Super Cool Wire Art!

So while walking the streets of New York my Dad found this really great artist making pictures out of wire. “Well this is just down right special,” my Dad said (...obviously I’m paraphrasing). Low and behold he found the artist was using OOK wire! OOK WIRE! So amazing. Naturally my dad got a piece of art made. The artists’ specialty is manipulating the wire into looking like faces using one single wire strand. (Sounds hard right!) So he got one to look like him and one to look like my mom!

I just thought I would share it with all of you!

Halloween-y

Alright Alright…so maybe I am not the most “Halloween-y” person in the world BUT I do appreciate a chance to see the weird ways people dress up. Every year is something new! Two years ago was the Lady Gaga year and last year I saw more Sarah Palin’s than I ever wanted to see in a lifetime.

This year, however I am all about decorations! Scary pumpkin faces, googley eyeballs, candy shaped in cool ways. You just can’t beat that! The problemo here is that while decorations are one of the best parts of the holiday they are sometimes just too expensive and not worth it since they are only used for a week at most.

So drumroll please….I’m going to give you a couple of cool ideas for less! Oh yea baby! Let’s get to it!

· Spiders. They are creepy. They are crawly. They make us all jump in fear.

And when they are dangling from the ceiling, we freak out. So let’s scare our good friends and hang some spiders!

All you need is a couple of creepy spiders and some Invisible Hanging Wire! Once you have the spiders, cut or punch a hole in the top, loop the invisible hanging wire through it. Then choose a spot on the ceiling and using tape, a thumb tack, or a nail, hang it up and watch your friends freak out!

· Here is a great costume idea! Good Ol’ Pippy Long Stocking

The challenge with Pippy is her iconic hairstyle. How the heck does she keep those pick tails up?! One way to do it is by using steel wire. Depending on your dedication to the ‘do you can choose stronger wires. My suggestions would be Galvanized wire or for a more structural hold, Durasteel wire.

Part your hair getting ready to make the pick tails. Before beginning, measure the wire from the end of one pick tail to the other, around your whole head. Cut the wire and begin to braid the pick tail around the wire.

Then when you are done simply bend the hair as desired. Easy as that.

You can purchase either type of wire on our website! OOKS.com

So good luck to all of you on your future Halloween endeavors! If you have any more funky ideas on how to use any of our OOK products – let us know in the comments section.

Janine

EARTHQUAKE!

In case you missed it the North East experienced an earthquake today! How crazy is that! What a world, what a world!

Anyway, this is a perfect opportunity to let you know that OOK has an answer for that. TREMOR HANGERS! Who would have thunk of such an awesome picture hanger?!

Now those of you on the west side of the US already know about Tremor Hangers but it’s time to educate you east-coasters. These hangers protect your precious works of art from any sort of shaking action (i.e. an earthquake).

Actually a few years ago someone in San Francisco sent us a picture of her house after an earthquake. A tree went through her bedroom and the picture above her bed hung on the wall unmoved and unharmed!

So get it before the next earthquake, hurricane, or the next time the Hulk wants to go for a run.

Buy them online at OOKS.com or check out our Local Retailers.

Shake it up!

Janine

Kid Safety comes first…Well that and your artwork!

Picture this…you, your spouse and your 3-year-old Billy are playing in your beautifully furnished living room. The walls newly decorated with priceless works of art. As toddlers do, Billy starts to run around and wants to play catch with his Daddy. “Don’t throw that ball in here Billy…Don’t you dare pick up that ball…Wait…Billy…Noooooooo!!” Crash. Slam. BOOM! Down goes your beautiful newly framed picture that your grandmother hand painted for you.

Quite an image isn’t it. I just scared myself actually.

The point is this could all have been avoided!! In case you didn’t know we have a product that ROCKS! It’s called the Kidsafe Hangers. It is made so that your kid can’t knock anything off the wall. (Or not just a kid – I know you guys have some crazy parties – well, no adult will knock it off the wall either.)

