Spoon hook rack

I found 15 gorgeous silver plated spoons at an estate sale and made a few hook rack for Christmas presents.

I know there are fancy bracelet benders and other cool mandrels that would probably make this project easier, but I didn't have any of those handily.  So, I'll share with you how I did it and include the mistakes I made and what I learned!

Flattening the spoon

Lessons learned 1:

Heat the spoon before you hammer or bend it.  I used a welding torch flame, but a butane torch like they use to caramelize creme brûlée would work.  I put the spoon in a pan with flame resistant rocks and got it nice and hot.  Then I drenched it in water to cool.  The metal is now annealed which makes the metal softer.

When I annealed first, my hammered spoon bowl was smoother.  Plus annealing makes it MUCH easier to bend the spoon handle.  If you are using sterling plated and not real solid silver spoons, you can save yourself a lot of work if you heat it before you bend it.  

Lesson learned 2: 

I hammered the spoon flat by whacking it with a regular old hammer on my anvil.  Yep, I do have a big old anvil in my studio.  If you don't happen to have one laying around, make sure you hammer on something hard and something you don't care if you ding if (when) you miss.

I found it easiest if I hammered the spoon bowl on the back side and flattened the tip end first and worked my way back to the deeper part of the spoon. 

Mistake 1:

These spoons are tough!  Even though I annealed it, I still had to hammer it hard.  I found it was pretty easy to let the hammer blow fall and then I ended up with a "rustic" ding in the metal if sometime the head wasn't flat and the edge of the hammer head dug a little.

Drilling the Holes for the Screws

Lesson Learned 3: 

After the first 2 spoons I found it was really helpful to make a little paper template and use a sharpie to mark where I wanted to drill the hole.  That way I didn't have to eyeball or measure to get the holes even and straight.

Lesson Learned 4:

Drill presses are a wonderful thing.  My drill bit was new and it drilled right through the spoon like butter!

Mistake 2:

Remember to drill before you bend the spoon handle because it's not easy to drill the hole if the handle has been bent up so far it is blocking the spoon.

Bending the Spoon Handle

Learned 5: 

It's harder than it looks to get the hooks bent all the same!  I marked two spots in the same places on the all the spoon handle and put them it in a vice at those spots and pushed the handle over the vice jaws.  They ended up more squared than curved, but I liked them that way.  Otherwise I think you'd want  round pipe that you can lay the spoon on and hammer it around.  I just didn't want to damage this lovely pattern.

Mistake 3:

I learned the hard way that you want the top of the spoon handle with the beautiful pattern to show once you bend it.  To do that I actually hand to bend it backward!

Adding the Board

Lesson Learned 6:
By this time I was getting kinda tired so I enlisted my hubby to drill holes and screw in the spoons.
Best lesson learned!

Mistake 4: 

Measure and mark the placement myself.  Hubby isn't as precise as I am!

I hope I saved you a few mistakes!

Potholders

Wow, I haven't sewed a potholder in 35 years! But my 1 year old puppy ate our potholders and we needed new ones.

I looked at the ones at the big box stores and the only ones I found were either stupid ugly or so thin I thought we'd get burned using them. And besides who doesn't love a cupcake done in retro vintage fabric?

 

If you're like me and haven't sewed a potholder in years, you're going to be surprised at the fillers on the market. I used two layers of filler, one called Insul Bright a filler that had thinsulate looking stuff in in it as well as Warm Batting a thick organic filler.

Now I want to make some more!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Young Man's Adventures

Oh what fun it is to mess with my son. 

One of my recent estate sale purchases was this great old green tool box. I dug through my studio and filled it full of antique "adventure findings"….shark teeth, antique bottles filled with mystery, a rabbits foot, shells, measuring and examination instruments and other cool things.

I brought it to my 12-year-old son and told him a lengthy story about how his great-great-uncle Ebenezer on his dad's side had died and left it with us.  I had just found it and remembered that he felt all young men should have adventures and that my son should have it when he was 12. 

He was terrified and stared at the contents for a long while without saying a thing. I guess I succeeded in getting the tone of the contents to be equal parts creepy and old world curiosity…...Perfect score. 

I now call it the creepy box.  

If he doesn't mind his mom, he has to open the creepy box!

My new baby - a Singer Model 221, aka a Featherweight

"Hey honey, there's an estate sale starting this morning over by St. Francis MN. 

