Friday, March 4, 2011

Thrifting and [drumroll]... New Work

Here's what that hunk of old RV got turned into...

Another flower in my Ikebana series. A tulip this time.

The aluminum has a really interesting faux bois (fake wood) effect.

While I was out sourcing interesting fabrics (hitting the thrift stores), I couldn't resist these brand new lacquer trays from Japan. Perfect for organizing! And I'm a pushover for all things Japanese.

You can never have too many bookends. And these needed rescuing (see below).

Look at these sweet faces!


Here was the horror that was inflicted by the thrift store. For once, there was actually something from the 60's in a thrift store. But they just had to tape these fragile textured cardboard pieces together with big, honking, clear strapping tape. I haven't gotten up the courage to remove it yet. I was thinking that maybe using a blow dryer would make the tape less tape-y and the damage would be less. It's going to tear all the color off, oh well at least they had the good sense not to tape over the horses!

6 comments:

  1. i like your flower woman :)

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  2. I will take that, coming from you--flower woman!

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  3. Have you ever tried steam as a loosener of packing tape? It might work. You might want to experiment on a different piece first, though.
    Love the work you're doing! And those "sweet faces" are perfect!
    Rose McGuinn

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  4. Thanks for the encouragement on my work, Rose. I'm glad to someone else thinks that (moist)heat might work to get that tape off. I'll let you know once I feel brave enough to try!

    I found a really cool ceramic horse head lamp on Saturday--this is what organizing is for, so we can swap out our stuff!

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  5. what a wonderful series to be working on... ikebana - the Japanese art of flower arranging. and I know how much fun it is to go looking for junk.

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  6. Hi Donna, thanks for stopping by. Junk searches are the best! The ikebana theme was inspired by one of my idols, Rosalie Gascoigne.

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