planthanger

Scrolled Planter Hanger

I've got 3 posts on my front porch and I wanted to hang a plant from each. I like the Victorian scrollwork seen on many older homes, so patterned my plant hanger after that. It is made in 2 parts: the scrolled section is 1" X 12" pine, the backer/plaque section is 1" X 4" pine.

The scrolled section of the plant hanger is 6 3/4" tall and 8 1/2" wide. Copy the photo below and paste in your photo editing program. In Photo Impact I enlarged the photo to 9.20" wide & 7" tall to get the proper size pattern.

I was able to accomplish pretty much the same result with Microsoft Photo Editor by de-selecting "fit to page" in the print menu and sizing it to 101%.

Whichever program you use, make sure to use the "print preview" feature as you most likely will need to choose "Landscape" for the orientation so the pattern will fit properly on the page.

The other option is to print a copy of the photo and use a copy machine to get the correct size pattern.

Once the pattern is printed, glue it to or trace it on an appropriate sized piece of pine or wood or your choice and drill holes for your scroll saw blade as designated on the pattern.

Cut the scrolled hanger piece on your scroll saw and sand as needed.

I found my Dremel tool real handy for getting in the tight spots and shaping them up. I used the drum sander on the larger outside curves.

TIP: Thin strips of sandpaper are handy for touching up the really tight spots if they need it. You can wrap a rectangular piece of sandpaper around a recycled Popsicle stick or attach it to the stick with Contact Cement if you prefer something firmer to sand with.

This is the shape I used for my hanger back. It was taken from Photo Impact and enlarged to the size I wanted: 3 1/2" X 13".

You can copy this graphic, paste in your graphics program, and enlarge it to the required size. Then just print it and either trace it onto your stock or use spray adhesive to attach the pattern to your stock and cut with a jig saw or band saw.

Stay "outside" the lines, then touch up with a drum sander to smooth the edges and give each corner a uniform shape.

TIP: Or you can use this handy tip from Alice, who clamps her stock to the drill press with a piece of scrap underneath and uses an appropriate sized Forstner bit to drill out the corners.

Now we need to plow out a dado to insert our scrolled hanger piece in. I used a 3/4" Forstner bit in my drill press.

First measure the section of your scrolled hanger that will go in the dado.

Next, draw the dado centered on the stock from top to bottom and from left to right.

Set the depth on your drill press to 3/8" and overlapping by about 1/2, drill a serious of holes to form your dado.

Then "clean up" the edges with a chisel.

Using a counter sink drill bit, drill 2 holes for hanging the plant hanger through the front of the plaque.

Drill 3 holes in the dado area with a 1/8" Brad bit. Turn the back over and using the 3 holes as a guide, use your counter sink bit and drill a short distance into these holes.

The last thing I did was to put a Roman Ogee bit in my router and give it a decorative edge.