Hand Ink Stamp Pencil and Note Holders

I ran across a box of old wooden handled hand stamps at the antique store here in town a year or two ago and they were so cheap I had to buy the whole lot. The actual stamp parts on most of them where gone, so it was a smooth surface, which gave me the idea of mod podging something onto the faces of them, and sitting them upright like a little piece of art for a shelf.

On some of them I applied pieces of old maps from an outdated atlas along with illustrations cut from old encyclopedias. I then applied phrases with bright letters cut from unused beer labels,
I found them on ebay and now have about 2000 of the things.


On others I attached some vintage fabric dye labels, another ebay score. They have everything on them from birds, pictured, to one that shows an Indian woman being mauled by a Tiger.
I supose that's what sold fabric dye in the 1800's.


This was a really simple and quick project but when I got done with them I was a little bothered by the fact that they really didn't have a purpose, they didn't seem to BE anything. So, I took them out to the garage. I drilled holes in some and made pencil / pen holders, and then I used looped wire on others to make business card / note holders. I like them much better now that each of them has a purpose, and they look pretty dang cool to boot.

Picture Frame Terrarium - Mini Conservatory

About a year or so ago Target had this awesome little metal terrarium for about a week. That's how Target is, if you don't get it when you see it, it won't be there next time. I had planned on buying Mrs. Hughes one but didn't get to it in time. Since then I had been thinking on how to build one for her and one day it occurred to me that it would be much easier to make if I didn't have to cut glass or figure out a way on how to get the glass to fit and stay within the frame. Basically, I wanted a lazy man's terrarium.

It took me some thinking but I finally realized that picture frames would be perfect, if, there was a configuration of them that would work without having to alter their shape. I got messing with the numbers and realized that if I used an 11"x14" frame for the sides, that an 8 1/2"x11" document frame would work for the ends. Then I guessed that I could use 4, 5"x7" frames for the top. My only real concern was how to get them all to fit together and be a solid structure.

I took a trip to Goodwill but had trouble finding the 11"x14" frames or the document frames. But I did manage to find two 10"x13" frames, which meant I could use the more common 8"x10" frames for the sides. I searched and found 4, 5"x7" frames pretty easily. For this terrarium I used all wood frames with a similar style, but I would guess you could use all metal ones if you could find them.


Through some trial and error I figured out it was hard to nail the frames together with my nail gun due to the angle that was on the back of them. I wound up just kind of tacking them together with the nail gun and then I used clear silicon to adhere them. I made an L shape out of one of the big frames and one of the side frames, did the same thing again and then attached the two Ls together. Then I put a tonne of silicon on the small frames and leaned them to create the top, I used a square dowel at the peak to even everything out. The glass was removed on all frames to make putting it together easier.


Once the silicon dried I filled in all of the cracks and spaces between the frames with wood filler, I used a lot of wood filler. Especially between the roof and the walls. I then gave it several coats of white paint with a large brush and let it sit for a few days. The handles were attached before I painted, they are just dresser drawer handles. I painted over them as well. Once everything was dry I put the glass back in from the opening on the bottom. This took a little work and I was just lucky that the way everything went together didn't block where the panes went back in. I used silicon around the edge before putting the glass in, and then I used silicon on the other side of the glass as well. I used a caulk gun for all but the last large pane, my gun wouldn't fit in the box anymore so I had to just use my finger for the last one.

Once the paint dried I went over it with a coat of dark furniture wax. I rubbed most of that back off using Goo Gone until I got it to the color I wanted.



I plan on building a crown molding base for this, I just haven't gotten to it yet. Once I get them written out I will post full instructions for making this on www.theupcycler.com

More soon! ~ The Upcycler

Mason Jar Lantern, Glass Insulator Lantern

I bought a couple of old blue mason jars with zinc tops at the antique store down the street recently with the intention of cutting the bottoms off of them to make cloches. Turns out cutting glass is hard, duh. So, I didn't get too far on that upcycle. However, Mrs. Hughes and I were in the herb shop down on main street in Franklin this past weekend and they had some awesome glass globe lanterns with black metal hoop handles. They instantlly gave me the idea to turn my mason jars into lanterns.

