Make Your Own Champagne Cage Chair Place Card Holder!

Although I'm always trying to lighten my load and simplify, simplify, simplify, part of being an artist means inexplicably saving things. If you've been reading along here on The Fab Miss B, you already know that champagne is one of my favorite things on the planet earth.

I've been saving wire champagne cages for a while now, trusting that the perfect project would present itself. Then I stumbled across a tutorial on how to turn a champagne cage into a miniature chair. A bit more poking around on the internet brought me to Design Within Reach's Champagne Chair Contest. Just look at all these incredible designs! Can you believe they are all made with champagne cages, corks and labels? No glue allowed. Some very chic entries, I'd say!

Now that I was all inspired, I had to give it a go. Here are my initial results :

Less than thrilling, right? I felt like they looked dilapidated and amateurish- don't get me wrong, part of the charm here is imperfection, but I wanted something a little more polished looking, so I tinkered until I found an even more elegant solution. Here's my tutorial to if you'd like to play too!

You will need: At least two wire champagne cages, wire cutters and needle nose pliers. ( I used two pairs of pliers to get the most leverage and the prettiest curves.)

First, snip off the bottom ring from the champagne cage.

Now you'll have a little stool. Snap out the metal "seat". Repeat steps one and two on a second champagne cage.

Take one of your "stools" and snip in half as shown.

Now use your pliers to curve the legs into heart shape. This will be your chair back.

Hold the back in place against the base.

Use your pliers to roll the chair back ends to the base, as shown.

Now, snap the "seat" back in place.

Adjust the legs to hold the seat in place.

Use your pliers to "Put a little English" on the legs- I think they look even sweeter with a little bit of flare on the bottom.

Voila! An army of teeny tiny French Bistro Chairs! I'll be using mine as place card holders for a tea party I'm planning in a few weeks. Or maybe in some miniature dioramas I'm feeling inspired to make all the sudden. You could also add a pretty ribbon and hang them on a Christmas tree! What else might one use these babies for?