Sure, it’s Sunday, but here’s a little behind-the-scenes story about hunting down clothespins for the Pinterest Challenge light fixture we’re building. Other possible titles I considered:
- “The Petersik Clothespin Tour of Richmond”
- “Wow, I’m a very patient husband.”
- “Sorry, environment — we’ll plant three trees to make up for all that driving.”
Here’s the situation. When we began assembling the clothespin light fixture (first mentioned here), we grabbed four bags of clothespins from Ben Franklin to get started. We knew we’d need more eventually, but we wanted to finalize a pattern and have a better idea of the total count before buying in bulk. At the time Ben Franklin only had four bags anyway, so we figured we’d top up later.
Once we started clipping clothespins onto the light frame, it became clear we needed a lot more — and they needed to be the exact same size. Sherry sent me out during Clara’s nap with instructions to pick up about eight more packs. What was supposed to be a quick errand turned into a two-hour, 54-mile trek around Richmond’s suburbs.
Because we’d already started with the four Ben Franklin packs, we needed that same medium-sized clothespin so the pieces would match. That ruled out places like Target and the dollar store, which only carried pins that were too large or too small. My first stop was the same Ben Franklin we visited originally (Marker “B”), but they hadn’t been restocked — zero packs to buy.
Next I checked a nearby Bed Bath & Beyond, which didn’t carry clothespins, and then Michael’s in the same shopping center (Marker C). Michael’s did have clothespins, but only in large, small, and mini — not the medium size that fits our wire light fixture and matches the pins we’d already used.
Sidenote: Yes, my wife lists me in her phone as “Husband – John.” Apparently she’s prepared in case she ever meets another John.
After a few dead ends, I broadened the search to the next Ben Franklin (Marker D). Good news: they had three packs of the medium size. That helped, but wouldn’t get me to my target number. So I pushed further out to JoAnn Fabrics (Marker E) and Hobby Lobby (Marker F), hoping their larger craft sections might have the right size.
Both JoAnn and Hobby Lobby are a bit farther from home but sit off a fast highway, which made me think I could make up time. That turned out to be wishful thinking. Sherry had called ahead and both stores confirmed they stocked clothespins, but they didn’t specify sizes. I learned the hard way that they, like Michael’s, carried large, small, and mini sizes only — not the medium size we needed. At least a Burger King stop halfway through the run saved me from collapsing from hanger-induced weakness.
With dwindling hope, I went to the last Ben Franklin on my list (Marker G). Sherry had called this one too, but the store couldn’t guarantee the specific brand and size. When I walked in, the shelves were stocked — and they had nine packs of the medium clothespins I needed. Nine. If I’d checked this store first (it’s only eight miles from home), I could’ve avoided the two-hour tour, all the jokes from cashiers about “lots of laundry,” and the Burger King stop.
Live and learn. Even after calling ahead and eliminating obvious non-starters like Target, the dollar store, and Bed Bath & Beyond, I still put together an exhaustive Richmond clothespin run. The good news: the chandelier is shaping up nicely. Sherry and I have been testing different arrangements and patterns for the clothespin chandelier and are excited to finalize the design, hang it, and publish a detailed, photo-rich tutorial.
We’ll share the final project on Tuesday morning as part of the Pinterest Challenge, and we’re looking forward to seeing what others tackled if they joined in. The small downside: we miscalculated by a few packs. We ended up with four unopened extra packs of the exact same clothespins that we’ll be returning to Ben Franklin. So in reality we only needed four more packs, not eight — Homer Simpson would have called that a classic “d’oh.”