Honestly I thought it would be a pretty easy thing. I decided to use a metal coathanger instead of going to Home Depot and purchasing wire. Cutting and straightening out the coathanger was pretty simple. The hard part came in bending the round part that went around the lip of the jar. I had to bend it in a circle plus add two little openings for the handle ends to fit through, then, I had to fix it to where the two ends of the round piece met and hooked around one another tightly, since this bangle around the jar lip is what would hold the handle in place, and, it would be hung from it's handle.

I happened to have some craft wire from an old project that is covered in what I believe is hemp. I think they use it for branches for floral arrangements. I wrapped the handle to my lantern with that, but you could probably use actual hemp, or maybe even rafia. A good coat of wax over it would probably waterproof either well for use out doors.

You will need something to sit on the bottom of the jar to act as a wax catch for your tea light or candle. I used an aluminum cupcake wrapper, I tried to use a baby food jar but it was a hair too big to fit into the opening of the jar. If you melt the bottom of the candle a little and then sit it on the wrapper first it's a lot easier to get both into the jar at the same time. Remember to remove the paper part of the wrapper.

For what appeared to be a simple little project bending wire just the way you want it can take some time. I think this turned out great though and plan on making several more. After showing it to Mrs. Hughes she gave her approval. I was sure that she would deem them too country for use around our house/back porch, etc... but it looks like this is one upcycle we will get some good use out of.


After completing the Mason Jar Lantern I remembered an old glass utility pole insulator that I had bought a while back and thought it might make a good lantern as well. Turns out I was right, actually, a tea light fits into the hole perfectly. If you decide to make either one of these lanterns I would suggest that you add a piece of wire or twine to the top to tie the handle to the hook you hang them on. They are pretty heavy, the insulator is actually heavier than the quart mason jar, and would hurt pretty good if one fell and conked you on the head.

PLAN B If you aren't inclined to cutting and bending wire, few are, then here is another great idea for mason jars, or, any jars you have around the house. I actually saw this in Southern Living last month in use on a farm table for a picnic, except they used a handmade wood box instead of a soda pop crate.

Find yourself an old soda crate, any brand will do as long as it's wood and doesn't have a lot of dividers in the middle. Open in the middle is best. Collect up all of your old unused jars or half empty jars from the fridge. Old flower vases that you aren't protective of work well too. Fill the pop crate with the vases, jars, bottles, even metal vegetable cans with the labels torn off work, and arrange them to your liking. Now head down to your nearest field and pick some wild flowers, or cut a few Dogwood limbs, Saucer Magnolias, etc... you get the idea.

More soon,
The Upcycler

Dragonfly Brooch

This is one of the first things I upcycled, before I even knew what upcycling was. I had already started buying old books, so I had the book leather. The wings are from a Diet Mountain Dew plastic bottle, the frame of it is made from floral wire and the eyes are two green, faceted, glass beads that I swiped from my wife's beading drawer. I took a series of pics as I was making it,
I guess so I would remember how if I ever wanted to make another one. So here those are with some basic instructions in case you want to make one of your very own.


The first image, above, shows the completed wire frame. The total length of the pin is about 5 inches. Basically I started with two pieces of wire about 10 inches long, I made an X with them and crossed them over eachother to get the head and body shape. It took a little work to get it fat towards the head and thin towards the tail. Once I got to the tail I just twisted the ends together. Then i took another piece of wire and looped it around the outside of the frame. The "eyes" were tied into place using thin strips of plastic from the Diet Mountain Dew bottle. To get these you just cut the top and bottom off the bottle with scissors, then you have a tube, you cut the tube open and you have a rectangle. You cut a strip off of the longer part of the rectangle that is about a quarter of an inch wide, then, cut that strip in half and you have some tiny strips. Depending on the hole sizes of your beads, you may need to cut them in half again. It's easier to cut a larger one in half than it is to try and cut a thin one from the rectangle in the beginning.
I also put a dab of hot glue on the eys as I set them in place just to be safe.