Now, listen, I am not trying to toot my own horn here, but OOK is the only company I know that sells a product like this… I’m just saying.

The Kidsafe Hanger has a safety clip that you slide the wire into when hanging up the picture. The clip holds the artwork securely to the wall. This product works best with a wire back frame. (See how to hang a wire back from here)

How to hang our KidSafe Hangers:

· After finding where you want to hang your frame, simply nail in your hanger as normal.

· When placing your wire back frame on the hanger, slide the safety clip back towards the wall.

· Slip the wire down into the groove of the hanger and release the safety clip back into position.

It is so easy and soooo worth it. Trust me. I have seen things. Bad things.

So before it's too late, pick up a KidSafe Hanger on our website or check out your local retailers!

Enjoy knowing your valuables are safe. Your child and your artwork.

Janine

Wire Hangers: Who, What, Where, When Why

Today we are going to work on the wire back frames. They look like this -------------------->

Anywho, here is how to hang a frame with a wire back.

1. After figuring out the weight of your frame your going to need a hanger. You want to have a Classic Professional Picture Hanger

a. If your frame is very wide you may want to use 2 hangers on either side to ensure that it will not fall and the wire will not break.

2. When hanging, the center of whatever you are hanging should be at eye level (not the top of the frame).
To get eye level you can either measure from your eyes to the floor or use an average of about 60” inches. Mark this point lightly on the wall with a pencil. Then measure the picture (with the frame) and use the center point as your desired eye level.

3. The tricky thing about a wire-back frame is that wherever you place the hanger, the picture will actually hang lower than that point. Because of this you need to do the following:

a. Looking at the back of the frame, press the wire up towards the top of the frame with your thumb. Measure from where the tip of the wire is until the top of your frame. That point becomes where you will place your hanger.

4. To be exact, you should measure from the center point of the picture (with frame) to where you have determined the hanger will be. Then on the wall where you have marked your eye level point, add the measurements you just took and add them above that point to locate exactly where to place your hanger.

5. Then simply hammer in your nail onto the wall and place your art on the wall! If you would to learn how to best hammer in a nail read this previous entry posted by yours truly!

*When hanging a frame with a wire back, depending on the length of the wire, the hanger may stick out a bit from above the picture. If you would fix this, you should make the wire it hangs on shorter. I will explain this in a blog entry to come! How exciting!

Good luck!

Janine

10 lb picture, 10 years, one tiny pin hole

My sister has been using OOK products for a long time! This week she decided to repaint the room she has been living in for 12 years. She took down all her pictures and saw that OOK nails left the smallest, tiniest hole! She was so impressed that she sent me this picture!

Thanks for the picture sis!

The simple act of hammering a nail into your wall.

I told you guys I would explain everything so here we go!

It seems so easy, so simple. But sometimes the simplest thing can be the thing that everyone assumes you know, which means no one will ever teach you. But you know what happens when people assume things…they’re usually wrong (oh you thought I was going to go somewhere else with that didn’t you!).

Here is the proper way to hammer a nail into your wall.

Once you have chosen your spot at a slightly inclined angle, lightly hammer the nail into the wall.

Nails are really the greatest to have around the house. They are sooooooo useful! Not only can you hang small frames on it (without a classic hanger) but here some are really interesting ways people use our Blue Steel Nails:

• Pot holder Hook
• Calendar hanger
• Posters; one nail in each corner
• Headphones hanger
• Necklace holder.

If you have any other interesting ways you have used our Blue Steel Nails let us know in the comments section! Or email us at info@ooks.com.

The great thing about OOK picture hangers is that they leave only the tiniest pin hole in your wall. No other damage will be made! Sometimes hangers are big and bulky and leave huge holes! Why would you want to have a black hole in your wall? What the heck! Okay. Okay. I’m getting a little worked up here but it just makes me so mad!

Easy as pie! Good luck!

Janine