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?

map trays

Just finished up a bunch new map trays.  I'm grateful to places like Christmas Tree Shop that sell hideous metal trays with Santas and kittens that then end up in the free pile at tag sales.  I don't know what I'd do without them.

ode to John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg

I may be dating myself here, but I'd like to dedicate this blog post to John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.  I didn't have a beefcake poster of Bjorn, but my bestie Jackie sure did.

you can see it, right?

big hair, not as hot

Vintage tennis racquets and tennis racquet presses are everywhere. My friend and day job colleague even scored me one at the Amherst dump. A Doris Hart racquet. Turns out she is a Tennis Hall of Famer, inducted in 1969.  So really, this post should be an ode to her.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the talented guys at Smith Glass and Mirror, who kept a straight face when I asked them to fit a tennis racquet with a mirror.  Then again, this is Northampton.

Racquet presses become cork boards with vintage fabric, decoupage paper and stamps, and racquets become mirrors. 

hello, cute clog with red heel

lazy susans - there's hardware for that!

I love lazy Susans, and wanted to make them.  So I googled.  And discovered there's actually lazy susan hardware.  America.  Is. Awesome.

in case you didn't believe me

I am a firm believer that you can make a lazy susan out of just about anything that's flat.  So far, I've stuck to flat and round (a film reel, an industrial bobbin, a cheese box lid), but I am eyeing my collection of vintage Parcheesi and Monopoly boards. 

Here's the most recent collection, bound for knack in Easthampton and the Maker's Market at the Parlor Room in downtown Northampton on November 22nd and 23rd.  Come visit me there and grab yourself a susan!

this amazing box from MGM held...

...this film, Marvin Digs
According to IMDB, Marvin Digs is an animated short
about Marvin, a teenage ball of fur, who gets the idea to paint the entire city in groovy, psychedelic colors.  You will
not be surprised to know it was released in 1967.

...and with a thick piece of glass on top,
now it's a one-of-a-kind
lazy susan

cheese box lid + salvaged nut and bolt =
turn, turn, turn

industrial bobbin + potato masher handle =
round and round
check out the paint chip notepads on top!

circumnavigate