Day 4: Repurpose Week--From The Web

How about repurposing when the new purpose is just fun, something to look at and say, "Ha, look at that!" or "Hhhhmmm, who'd a thought of that?"

"Funky Chicken"
Cat Bishop creates sculptures out of junk, found objects, and cast offs.

"Scrapyard Duck"

Check out catbishop here on Flickr for the artist's 1000 piece collection. Cat Bishop also has a shop on Etsy where you can buy one of these unique sculptures or a print of one.

"Espresso Family"

Find more from Cat Bishop here at Junk Market Style.

Bridiemurphy at Junk Market Syle has this fun piece.

"Dead Tools Walkin'" from Elcsco at Junk Market .

Lamp from Found's shop at Etsy .

This really makes me look at my "junk" in a new way! Or it makes me want to write a story about one of them. How about that "Espresso Family" --Doesn't the little one look like a beligerant 8 year old?-- and the parents are looking at each other lamenting the fact that they let her have too much caffeine!

Repurpose Week Continues With A Teacup Bird Feeder

As you know the ground --even sand at our place--is frozen in Nebraska in February. So here is my teacup bird feeder propped up in a little bush!


Here, I propped it up in the patio table. My friend Teri has had a teacup birdfeeder in her garden for years and I have admired it for as long.


My husband gave me a drill press a year ago at Christmas to help me with all of my project ideas, but "life" got in the way and I never got it set up until just a couple of months ago. My brother and sister-in-law were here for a visit, and he said, "Well, let's set it up!" He helped me drill my first holes in glass and then my husband brought down the tap and die set from the farm for me to thread the welding rod I bought for the base. Now, I have my own teacup bird feeder!


No, the sunflowers in the seed there won't work because they are too big to go through the hole, but it's the only bird feed I had today for the picture. I have been buying cups and saucers for just such projects for some time now at auctions and garage sales so there are more feeders to come!!

Puppet Theater

This is without a doubt my biggest repurpose job to date. About 9 years ago I did this project and I don't really know why in the world I thought of doing it except that I love puppets, I had an old piano I needed to do something with, and I had some stress to work out.
I got the puppet stand from a bookstore that used to be in a neighboring town when it closed up.


I pounded, pounded, and pounded this baby apart and when it was gutted proceeded to paint it out in black laquer.


I had visions of the this space where the keys used to sit as a place when opened up would hold scenery props such as cute cardboard trees, light poles, and flowers. Wouldn't that be cute?!
So far our productions have never been that fancy but the little ones like to open and close these doors anyway.


The theater sits flat now and casters would probably be a good idea, but it really isn't that heavy now that it's empty. I also pulled out the wood here in the bottom thinking that this would be the theater for marionettes. Good idea--but--we don't have any marionettes and the one that I bought once was FOREVER tangled up so I got rid of it. The other drawback is that you would really need the theater on a stage to make it high enough to watch marionettes in the bottom.


Did I mention I love puppets? I think this rat is my all time favorite. He really has personality. Really!


Looks like quite a conversation doesn't it?
Now what to do with the keys? How to repurpose them? I have them in storage along with a few of the wood pieces. The bench is painted black and sits behind the theater for the kids to sit on when they give a show!

REPURPOSE WEEK

It's repurpose week here at JillRuth & Co.!!
"What's that?" you may ask. Well, this week I'm going to show you some vintage items that I have repurposed or "given new life" to.
I'll also show you some links to other great repurposed items I've found in this vast web of ideas in blog land.

First off are these two projects:



Do you remember these great old thread spools in this post? Well, now one of them serves as a hanger for this collage from old postcards, stamps, and photos.





This was (I guess still is!) a very old frame, but looks much better now than when it was fallling apart with a very stained picture inside. Now, it's a message board with embellished and dolled up vintage clothes pins on rusty bailing wire to hold messages or ACEOs (Artist Cards Editions, Originals) or vintage post cards or whatever you want!



Vintage rick rack and seam binding also serve as holders on the board. The fabric isn't old but it is reclaimed--from scraps of a friend's quilt project.



I know Leah has a post this morning about a frame that she has given new life to.



This is an ACEO I collaged from a 1950s children's school book that was falling apart.

Please contribute any ideas you have for repurposing, reclaiming, and reusing this week! We all want to learn and hear your ideas!