not your grandmother's bud vase

Ardent followers will remember my discovery of Studio Second Canal about a year ago, when a friend sent me a beguiling Craigslist post about about an artists' collection of picked and found objects, vintage finds, industrial artifacts and surplus components.  Wow, just wow.  So many incredible finds, so much interesting stuff, many of it culled from long-shuttered brick factories in the flats of Holyoke.  And best of all, Bruce and Nancy were so friendly and enthusiastic about my repurposing and upcycling endeavors. 

Sometimes I acquire items that are amazing, but I have literally no idea what I'll do with them.  You may remember my post about the Parker Parkerette leaf sweeper from over a year ago. 

it sweeps leaves!

It's a perfect example of something I bought with no idea in mind. I still have no idea in mind.  It's still in my picking buddy's shed. But I digress.

Happily, there are times when items present themselves in such a way that you can't possibly miss the repurposing message. At Studio Second Canal, I lost my mind over an enormous box of test tubes, an item I had been ogling for years, and had never seen in such abundance.

Then sitting virtually next to these beauties, was a box of these.

I asked about them out of curiosity, not because I was particularly drawn to them, as rubber is not one of my go-to materials.  Crutch tips.  That's right, crutch tips.  Apparently the Paper City, as Holyoke is known, produced much more than just paper.  They made lots and lots of crutch tips, and many of them landed here at Studio Second Canal.

Of course I also couldn't resist buying the mold that was used to produce the crutch tips.

But really, could I have been given a better gift than crutch tips sitting adjacent to test tubes?  I think not.  Edgy and unusual, yet beautiful and elegant.