Repurposing a Wood Pallet into Multimedia Art
Wood pallets can come in handy for shipping large items, but… did you know they make great multimedia art projects?
The Grand Arrival of the Wood Pallet
At times when I’ve ordered art supplies like canvas in bulk, they’ve arrived on a wood pallet. We’re talking larger, heavier items that were cheaper to ship freight versus with a shipping carrier like UPS.
Well, I recently ordered a few things online that probably weighed no more than 15 pounds and they unexpectedly arrived on the world's heaviest pallet. Trust me- I weighed it. It was a 48-pound pallet!
So...What Can I Do With a Wood Pallet?
Instead of disposing of it, I asked myself…how can I upcycle this wood pallet? A quick google search for wood pallet ideas will show you that you can build anything from a bed frame to a plant stand.
In the end, I thought I should stick with what I know and decided to repurpose the wood pallet into a piece of multimedia art.
Starting the Wood Pallet Project: Salvaging the Wood
Before I could start my pallet painting, I first needed to take it apart. This was easier said than done, that’s for sure!
The whole thing was held together with nails called ring shanks.
Basically, they are threaded like a screw but are flat on top like a typical nail. These things were DEEP inside the wood and were a bit of a nightmare to remove.
How to Disassemble a Wood Pallet With a Hammer
I guess there are some nifty tools out there that can make disassembling wood pallets much easier, but I went the ol' hammer route.
Well, I actually used a rubber mallet for most of the teardown. My thoughts were that it would cause less damage to the wood. I have no idea if that actually helped or not, but I only partially split one plank— that I was still able to salvage, so I like to think it helped.
And basically, I just started hammering the wood away from the connecting blocks. Since the nails were in super deep and the pallet was heavier duty than usual, I ended up wedging a screwdriver between the block and the planks to get things started.
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After finally separating all the planks, the next step was reverse hammering the nails out. Since the nails were pretty long it was a little tricky hammering them out without having them bend.
I also thought once the nails started to pop out the other side, I’d be able to just pull them the rest of the way out with some pliers, but that was definitely not the case. Those suckers stayed in until the last millimeter when I had to pry them out with the claw end of a hammer.
But alas, the planks were free!
After connecting the pieces into a suitable canvas, adding a little wood filler in the nail holes, and a quickie sand job I was ready to start painting my wood pallet project!
Time for a Little Wood Pallet Painting
So, how did I arrive at the idea of painting a gorilla? My thought process for wood pallet ideas went a little something like this…
Wood Pallet → Wood → Trees → Forest → Rainforest → Gorilla
My medium of choice for this pallet painting was Liquitex Basics acrylic paints with a little Matte Medium mixed in to decrease the gloss and thin it out a bit. I just started with a simple black and white and mixed up various shades of grays to layer on and give some depth to the gorilla’s fur.
For a good portion of this project, I was a bit nervous that it was looking more like a sasquatch than a gorilla, but I think I pulled it off in the end.
Adding Multimedia Art Elements to the Wood Pallet Project
Now, I will say the inspiration to add the multimedia art elements didn’t come until about midway through this wood pallet project. Like any good inspiration, it hit me while I was laying in bed one night unable to shut my mind off with wood pallet ideas running through my head...
I just envisioned this massive gorilla sitting in the rainforest, visible through the jungle leaves- staring intently. So one search for “faux jungle leaves” later and here we are…
When I initially arranged the leaves, I ended up covering far more of the pallet painting than I intended. I hated the placement of the leaves so much that I ended up pulling them all off and starting from scratch. I even considered ditching the multimedia art elements.
I ended up solving my problem by adding some cardboard wings to extend the pallet so I could have the leaves surround the gorilla without actually covering him up.
So… there it is. My repurposed wood pallet art project. I hope you’ll watch the video of my process and give me some of your wood pallet ideas for next time!