While I was in Ithaca last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Victoria Romanoff, restorationist and artist. One of the pieces of 'functional salvage art' she introduced me to was her "washboard table." The idea is elegantly simple: for an open-faced (front and back) table, join two antique washboards together with a top surface and an interior-mounted lower shelf. For a closed-back table, join three washboards together.I had fun over the weekend creating some collage-texture work and joining them together as a side table. To give the top a nice clean edge, I trimmed the lip all the way around at 45 degrees. A coat of waterbased finish later, voila! A bright, colorful and very stable but lightweight table.
Next time, I'll have to make sure I find matching washboards to match: I was so excited to get started on this effort that I've used a bronze, horizontally oriented board on one side, and a plated silver, vertically oriented board on the other. Both made by National Corporation of Chicago and bought locally for about $4.00. Have you ever "transformed" an everyday functional object into a new, entirely different item? Share the story and a picture! ---- **Comments** :Author: Mark Grimes :Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 12:30:50 PDT Hmmmm, nothing I can think of I've done off the top of my head. But the bottle caps turned into holiday ornaments that I've seen made in Uganda are pretty darn cool. ---- :Author: Mark Grimes :Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 12:33:46 PDT .. image :: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2023/1932657623_7a7a74c202.jpg ---- :Author: Lars Hasselblad Torres :Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 08:05:17 PDT bottlecaps - great stuff indeed. I just bought a 5gal bucket full of them and am using them to make music rattles - made my first last weekend. the also make clever snakes... Is that a 100% recycled tree?! ---- :Author: Mark Grimes :Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 08:39:44 PDT That's a pic from LiA/Flickr, but I do recognize the recycled paper beaded magazine strands. ---- :Author: Lars Hasselblad Torres :Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 11:41:14 PDT Here's an upcoming competition that should be of interest: great way for adults to engage with young people! .. raw:: html
Great looking announcement that was passed along today. The sponsors, PBS and the creators of the television show Design Squad, are looking for some sport. Hook up with some yung'uns and pitch in - looks like fun!
