guest post - tony westlund

We’ve all heard the saying “One man’s trash, another man’s treasure.” Especially in the artistic world, it is not uncommon to put things to good use that were otherwise destined for a garbage can. Although recycling, or more adventurous upcycling has found a strong foothold in design over the past few years, as an artist, it has been my goal to not only bring new life to old objects in ways astray from their original purpose, but to prevent wastefulness in the process. With this, I have gained an understanding that people are beginning to take more pride in the objects they bring into their home, where purchases are investments, not just the cheapest option. I have often seen folks begin to pack their belongings for a move, and realize that crumbling particle-board bookshelf probably won’t last another year, let alone go back together once disassembled. Off to buy another.

It is with these combined intentions that I approached my latest design idea.

An acquaintance had seen a few of my furniture pieces at a group art show, and noticed my strong use of repurposed, salvaged material. We talked for a while about “dumpster diving” and “big trash days” before he invited me to come take a look at some scrap pallets that were commonly thrown away at his job. When the day came to meet up, I had to laugh a bit because without knowing this was where he worked, I had been pulling a few of these pallet pieces out of the dumpster for weeks prior! Now you may be wondering what is so special about these pallets, so let me explain. They come from a hardwood flooring company, and it seems the wood they use for the pallets may be rejects from flooring material, or some other by-product of manufacture. At any rate, I have been constantly surprised at the unique grain patterns, colors, texture and overall character of these boards that were headed straight to the landfill. I have come across beautiful pieces of Black Walnut, variations of Mahogany, Cherry, and even a 3 ft. long, 4 inch square piece of Purple-heart Wood, which as the name implies, is naturally purple.
Even the more simple boards are effected with rough bandsaw cuts, which when half sanded smooth, creates a great rustic effect.

So now what to do with this new-found, salvaged resource...

My wife has been a long-time, avid jewelry wearer, and when it comes to earrings, only the dangliest will do! I had made her an earring display before, but over time, it began to succumb to overcrowding. When brainstorming about what to design next, she’s always encouraged me to “make more stuff for jewelry,” because apparently my beautiful, and beautifully adorned wife is not the only woman with the dilemma of jewelry storage. Heeding her advice I went about creating a functional, simple yet striking piece, that would not just hold several pairs of earrings, but could possibly hold a few more items like bangles or necklaces as well.

Having made previous displays from found objects ranging from parts of chairs, to bedsprings and car pulleys, I simplified the notion and created this “Z” shaped stand utilizing the bevy lumber I had just acquired. I noticed that it had a ton of surface area to put several eyelets while allowing the earrings to be staggered without overlapping, creating an easy to see display. It was also an easy option to add a few hooks to either end of the top rail to hang a few necklaces, or just slide a few bangles on it.

So there you have it! I urge you to look around you, utilize things that others disregard, and create with the intent of longevity. In this case, what was once destined for the dumpster, has now gained new life and new purpose as a sturdy, heirloom quality jewelry display.

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find tony and his business novel and proper here:

etsy

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in oklahoma city at Blue 7 and The Twisted Root Gallery

Progress....

I've been contentedly working away in the studio this past week working on whittling away at the stash I mentioned in this post. I'm not going to try and fool you, it's taking much more time and effort than I had anticipated but I'm finding lots of bits and baubles in various states of completion and I've been enjoying the process of using up small quantities of things. It is also an excellent exercise in consumption and thinking back to why certain beads were purchased or selected.

.....pretty orphan beads are finding homes in clasps and as simple embellishments in this line of egg necklaces that will soon be on their way to a shop in NC.......

....many months ago, I spent some time making pairs of these copper hoops inspired by Native American Squash Blossom necklaces....it was a challenging balancing act that I'm now getting figured out.....

.....this lady is being used as an experiment with some finishes that I hope to translate eventually into polymer clay.....hopefully she'll also make a nice addition to my show displays as well.....

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday in your studio.....

Don't forget to hop over to My Life Under The Bus and throw your name in the hat for the next stop on the Art Bead Love Tour.....

Handmade....from start to the very FINISH!

 by Barbara Bechtel

About 6-8 months ago, while looking around at all my unused craft supplies, I decided to make a concerted effort to start using up all the bits and scraps of paper, wood, craft supplies, etc. and try to make a 100% effort not to purchase anything that was absolutely non essential.....ahh, the sweet horde of a mixed media artist....I'm sure many of you can relate.....

Specifically, I'm talking packaging. Although, I've always waffled between buying boxes, business and jewelry cards, packing supplies, etc. I've always used the excuse, "I don't have enough time to do ALL those things." For myself, though, I realized that in the time I spent researching, comparing prices, doing graphic design, layout, and printing, I really could make the time with a little extra effort to make these supplies to truly make my jewelry and designs unique from start to finish AND use up my extra paper supplies at the same time.

Instead of using bubble wrap, I've been shredding beautiful catalogs after I'm through perusing them and shredding vintage clothing patterns that I've been hoarding! Almost anything can be shredded to use as filler! So much more fun than shredding old bills and receipts, eh?

A selection of completely handmade business cards. All have their own unique personality. Clockwise from top: Beth Schaible ( letterpress by the artist), Second Surf (designed, printed, and handcut myself), Canoo (stamped and screenprinted on recycled household paperboard), Dacey Hunter (scrap watercolor paper, then inkjet printed with contact info), Sara Lee Parker Textiles (screenprinted)

The back of Canoo's card....she recycles all the paperboard from their home into business cards! This fits in nicely with her upcycled sweater goodies!

This is the packaging I did for Lori Anderson's upcoming Cup of Bead Soup. I've been painting tiny paper doilies from my estate sale stash to use in my paintings. Torn and taped to the pillow boxes (whose supplies are ever so slowly dwindling) with washi tape and tied with some pretty string and a little tag from leftover watercolor paper scraps.

 Vintage postcards that have been tea stained and with quick sketches and collage elements make great earring cards for more involved earrings and the buyer gets a cute little piece of art to keep!

Here are some other great ideas for using upcycled or handmade supplies:

~Patty from My Life Under The Bus takes those ugly bubble mailers that we always mean to reuse and don't and makes them PRETTY! 

~From the Love My Art Jewelry archives: Make an origami box to hold your jewels....This would look great with a little of that shredded tissue inside...hmmmmm......