to salvage or not to salvage?

You may have heard me complain on here about Laurence's collection of scrap wood, and, well, anything that can be "salvaged." He's always trying to convince me that someday he'll use whatever new item he's trying to stow away in the garage before I see it. I'm very observant though. There have been several times he's used the the phrase, "well, you're home early" after I happen upon some pile of wood or maybe a deep freezer in the driveway before he's had a chance to stow it away. He's convinced me to, um, shall we say trespass, on several occasions to scope out some sort of loot. Even last night, in the middle of Market Square, he hopped up on a dumpster to see what treasure might be found inside. I've started to intervene, telling friends and neighbors, "no thanks" for the both of us. For some reason people keep offering to give him free scraps, i.e. save themselves a trip to the dumpster by having Laurence come collect their treasures. Well, I've given up on ever actually being able to park a car in our garage, but I'll still continue to fight my battle, trying to encourage responsible collecting. All this to say, I really do value this quality of inventive resourcefulness, and I see how helpful it can be when trying to restore an old house. I also see how necessary it is to have someone reigning in the collector occasionally.

So, when I was asked to participate in an "Art from Salvage" show, I quickly passed on the info to the best salvager I know. And, look what he made for it! Some people don't quite understand when I try to explain the materials he used: lathe, knob and tube, charred word from a burnout, etc. So, you can just see for yourself. I'm hoping he'll make me some of those nice planter boxes to have on our front porch this summer. And, the coat racks were a big hit too!

large lathe planter 

small lathe planter

coat-racks

at the show

This is kind of a blurry picture, but I'm loving this idea of being included in the view finder more often. It'll take some effort and getting use to for me, but I think this should be an aspect of peppered paper's revamp. Thanks to these inspiring ladies for turning me on to this movement:

ashleyannphotograpy

thespoonfulblog

andersonfamilycrew