Handmade giving
When someone shares their passion for cooking, or decorating, or making something from nothing … it always excites me. Enthusiasm is contagious; it produces sparks of energy that radiate, and enriches the lives of all those it touches. I am always tempted by new ideas, and have just discovered a great book, “DIY Rustic Modern Metal Crafts,” written by a woman with such a passion for upcycling galvanized metal objects that you will find them in every room of her home. Laura Putnam began as a blogger, writing about what she loved doing and how to gather the bits and pieces that make a home truly yours. If you are looking for a new outlet for your creative energy, or simply want to explore different ways to upcycle using metals, there are 35 clever ideas to inspire you.
To start at the beginning, galvanized metal is iron or steel that has been coated in a layer of zinc to protect the metal from the elements, and thus holds rust at bay. When searching out metal objects for a project, Putnam describes both vintage and new galvanized materials, and where to look for them, which is an essential guide to the numerous project ideas she describes and illustrates with step-by-step photos. These include sheet metal, buckets, feeding vessels, strap iron and stove end caps, as well as decorative elements.
Putnam describes her Advent tree shown here as taking the pressure off making an Advent calendar year after year; once it’s made, it will become a family favorite, reappearing with different treats for years to come. Lay out 25 buckets with 2 1/2-inch openings onto a board in a triangular tree shape, and cut the board to fit. Paint the board white, or your preferred color, and let dry. Start at the base, line up five buckets, and attach each one to the wood at the top of the bucket with a sheet metal screw and screw gun. Once the tree is complete, add numbers from 1 to 25 starting at the top with scrapbook number stickers. Fill the buckets with a variety of treats: candy, small toys, a note or poem, a tree decoration, whatever suits.
As a gift or for your own home, a personalized wreath is a special way to celebrate any season of the year, or even birthdays and anniversaries. You’ll find stove pipe end caps at hardware stores. They are designed to close out the end of stove piping and come in multiple sizes to fit different size pipes. They are round, and Putnam shows their usefulness in many ways – making candles, planting and for this wreath. The base is an 18-inch MDF wreath form. Two sizes of end caps are used – 9 inch by 3 inch, and 5 inch by 4 inch – and are attached to the base with heavy duty craft glue designed for metal. The caps are then filled with your choice of curios chosen by theme: shells from the seaside, small Christmas ornaments or family photos cut to size and fitted into the caps.
Find out how to make a feed pan clock, a milk can table lamp, galvanized mirror frame, leaf wreath and lanterns, toy storage container and other unique ideas. You can discover more about Laura Putnam, her blog, her book and her family business at www.findinghomefarms.com.
Email your questions to house2home@debbietravis.com.