One of our steampunk creations made from miscellaneous brass pieces, reminiscent of an electrical experiment from an inventor’s laboratory.

Inspired by an ad in an old (1905) Cosmopolitan magazine that we were browsing through which asked “Are your valuables worth $8?”. While pondering what $8 would be worth today (about $230), we also realized that this ad was a perfect partner to our collection of vintage padlocks and keys that all fit nicely inside an antique wooden pencil case.   We’ve also added LED lights at the top of the box to highlight the collection – and they’re battery powered so that there’s no unsightly cord if this is used as a mantle clock.

Today’s offering is an industrial-style tractor headlight lamp, with rusty (but sealed) cast iron gear, pulley and base (used for originally who knows what.)   Needs a sturdy table – this is heavy!

A combination frankenbot and lamp, we call this guy ‘Mars Attack:  We come in Peace”.    Made from a vintage camera, small brass level, brass camping stove, silver cutlery plus bits and pieces.  The ‘antennae’ move at the slightest provocation, so if you have him near speakers, will appear to bob in time with the music.  Good entertainment value!

After a busy spring, summer and fall that prevented us from indulging our passion for all things recycled, we’re excited to announce that we will be participating in the GNAG show at the Glebe  Community Centre in Ottawa on the weekend of November 16-18.  If you’re tired of the madness of the big show at the EY centre, this is one of the best smaller shows around featuring exclusively local artisans.  Please save the date and stay tuned for some new ‘stuff’!

Happy New Year!  Hope 2018 is going to be a good one for everyone.

Thought I’d share a picture of something we made for ourselves just before Christmas – it was a prototype for a Christmas present that I think turned out quite well.   These are some Victorian/early 20th C bottles that we found last year when we were mudlarking along the Thames in England.  There are medicine bottles, soft drink bottles (including a Cobb bottle stopped by a glass marble), a beer bottle, liquor bottles, an ink bottle and  a couple of meat paste jars.  Our friend, for whom we made the Christmas present, has many more of these types of bottle (and better) as he spent a year in England and got into mudlarking in a big way.  Apparently, the Thames has something like 22 feet of mud that contains stuff that goes back to the Romans and before, and objects are routinely found lying on the mud as the tide churns up what’s buried.  Amazing!

Here’s the last 4 lamps – a mish-mash of quirky, elegant and fun.  You can decide which is which.  Just a reminder – the Cheerfully Made Show is TOMORROW November 4th from 10-4 at the Almonte Old Town Hall, Bridge St, Almonte.  If you’re there, please come say hello (and maybe pick up a lamp, clock or frankenbot or two!!).

We’re running out of time to post all the pictures before the weekend, so here’s a double dose today.  Again, the theme is tin.

No sun – no moon!

No morn – no noon,

No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day ….

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease ….

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees

No fruit, no flowers, no leaves, no birds!

November!

(Poem by Thomas Hood)

No worries – we have lamps to brighten the darkest and gloomiest of No vember days.  Today’s lamps are an old and a new design … the telephone lamp we have done before but it’s always a fun one.  The floor lamp is a new design using an antique model-T headlamp and a vintage camera tripod.  We think it looks like a movie spotlight!

Today’s theme is ‘reddish and made of tin’.  Two new lamps of different scale, one a night light or small occasional lamp, the other a bigger rustic table lamp.