Reuse Recycle.....be creative with what you have.

This is a hall tree I made 3 years ago.  It was one of the last doors I had salvaged.....Now people have figured out that they are amazing sources of wood and I have to buy them....



















We went to the beach this summer and parked on a residential street around the corner from Mo's restaurant and found this.  First of all - I LOVE METAL! I even have a Pinterest board with fun metal reuse ideas.  I am big into reusing things for a new creation.  If you can't see...this is a fountain! ( I should of taken a video...dang it ) Super cool!  They also had a great fence made of this metal siding/roofing (seen on either side of the fountain.  I love it that people are getting original I'm so tired of houses painted taupe and looking all exactly the same.

This is a great fence.....Totally original.
Be original.....don't be taupe.

Colors.....love them!

Wintertime is so dull.   Once the leaves have fallen the colors are absent for at least 4 months.  For someone who thrives in color it can be a long 4 months. 

Red

another rustic collage

Here I am again with another sculptural piece. It's Friday and I should be in the shower but I wanted to post quick before I'm off to the mountains.  This weekend I'll be providing a crafting experience to middle aged Mennonite women.  My good friend runs a wonderful woodland hideaway in the mountains near Lincoln City.  Drift Creek Camp is unique place and although a winding drive....I never pass up a chance to visit and see my friend.  And.....she makes wonderful espresso drinks!

This composition includes collaged vintage papers on a old box lid with it's original hardware remaining.  It's complimented with 2 contrasting carved walnut furniture adornments.  The sleek glass door knob is paired with the chippy green door handle base.  These are then mounted on a elevated remnant of a agricultural screen found here on the farm.  Created as a wall hanging.  All these elements contrast in texture and orgin.  Embracing many aspects of life. 

On a another note.  This upcoming July I'm attending a artist workshop "camp" all based around the use of hot wax...."Encaustics".  The camp was created to help all types of artist on how to incorporate encautics into your works of art.  I'm thinking that this piece would of been perfect to encase (the base) in wax.....I'm excited to be the host and student of this amazing combination of artists from around the U.S.  I'm happy to know that it will be held at my very own Western Mennonite School Campus so I don't have to travel far. You'll find info about it here....

it started with the doors

This is the favorite bench.  I really wish I had a better photo of it though. Made with 2x6 scrap legs, half of an old solid door and lovely corbels. I finished it off with a carved embellishment on top.  It was majestic!  A throne.  Made by the Queen....ha,ha. I got started creating as "laura's salvage design" because of doors and corbels.  I was flabergasted (sp?)when beautiful doors were removed from old house when being remodeled and replaced with new ones.....Like new doors were better?  How could they possibly be made with a higher level of craftsmanship or better ingredients?  Old growth wood and actual steel & cast iron hardware isn't good enough?  It's laughable.  I had salvaged all these doors to "do" something with....so I started there.  I just wish I documented it better.  I am learning that i need to consistently take photos....The issue lays with quantity.

The church steeple bird house (on the majestic bench above)is still in my collection.  It was made to be on a column stand. I couldn't part with it.  Here are more that I created for a friends mom....some ask if I am doing my research for correct hole diameter for birds.  Bird experts frown when I tell them I wasn't concerned about it.... In my head I'm saying......"oh geez!...birds don't care.....they'll make their nest in a crack of a tree.  They don't measure and ponder their other rental options." But I refrain....  I don't mention that most often it's the yellow jackets that move in first.

vintage is best

I love this photo.  I acquired it in Northern Indiana at an Amish Auction house about 7 years ago.  I bought a suitcase of old photos and then sold most of them on ebay when I got home to pay for the rest of the stuff we bought that day.  Kinda kicking myself now that these type of photos are so sought after.  Should of scanned them and sold the copies.  Oh well.  This photo speaks to me though.  I do sometimes wonder who it is.  The history of that day is lost forever.  It's sad to me to think of that loss.  That sadness is similar to the feeling I have when I see a old home being torn down.  Seeing that big pile of wood ready to be burned.....Or when a home is neglected and it's rotting away.  Giving wood that has been salvaged a second life is inspiring.  Creating new heirlooms with that wood gives it a new history.  People love to know the history of the wood I create with.  I salvaged from a big red barn down the road one year.  Relaying the history of the barn and that it was still being used as a barn was like candy to the customers that bought the items.  It also gives them a connection to a life they've never appreciated or experienced.