In the second shot, above, you can see a full piece of old book leather, more on that in a minute. Also present are the wings, notice that this is one piece. Using the rectangle of plastic from the bottle I cut out what is basically a vertically flattened X and then rounded off the ends. I made the top wings a little bigger than the bottom ones. Then, using an exacto knife I scored the dragonfly wing pattern into each wing. It's a lot easier than it sounds, you just score one or two large horizontal lines, and then you score several dozen vertical lines off of that, similar to the veins in a tree leaf.

I don't have a picture of the attaching of these, but it comes AFTER the next step, wrapping the frame in book leather.


The trick for getting old book leather off of the cover of an old book is to soak it it warm water. The leather was glued onto pasteboard/cardboard most likely and will be easy to pull off once it soaks for a little while. be warned though, the leather will get very tough once it dries as it's very thin. So it's best to work with it while it's still wet. For the above image I cut a few long strips from the book leather and tightly wrapped them around the frame of the dragonfly. It will kind of stick to itself on the ends, which is good, because you can't hot glue the ends until AFTER the leather has dried. I also cut a butterfly bandage shaped piece of leather and put it over the head of the dragonfly longways, making sure the eyes are still visible. So one end of the "bandage" covers his forhead and wraps around his mouth, while the other end covers his chin and the underside of his head. You can use a little wood glue to get this to stick, then wait for it to dry and come back with some hot glue to finish.

Well I wish I had taken more pics but that's all you get. To finish it up you take two thin strips of the leather and tie the wings on at the top, leave the strips hanging and you have yourself four legs. Then taking another butterfly bandage shaped leather piece cover up the top of the wings where they touch the frame. Don't forget to tie in a safety pin on the back, you can either insert the back part of it when you are wrapping the frame in leather, or you can tie it on there using the same strips you used to tie on the wings, a dab of hot glue will keep it all in place. As a final touch I turned the exposed ends of the floral wire at the tail into little loops and dabbed on some wood glue as the covering over the wire will fray off otherwise.


If you want to make one of these and get stuck drop me a link at cj@theupcycler.com and I will give you some pointers.

More soon! ~ The Upcycler

Welcome to my world

What is Upcycling? ~ To put it simply, upcycling is taking something old and unusable and transforming it into something usable.

I have 4 recycled tote bins in my office closet filled with old paper. Seriously. My wife can't stand it. What's in there? Well, two nearly complete sets of encyclopedias from the 1920's to start. A 4 inch thick pile of printer plates from a book on wild flowers, at least 4 atlases, french poetry books from the late 1800's, lots of cuttings from different books and magazines, it's pretty crazy in there. And that's just the paper of course. Out in the garage I have about 40 11"x11" wood trays that were pulled from a handmade mechanic's tool locker. I've been turning them into valet trays, candle trays, etc.. And then you have the box of skeleton keys that are destined to become wind chimes, the door knobs that are now curtain hold backs, the old book leather that I like to use on lots of things, cigar boxes, old metal boxes, it's all pretty exhausting really.


But, each piece was bought with one purpose in mind. To make it into something else, something beautiful and/or usable. The books are all falling apart or stained so I have no issues with ripping pages out of them and reusing the covers for notebooks or journals. And everything else is just waiting to become part of something new. My wife's weaknesses are ironstone and mercury glass, but mine will always be paper, or ephemera as it's called in the collecting world.

As a way of purging some of my materials I am starting THE UPCYCLER. It will be an online reference site for others wishing to upcycle items and I will also sell items that I have re-purposed, and will throw in some vintage one-off items to boot. Paint by number Jesus anyone?

The main website will be www.theupcycler.com while the blog attached to it will be here. Please follow my blog, I will be adding pictures of newly upcycled items as often as my business, www.logodesign-webdesign.com, my wife, www.vintagejunky.blogspot.com, and my boy allow.

More soon ~ The Upcycler

Testing 1, 2, 3

This is a test of the upcycler blogging system. This is only a test.

This has been a test of the upcycler blogging system. Had this been an actual upcycler blog it would have been much more informative, longer, and possibly entertaining.