Oak and Acrylic Jewelry Hanger for Valentine’s Day

There are a lot of different methods for storing and displaying jewelry, and they all make great gift ideas. This week I challenged myself to make an oak and acrylic jewelry hanger as a Valentines gift for my wife. I had an idea of how I wanted to make it, but didn’t draw up any plans.

I started by cutting some thin strips of oak boards and soaking them in water for a few hours. Oak is my favorite wood for bending; it’s very flexible.

Then I put them in some pipe clamps and tightened them into shallow arcs. I let them dry overnight.

To make the bracelet and necklace holder, I cut a curve in a thicker piece of oak, sanded it smooth and rounded over all the edges.

Next I cut two small pieces of an acrylic rod and drilled holes for them to fit into.

I knew that mounting this to the wall would pose problems, so I made two simple keyhole type hangers in the back by drilling large, shallow holes and then smaller, but deeper holes. Then I cut and shaped a piece of wood and glued it in place.

I drilled a line of small holes in the front for the smaller acrylic rods that will hold bracelets and necklaces.

With the two acrylic support rods in place, I drilled holes through them and the curved earring bar. I held the bar in place using a dowel.

When I was happy with the way everything fit together, I cut slots along one edge of the curved piece for the earrings.

After sanding and lacquering the wood, I assembled everything. I was happy that it all fit together nicely without any glue. I was prepared to use epoxy if needed.

I cut off the ends of the dowels, slid the small acrylic rods in place,  and hung the jewelry hanger on the wall.