Do you wanna drive over with me?"

Much to my surprise, he says yes.  Oh, oh.

You all know I am a garage-sale-o-holic, but my husband is definitely not a fan of them.  In fact, I believe he may actually curse sales!  I have to laugh, every time he decides to to go to a sale they  are always the trashiest, dirtiest, weirdest sales ever.  Oh boy, I wondered, what I am I getting into?

We drive to the sale, and yup, hubby's curse is still strong. The house was nearly falling down and the outbuildings had already fallen down.  The shabby little house was poorly lit, all the floors were uneven. and it couldn't have been more than 800 square feet.  My imagination of the last resident was an elderly hermit farmer,  a bachelor living on his own for the last 50 years.

Waiting in line, I was so excited and could hardly wait to see what was inside.  This was my kinda sale.  

My husband, standing beside me was shaking his head and mumbling something about  empty shampoo bottles and dirty socks.  

He made a quick pass through the items and headed out to the car to wait.

What was one of the first things I see?  A TREASURE… a 1937 Singer featherweight portable.  Weighing in at 11lbs, the Singer 221 is considered the perfect portable.   This machine is the only Singer model that has complete books written exclusively about it.  There is a fanatic fan base with several websites devoted to it.  Drool.

The rooms in the house were so dark that I really couldn't tell what shape it was in, but I've been looking for one of these babies for awhile now so I made it mine.

I spent the rest of my Saturday cleaning, oiling and buffing her up.  Thank you to Minneapolis' Bobbin Doctor for teaching me all about machine reconditioning and giving me the confidence to tackle this project. 

Let me tell you, she is b-e-a-u-tiful!  She purrs while she sews the straightest line you'll ever see.  

Seriously, quality never dies.

I shall name her Edna and she will be my new best friend.  

Move over computerized modern marvel, there's a new baby in the house.

I am going to have to have my husband curse more sales!

Big Clear Glass Beads...What to Do?

A friend brought me some big clear hand blown beads back from an African vacation. Hmmmm. What to do?

 

They were too big for jewelry.

I wanted something that would catch the light. The beads really are beautiful!

A garage sale later, I bought a $.25

teapot and an idea was born. My garden shines!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Garage Sale Chronicles 2013 - First one of the year

The weather in Minnesota has FINALLY changed and it got over 70 degrees today.  There was snow on the ground this time last week!  What a difference.  Of course, with the warm weather comes GARAGE SALES!  YES.  

Sam got a new night light for his bedroom. The thing stands a couple of feet tall!

One of my little nieces is going to be very happy with these doll shoes and, OMG, the red glasses are to die for.

Yep.  All these are Radio Flyers.  

This picture makes them look small but they would be perfect for the American Girl 18" size.

A Grumbacher paper making set and a ton of flower and sprinkle inclusions.  I haven't made paper in 10 years, but I might have to make some again soon.  My father made me a terrific hydraulic press years ago that is in storage.   Time to get it out. 

Who can resist a set of Japanese bobble heads?  These were $.25 a piece and stand about 8" tall.  They look perfect in the studio.

Oh, yes.  Some more beautiful vintage linens for my stash!  The pineapple tablecloth is labelled California Hand Prints and in perfect condition.  

Bought that one for $.75 and they run about $40 on ebay!

Beaded Cuff

FINALLY!  A year later, the cuff is now done.  

I posted pictures of this project a year ago here, thinking that I was close to having it done.   

I put time in it now and then, but it's been sitting on my workbench for quite a while.

Whew.  Glad it's done.

Original Post: January 7, 2012

My first beaded cuff is almost done. Thought I'd show off a few work in progress pictures.  I think it's going to be beautiful.

I used Lacey Stiff and colored it with a brown sharpie so if by any chance you could see through the beadwork.

I used E6000 to secure the cabachon's.  

In the middle is a jasper one that I bought at bead and button a few years ago.

The other cabochons are simply natural stones.  I free-formed the design as I stitched the beads onto the Lacey Stiff using silk thread.  Yep. ONE AT A TIME.

I will glue suede on the back side of the cuff that is showing in the upper left of the above picture.  Then I'll glue on the beaded cuff and stitch the two together with some sort of fancy beadwork.

That's the plan anyway.  Hope it works!