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 making. Other possible titles that crossed my mind:
- “The Petersik Clothespin Tour of Richmond”
- “Wow, I’m a Really Patient Husband”
- “Sorry Environment, We’ll Plant Three Trees to Make Up for All That Driving”
Here’s the situation. When we began the clothespin light fixture (first mentioned here), we bought four bags of clothespins at Ben Franklin to get started. We knew we’d need more, but we didn’t want to overspend until we’d decided on a pattern and had a clearer sense of the total quantity required. At the time, Ben Franklin only had those four bags anyway, so it seemed fine.
Once we started attaching pins, it became obvious we needed many more—far more. When Clara went down for a nap, Sherry sent me out to pick up roughly eight more packs. I thought it would be a quick errand. I did not expect a nearly three-hour, 54-mile expedition around Richmond’s suburbs.
Because we’d already used the four packs from Ben Franklin, it was important to find the exact same size and brand to keep the fixture consistent. That ruled out Target and the dollar store, which stocked only pins that were too large or too small. My first stop was the same Ben Franklin I’d visited before, hoping they’d restocked. They hadn’t. Zero clothespins.
I knew of only two other Ben Franklin stores locally, so I swung by the shopping center that had Bed Bath & Beyond and Michael’s. Bed Bath & Beyond didn’t carry clothespins. Michael’s did have clothespins in large, small, and mini sizes—but not the medium size we needed. The medium size would fit perfectly in our wire light fixture frame and match the pins from our original four bags.
Sidenote: Yes, Sherry has me saved in her phone as “Husband – John.” Apparently she’s worried about confusing me with other Johns.
After those misses, I widened my search to another Ben Franklin location, and finally found three packs of the medium size. Progress, but not enough to reach my target of eight packs. That meant I had to try JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby, both farther out but large stores that might carry a wider selection.
Both JoAnn and Hobby Lobby were farther away but located on a fast highway, so I figured the drive would be worth it. Sherry had called ahead and both stores confirmed they carried clothespins, but neither could guarantee the specific size or brand. I learned the hard way: both stores stocked only the large, small, and mini sizes—still not the medium we needed. At least a Burger King stop in between lifted my spirits and recharged me a bit.
With hope dwindling, I made one last stop at the final Ben Franklin location. Sherry had called ahead but they couldn’t promise the exact size, so it was a last-ditch effort. That’s where I should have been elated: they had the medium clothespins—and they had nine packs. Nine. If I’d started there (it’s only eight miles from home), I could’ve picked everything up in one trip and saved myself two hours, a lot of driving, and some mild embarrassment from cashiers joking, “you must have lots of laundry!”
Oh well—hindsight is 20/20. Even though I tried to streamline the search by calling places first and avoiding obvious dead ends (Target, the dollar store, Bed Bath & Beyond), it still turned into an exhaustive tour of the city. The bright side is that the chandelier is shaping up beautifully. Sherry and I have been testing different clothespin patterns and can’t wait to finalize the design, hang it up, document the process, and share the full, picture-filled tutorial on Tuesday morning. We’re excited to see what everyone else made for the Pinterest Challenge as well.
The small downside? We ended up with four unopened extra packs to return to Ben Franklin. I overestimated how many packs we needed—four additional packs would have been enough. In other words: d’oh.