If you need help organizing your bookshelf and want it to look stylish too, steer away from expensive, heavy, and too-serious bookends. Not only does this DIY version put your favorite titles in order, it adds a lighthearted, sporty energy to your space. The item that makes it so unorthodox? A roller skate!
You can pick up skates at yard sales or buy some for a reasonable price at sporting goods stores, so accessing them is a breeze. Think how fun a roller skate bookend would look as part of a collectible-filled, stylistically eclectic bookcase, or whip up a pair and feature them on top of your coffee table. Any guest who visits will likely have fond memories of roller skating down their block or in a rink with music pumping. The roller skate bookend will liven up your own space certainly, but would also make a unique and sure-to-be-prized gift for your best bookworm friend.
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Materials
- 10” by 5.25” wooden board, about ½” thick
- Second wooden board, about the same size as the first
- Drop cloth
- Can of silver glitter spray paint
- Pencil
- Bottle of silver metallic acrylic paint
- Small fine art paintbrush
- Small paint sponge
- Roller skate
- Narrow strip of thin plywood
- Electric drill
- 1/8” drill bit
- Electric driver
- Phillips-head screwdriver drill bit
- Three Phillips-head screws
- 10” by 5.25” wooden board, about ½” thick
- Second wooden board, about the same size as the first
- Drop cloth
- Can of silver glitter spray paint
- Pencil
- Bottle of silver metallic acrylic paint
- Small fine art paintbrush
- Small paint sponge
- Roller skate
- Narrow strip of thin plywood
- Electric drill
- 1/8” drill bit
- Electric driver
- Phillips-head screwdriver drill bit
- Three Phillips-head screws
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Lay the 10" by 5.25" board on the drop cloth.
1. Lay the 10" by 5.25" board on the drop cloth.
2. Coat the side of it that faces up with the glitter spray paint.
3. Allow the paint to dry.
4. Draw a scalloped design around the outer edge of the painted surface of the wood with the pencil. The scallop curves should face out toward the edges of the board and the scallop pattern doesn’t have to be uniform. It can look more like a cloud, which has asymmetrical scalloped edges.
5. Leave about 2” of blank space at one end of the board and draw the scallops all the way to the edge of the other end.
6. Using the paintbrush, apply the metallic acrylic paint to the scalloped outline and paint a bit inside the outline too.
7. Apply a small amount of paint to the sponge and finish filling the scalloped area’s interior with the paint by dabbing the wet sponge on the wood. By using the sponge, the coverage and effect of the paint will be more layered, subtle, and not uniform.
8. Randomly accent parts of the scalloped outline with a little more paint using the brush, and bring the strokes inward onto the painted area about an inch or so.
9. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly.
10. Take your roller skate and place it atop the painted section of the wood, so the toe end is flush with the scalloped edge that is next to the small area at the end of the board without the scalloped cloud on it.
11. Now pull up the back of the skate so you can see how it looks with the toe stop sitting on the painted wooden base.
12. Take the unpainted board and bring it up against the painted piece so it’s perpendicular to it.
13. Position the skate so the back of it is right up against the unpainted board.
14. Set the plain piece of wood aside.
15. With the skate sitting on the painted board, mark with the pencil where the backs of each of its front wheels and the center of the toe stop are positioned on it.
16. Place the narrow strip of plywood on the work surface and under the spot on the board where the toe stop mark is. You will be drilling a hole here and this will protect your work surface.
17. Drill a hole where you marked the location of the skate’s toe stop. Brush away any sawdust.
18. To ensure that the drilled hole goes all the way through the painted wood, turn it over and drill that same spot from the bottom if necessary.
19. Use the driver with the Phillips-head bit in it to put the Phillips-head screw through the hole on the unpainted side of the board, until the end of the screw pops through the painted side just a little.
20. Place the skate on the painted side of the wood again. Use the plain board to help you place it so that the center of the toe stop is directly above the tip of the screw.
21. Unscrew the screw just a bit so that it’s no longer protruding through the top of the painted side of the board.
22. Drill a small hole through the center interior portion of the toe stop. Remove any excess material produced by drilling the hole.
23. Place the skate on top of the painted side of the board and make sure the toe stop is positioned directly above where you drilled the hole.
24. Holding the skate and the board together, drive the screw into the hole in the toe stop. The skate will now be attached to the painted board at the toe stop.
25. Repeat steps 17-24, but place screws into each of the marked areas where the front skate wheels make contact with the wood. Remember to use the narrow strip of plywood to protect the work surface each time you drill. The skate will now be attached to the board at all these points.
26. Place your one-of-a-kind bookend on your bookshelf or coffee table and revel in the fun it brings to your space!
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