Wanna Be a YouTube Star? Well, You Gotta Have a Camera (stand)!

So you want to be a star huh?  GREAT!  But maybe you can't afford a really good camera?  Maybe you only have your phone camera?  GREAT!!!  That'll work but do you ever have the problem where to put the thing?  Mine keeps sliding down when I set it against something or the angle is wrong.  Plus I don't like to hold it because the image bounces too much and if I have to use both hands, where does the phone go?

Welllllllllll, today is your lucky day!  I got tired of fumbling around and created a phone camera stand.  It's not the best but it's definitely better than what I had.  And it's really inexpensive too.  Plus you can use it with different phones, it's adjustable.

Oh yes, it's pretty...

Gotta have pretty.

Step 1: Whatcha Gonna Need?

Stuff!

We all need stuff!

But for this Instructable we only need the following things:

- Glue (Wood glue is preferable but epoxy works.  It has to be strong.)

- Rubberbands (For holding the phone (if necessary), holding the sticks together as they dry, and for angle adjustments.)

- Scissors!  REALLY BIG ONES!!! (They need to be able to cut the sticks and be fun to run around with...)

- Push pins (these are the hinges)

- And the best part?  The multi-colored craft sticks!  (It's gotta be pretty!)

This thing can be built for under $5.  And the BEST part is that YOU built it!

Step 2: First Things First

These are the sides of the holder and you are going to need two of them.  They need to be wider than the sides of your camera.  With mine I stacked six of them together and glued them.  That actually was a mistake but it was easily fixed later.

See how the rubber bands come in handy?  Try gluing the craft sticks without clamping them together.  It gets difficult and it's not as strong.

Don't worry about the glue squishing out.  It adds character and doesn't affect the prettiness very much.

Step 3: Next Step

Now you get to use the big scissors!  Yesssssssssss...

Of course you don't have to use different colored craft sticks.  I just did because I didn't want to paint them and I don't like boring.

Now for the good stuff:

Cut two sticks in half.  Large scissors are really good for this because they give you extra leverage.  (And they're almost large enough to use as a Ninja sword when you get bored.)  Then cut two more sticks into thirds.  These are going to be what holds your phone in the stand.

On one side of the blue sides, glue one of the sticks that has been cut into halves about halfway down.  This isn't critical but you want to make sure you're not blocking anything important, like your camera or buttons.  You can't be a YouTube star if the only thing people see is the stick.  The stick may become rich and famous but you won't. 

On the other side you want to glue the stick higher but don't block anything important.  Just saying.

Oh, remember that mistake mentioned earlier?  The blue sides were too narrow so at this stage I added an orange stick to widen it.  That made the sides seven sticks wide instead of six.  Notice also that the blue sides don't go all of the way to the bottom of the orange sticks.  You need this because the sides are adjustable.

Once you glue the orange sticks  like in the pictures, put another full length stick on top to make them strong.

This doesn't have to be done in one day and it's preferable not to because the glue has to dry between stages.  But if you're adventurous or have quick setting epoxty, kindly ignore what I just said.

Step 4: A Base to Operate From

Time for the base.

Glue enough sticks together to fit in the gap left at the bottom of the sides.  Don't worry if it's a bit loose or tight, it'll work.  If not, you'll figure out how to make it happen.

Once the base is glued and set, put it in the gaps but don't put it right up against the blue sticks.  The sides have to pivot and if it's too tight, they won't.  Oh yes, now is a good time to see how wide your phone is so you know where to put the sides.  Too small and your phone won't fit.

Once that's all figured out, use the push pins to join the base and the sides together.  The pins are the hinges.  Make sure you put the pins on both sides.  An added benefit is that the pins add strength.

BIG SCISSORS and POKEY THINGS.  What's not to love about this project???

Step 5: Uh, Okay, It Stands Up. But Uh...

Oh, don't you worry!  This gets sooo much better!

Since I'm sure that you enjoyed using the push pins in the last step, you get to use them again.

You can choose whatever side you want as the front so when you attach another stick with a pin, that stick will be pointed toward the back.  The stick is to help you angle the phone and keep it from falling over.

Next, we're going to use a rubber band to hold the stick so the stick doesn't just let go and the whole stand falls over.  There may be a better way to do this and if you know how, do it.  You can see from the pictures how I wound the rubber band (but make sure it is stretched).  It creates enough friction and tension to hold the stand in the position I want it in.  Moving the stick up and down adjusts the angle at which the stand leans and the arm is fairly stiff.

And you thought the rubber bands were just for clamping the sticks together.  Puh-leeze!!!

Step 6: Time to Show It Off!

You're done!  AWESOME!!!!

Time for some sexy pictures.

In the last pictures, I put in an old Nokia I have.  Since it was too wide and wanted to fall out, I just put another stick across the front and used rubber bands again.

From this you can see that this stand can be used for different phones.  If your phone wants to fall out, you can always use a rubberband  to hold it in.

Right now this can only be used on a flat surface.  If you can figure out how to clamp it to a wall or on top of your monitor, laptop, or tablet, go for it!

Enjoy!!!