Turn regular wooden clothes pegs into a beautiful handmade Scandinavian style wooden trivet.
As far as decorative food mats go this one will seriously bring a bit of Scandinavian chic to any home. I am not a trivet user, we do have heat mats for hot pans and such but it is not something I really think about. That was until I saw this idea on Pinterest and had to have a go. It actually started with a search for 'minimalist craft ideas' (here is my board for you to check out) which obviously led me down a pinterest rabbit hole of amazingly simple craft projects but resulted in me finding out that wooden clothes pegs are much more than just pegs.
Promptly emptying our peg bag (don't worry I bought more) I found myself breaking apart pegs and lining them up together to see if it was actually possible to make round or indeed cool snake shapes out of pegs. And you know what? Pinterest didn't lie. By that evening I had out the wood glue and was sticking pegs back together at a rate of knots to create this wonderful wooden peg trivet.
The Recipe
To make one round trivet you will need approximately 30 wooden pegs. To make a 3 half circle trivet (to make the snake shape) you will need approximately 60 wooden pegs.
You will also need strong glue, I suggest, even though the drying time is longer, you use a wood glue but you can use a hot glue gun also.
You can also sand and varnish the piece when finished but this is optional.
Begin by taking your pegs apart. the easiest way to get them out of the metal clasp is to pull them side ways and part them from each other, they seem to ping out that way but really do it however feels safe and easy.
Then, pairing your pegs up, glue the backs of them together. I found it easiest to do this first and leave to dry rather than glueing single (half) pegs continuously as they move round more.
Once you have all your pairs glued you then start glueing them to each other. For a full circle trivet you will find that if you match up the ends perfectly as you glue them next to each other, they will naturally go round in a circle.
If you are doing the 3 half circle or snaking shape, glue each peg next to each other until you hit a semi circle point, at this point you are then going to reverse the next peg so that it begins a semi circle in the other direction.
You can make 3 half circles first and then join them together. This is an easy way to do it but takes a bit more time as you have to wait for each half circle to dry before you move it.
If you have made the three half circle trivets you might like to add a few more pegs to each end just to bring the curve more than half way round.
Once you have finished your shape, lightly paint in wood glue (if that is what you used) to strengthen any small gaps you might have. Leave to dry for 10 hours.
You can then sand the top and varnish to add extra protection, or just sand it for a smooth natural finish, or just do nothing. That is it. Trivet done.
I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this. Not only does it look beautiful, it really has the Scandinavian concept style to it with its flow and texture. If you know me well you know I like that kind of thing. With my Copenhagen teapot and mugs, serving tea just got even more stylish.
What do you think of the rounds too? I plan to use these for food mats on the table and for standing pretty much anything on!
Pegs, who knew?!
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