Bad Habits, Time to Quit, and Looking Back

Bad Habits:

 This is a collection of carvings I did this year. Each piece, the cigerette pack, the butt, the match book, the church key, the towel, the paperback novel and the calender were all carved from single pieces of wood. The beer can was turned on a lathe and carved. The cover of the novel was inspired by a painting I bought at the Hab years ago. It is an example of trompe l’oeil. Even some of the tools I used were purchased at our Hab as was the wood.
Time to Quit:
This is another trompe l’oeil. I copied a crinkled paper bag with a hip flask in it. Again I used wood and tools I purchased at the Hab.
Looking Back:
This is a face in a mirror held by an aged hand. All materials from the Hab Restore.
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The Sun Spot

For this greenhouse addition to our garden shed, we built a structure on footings found in a pile of bricks in our backyard, stripped paint off of 100 year old windows removed from a home outside Charlotte, covered the interior wall and floor with recycled plywood from my parents’ neighbor’s old shed, tiled the floor with slate roof tiles leftover from a construction crew’s house build, whitewashed the interior with paint found in the basement when we bought our house, and made a door based around a large louver window found at the Asheville ReStore, equipped with a custom screen pulled from a screen door that was found on the curb. The interior is filled with antique industrial shelving that now holds potting supplies inherited from friends and family, leftover remnants of old, disassembled sculptures and art installations that add aesthetic elements, but also create a functional sitting space. The greenhouse’s contents and layouts shift with the seasons, acting as storage in the summer, keeping plants alive as the crisp fall air creeps in, hosting seedlings in spring and, most commonly, offering a cozy, quiet space to sit and energize myself with the help of a little warm winter sun. 

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My Indoor Lil Greenhouse

Curio cabinet (found at the Asheville Restore) was cleaned & sanded to ready for chalk & acrylic paints and gold leaf. The bee on the inside mirror was created with leftover glass paints. On the top of the cabinet are two painted faux tin panels found at The Dollar Tree. After painting, the inside of the cabinet was sealed with beeswax & linseed oil to protect it from moisture so it could be used to start seeds inside when too cold outside and finally, the outside of the cabinet was sealed with a clear wax.

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Greenhouse!

Friends and family have known that I wanted to build a greenhouse since 2011 and have been collecting and holding on to windows whenever we could get our hands on some. Some of these windows have moved with me multiple times as I wanted to build the structure when I finally owned a home. My wife and I were able to buy a home in 2018 and have slowly been doing DIY remodels. Much of the wood, including framing, in this greenhouse are also reused from walls we removed in our home. With this greenhouse I was able to start all of my own garden plants this year and have a pineapple growing and plan to plant a dwarf mango tree as well! p.s. Flowers on the wall in the greenhouse (see picture) were painted by my wife and 2 year old son.

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Plastic Fantastic

I used plastic drinking glasses and other plastic items from the ReStore’s housewares area to create an abstract sculpture.

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Game Table

This $15.00 Habitat MId-Century Modern End Table find was upcycled into a game table with chalk paint & gold leaf. The Backgammon playing pieces & Checkers playing pieces were cut from scrap wood & painted. Online I found the vintage backgammon manual, cups & dice. This piece required some minor repairs to the trim around the top level of the table before painting began. The table was then sealed with urethane.

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Upcycled Cylinder Light

One never knows what one will find at the scrapyard (or Habitat Re-Store).

My cylinder light started with one of my favorite items to find: pierced sheet metal. The base is a disk brake disk from a moped and the stainless steel legs were rejects, likely from a machine shop. The cap (a colander,pop riveted into a single piece) and cord/switch are from the Re-Store.

The only parts, which came from my parts collection, that were new MOL are the cord protector, ceramic bulb fixture, 3 small 90° angle pieces and cap nuts.

This project was more difficult than one would think to tinker together,  taking around 20 hours to piece together. 

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Several paper birds

I used various scrap papers that would have otherwise been discarded to make thousands of minirature paper birds as well as other origami creations 

papers include old school work/flyers, junk mail/advertisments, magazines,  pamphlets, gum wrappers, tickets from the carwash I work at, coupons from my other job at a supermarket, and many more.

I do this in order to pass time at school and at my jobs, birds are somthing I can fold minlessly to keep my hands busy 

each bird is around the size of a quarter or smaller 

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Tom Peeper, Tough Duck, Green Armed Woman

“Tom Peeper” is made from a badminton racket, wooden disc, wooden dowels, a tooth, wood box, child’s block, screw driver handles, toy bowling pins, hardware, paint, chess pawn, toy train part, spindles, clogs and lots of love. 

I find things and transform them into the unexpected, into some “thing,” that requires imagination. It’s important that what I make, be surprising and create laughter.

“Tough Duck” is an assemblage composed of an old coat hanger, maraca, shoe laces, found wood, screwdriver handles, coat hook, piano stool foot, and assorted hardware.

With “Tough Duck” I gave myself the freedom to play as I looked for ways to change a torn shoestring into arms, and a coat hanger into wings. I love saving things that would normally be discarded and instead, creating art with them.

The Green-Armed Woman is made from an old coat hanger, pieces of chairs, chain, hardware, casters.

She is no longer a green-eyed lady. She has become herself. She is no longer an appendage to another, she is a woman, a person, who has put herself together for the good, and will mend and join the world as she has joined her Self…

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Prosperity Hens

I make strands of 6 prosperity hens from upcycled fabrics. They are based in the East Indian tradition and represent the prosperity that many chickens bring to a home or business. 

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