meish dot org: life, unfolding

So, when I received my Moo mini cards a couple of weeks back, I was so taken with how they felt and looked and how they worked together as a set, that I didn’t want to give them away. I seem to remember saying at the time that they were so sumptuous I wanted to eat them. Ahem.

That got me thinking: what if I did something else with them? What if I could use the cards’ form, but not for their intended function?

So I got to thinking about mounting them, somehow – lining them up and framing a load of them in a giant frame. I’m still sure that theat might work, but you’d have to find a way of ensuring that they didn’t slip out of alignment.

So then I started thinking about how to make things stay put…and that made me think: magnets.

….And THAT made me think: Moognets.

With a couple of simple supplies, and not a lot of time at all, I whipped up a set of fridge Moognets. The cards are just the right thickness for sticking on – any thinner and they’d be too flimsy. I think they look great!

I’m thinking about experimenting some more – perhaps with just food-related designs, or (even better!) individual words, so that I could use it like a giant set of magnetic fridge poetry. That would rock.

In the meantime, here’s how I did it:

You will need: Moo mini cards, scissors, self-adhesive magnetic tape (20mm) – I got mine from ebay, but craft shops (especially model-making shops) may have it too – and a big, heavy book.

1. Chop lengths of magnetic tape with the scissors. The lengths should be about 1/2″ or so. You will need two for each magnet. (Incidentally, I tried using one continuous strip of tape across the entire back of a card, but it was a bit too magnetic – difficult to lift off a magnetic surface, plus I figured if you can get away with using less tape…more moognets!)

2. Peel off the tape backing and stick one little square at each end of the back of a moo card

3. Put on a flat surface and lie under a heavy book….Not you, silly: the moognet. Because the tape is stored on a roll, and therefore wants to naturally curl, you’ll need to make sure the adhesive sticks flat to the card. A nice heavy book should handle that: I like John Peel’s autobiography – a truly weighty tome. Also good for reading.

4. Repeat, until your fingers get bored. Set up a little production line. Recruit some elves, or small children. Don’t bother trying to get the cat involved, though: mine was having none of it.

5. You will soon have a nice juicy stack of moognets. You will feel chuffed. You should.

6. Attach to magnetic surface of your choice. Filing cabinets and drawers work.

7. As do fridges. Obviously.

8. Er, that’s it.