Around the World in Twenty Spoons

Yesterday, I spent the day stripping paper out of kitchen cabinets, scrubbing shelves, and reorganizing pans.  Today, I was supposed to start scrubbing the laundry room, but I rediscovered a bag of collectible spoons while emptying out drawers in the kitchen and decided to work on a display case for them instead.  The spoons themselves appeared one day in a care package from home (thanks, mom!) and cover countries all over the world.  Some are stamped with place names such as Monaco, Istanbul, Montreal, Luxembourg, Ireland and Texas, while others require guessing like the windmill that is probably from Denmark, and a couple of spoons whose finishes suggest that they might be from China or Thailand.

Growing up, the spoons were all displayed in a special case, but the case is now gone.  I did, however, have three picture frames, all missing their glass.  Hmmm....

The mismatched picture frames, all missing their glass and somewhat worse for the wear

I sorted and polished all the spoons first, with varying success, then started prepping the frames.

Step one - spray paint all the frames antique pewter.

After painting the frames, I covered the backing to the frame in black felt and then began experimenting with how to attach the spoons.  I started using glue dots because they are removable, but turns out they are a little too removable. Some of the spoons began to slid once the frame was stood up.  I added a touch of glue under the dots and now it holds beautifully.

Attaching the spoons.

First frame