Male by Paul

Rather heteronormative, Male by Paul, but then again, this was the 50's.  Not a lot of women wearing ties back then.  I'm thinking vintage-looking button earrings with these gorgeous ties, picked up at Loot yesterday.  

And speaking of Loot, I'm now selling yardstick business card holders and croquet mallet candlesticks there!  Great news for Franklin County....

finding creations new homes

It's the best feeling to sell my creations and wonder about the new homes they will have.  I'm especially lucky when I sell to friends, because then I know exactly where they go.  

Exhibit A, "Massachusetts" business card holder, now appropriately residing at the University of Massachusetts.

a mechanic's creeper in your living room

Several months ago, I posted about the kind of New England fall day where you feel like you are in a Yankee Magazine article.  We headed up to the Ashfield Fall Festival, where men proudly wear tee-shirts emblazoned "eat more kale" and kids decorate pumpkins and eat maple cotton candy (ok, adults, too).  We stopped at a tag sale that was held inside a covered bridge.  Right?  

I spied not one but two service station creepers.  Along with the creepers (two for the price of one!), I learned that the guy who sold them to me used to have long hair, which got stuck in the creeper wheels when he worked at the now defunct Norm's Service Station in downtown Ashfield.  That story just increased the value of my creepers a million fold.  And made me think I really needed to remove the head rests.

I did just that.  Removed the head rests.  Gross.  Here are the befores:

smash proof

a good thing in a creeper

an untuned car is trouble

sweetest fall festival ever

These creepers were gorgeous, but they had seen the underbellies of a lot of cars.  Hello, epoxy!  I gave them a gorgeous layer of epoxy which gave them a smooth, clear and thick layer of cleanliness.  A good and unusual thing in a creeper.  

Then, for the legs.  The sexy skinny Don Draper era legs were salvaged off of a gross, bright red table top rescued from the side of the road.  The sexy curvy table legs were purchased at a local tag sale, to the curiosity of many. 

The wheels, the very essence of the creeper, stayed put.  You can see the wear and tear and imagine all of those enormous gas guzzling cars of the 50's and 60's getting all fixed up at Norm's.

And voila, the most beautiful and unique tables you could ever wish to have.  And if you have car trouble, you have a creeper.

And now, I offer you daytime creeper table and nighttime creeper table.  Enjoy.  

vintage yard sticks = business card holders

These yard sticks turned business card holders are a perennial best seller, and with my new miter saw, they look better than ever.  

A perfect gift; so many shuttered local businesses. Northampton! Easthampton! Springfield!  Holyoke!  Greenfield!

vote Republican!

Twaddle.

vote Republican!

vote for the coroner!

Dial ALpine!

flowers and test tubes

Yes, of course, flowers and test tubes.  What else would I do with test tubes?  Science?  So many test tubes, so many ways to show them off.  Here are a few, all are for sale at Maker's Market this weekend!  

salvaged partial table leg

rubber stamp carousel

balls

The title of this post is sponsored by my 5 year old son, featured below.  An oldie but a goodie:  

vibrantly painted vintage croquet balls anchored to barn wood scraps and salvaged wooden disks = unique photo holder.

In this particularly gorgeous set of photos, you get to feast your eyes on the aforementioned balls and boy as well as the most gorgeous studio floor you have ever seen:  hemlock barn boards, circa 1750, from the Hilltowns of western Massachusetts, sourced by my barn guy.  

candle lit

I've been working on a variety of candle-related items recently, all of which will be featured at Makers Market at the Parlor Room.  If you are in the area, please come by and visit.  There is just an amazing line up of really talented makers and artists.

First up are simple, elegant sticks made from industrial wooden bobbins, scored from one of my favorite local haunts, Loot.  The faded layers of paint are amazing, and make you realize how hard-working these bobbins were in some long-shuttered factory somewhere in Franklin County.

Next up, a reclaimed crafts classic:  candlesticks from croquet mallets.  I have almost cleaned out my stash, which will bring me great happiness come the spring tag sale season - more croquet sets!

Also a reclaimed crafts classic - actually the project that inspired me to launch reclaimed crafts - balusters salvaged from the front of an old Hadley farm house = candlesticks.  The chippy paint gets me every time.  Simple, elegant, anchored on salvaged barn wood.

Something new for me:  tea light holders.  With all of the leftover barn board - both the Hatfield tobacco barn and the 1750 (!) Huntington barn - it didn't take much to make these beauties.  A little clever stamping, and they are ready to go.

 

Repurposing sometimes takes a village.  And collaboration with kindred spirits is the most fun.  I nipped into Studio Second Canal today.  Bruce was kind enough to open up for me because I felt I needed to have two more film reels TODAY (more on that later). But Bruce had other finds in mind.  He showed me his vintage potato ricer collection.  I've always admired ricers, but never knew what to do with them.  Bruce (rather patiently) showed me that the basket could be removed.  In an instant, a repurpose was born.

These beauties (sorry mashed potatoes)....

.... became these gorgeous candle holders.  The tiny holes send up beautiful designs of light.  

Now, what to do with the rest of it?