Upcycled Denim Sandbags - Photography Weights

These were an experiment. My husband is a photographer, and he uses those big light stands to maneuver the light around and make beautifully lit pictures. Unfortunately, the stands that these lights go on are very top heavy, and really need weights to keep them steady.

He asked if I could make him some sandbag weights that would go over the legs of the stands, and this is what we came up with (as a prototype). They are the legs from an old pair of jeans, sewn closed with a seam in the middle and two ziploc bags of sand in either side. I also put on a tiny strip for a handle so he could pick them up more easily.



They're not pretty yet, but they work great! The first one was a tiny bit too long and they touch the ground. So I made the second one shorter and the handle strap wider and I think we have a Yahtzee. We made them for the cost of a bag of play sand, $2-3, the legs from a pair of jeans that would have gone to Goodwill, and 4 ziploc bags ($0.25). Pretty good if I do say so myself.

The next set will have "neat" handles, and will have a zipper at either end. That way if we need or want to take out the sand, we can.