps to making the legs on your chair, the first is to glue two clothespins together on the slanted part of the clothespin pieces. Do this twice.
LET DRY
STEP 7 : The wedge
Snap 2 more pieces (at the same spot in step 2), glue the 2 longer halves together to make a wedge (make two of these), you will use these later on. (Save the extra pieces)
LET DRY
STEP 8 : Making the legs - pt. 2
In the second part of making the legs, snap 2 clips (in the same spots as in step 2) and glue them in the same spot as step 3 or in the photo shown.
LET DRY
STEP 9 : Wedge it out
Glue the wedge from step 7 and glue it to make the legs have a parallel attachment.
LET DRY
STEP 10 : Attaching legs
Once all pieces are dry, glue the base to the legs, holding the base and legs in place, set your glue bottle on top to keep in place.
LET DRY
STEP 11 : Rocking your chair
Add your two left over pieces from step 7 (shown in photo), and add them to the bottom of your legs to add the rocking to your chair.
LET DRY
STEP 12 : Paint
This step is up to you but I do recommend painting your chair over with glue to reinsure the stability, after this you may paint designs of your wish on it to add something of yours to it, to make it one of a kind.