I'm not the only creative one in the household... Glenn is very talented in his own areas of interest. In fact, he just finished a chicken coop for us, but that will have to be the subject of another post. Today, I want to show you some of his steampunk creations.
Glenn is a collector of all things old and interesting and is especially fond of brass fittings, old electrical implements (we have something like five antique waffle or sandwich irons and a Toastalator). He has been assembling them into odd and curious sculptures that decorate our lives for years.
This lamp is probably one of the oldest items in our antique house (a carpenter gothic, built in 1854 from an Andrew Jackson Downing design, for those who want to know)... Glenn retrieved the original lamp from a discard pile in Sacramento, where they used to allow you to pile up all your throwaways once a year and the garbage company would pick them all up.
He has added many gauges and knobs over the years, confounding many a visitor who has inquired, "What IS that?!"
Below is a close up of the attachments....
Dangling on one is a pretty, little beaded tassel I found somewhere. Tassels are another thing Glenn has collected for years, and being a loving wifey, I even made him a few, using pearl cotton, but they just didn't have the flair of the vintage ones I stumble upon. Tassels are tucked away in many obscure places throughout our house.
Recently, Glenn has been turning his talents to developing some functional items that blend better with our house than what is available at the local home and garden big box stores....
A birdbath for my herb bed, using an antique pole lamp base, garbage can lid, and finial.
A modification of plastic solar yard lamps to provide safety lighting for our porch...
Instead of assembling the lights as directed, he set the top portions with the solar panels into some antique porcelain fittings from a truckload of old parts a friend just gave him... then attached one on each post either side of the kitchen door (our main entrance... an old farmstead tradition).
Glenn also collects and puts to use antique glass reflectors... after all, the last thing we want is someone driving right into our porches!
There were four lights in the set, and the third has been placed into an old piece that adds great sculptural interest to the porch, which wraps around almost all sides of our cruciform-shaped downstairs... the light will help keep an unruly guest from toppling this onto a pet or small child; our homeowner's insurance just wouldn't like that.
Glenn could tell you what the iron portion was originally; I can't remember right this minute, and haven't identified many of the pieces and bits, even though I know what many are, simply because it is late, I'm tired and I certainly might get it wrong.
In the just-because category, he has also been assembling some sweet little sculptures... yes, I wish I had better camera equipment too! I also apologize if this post turns out a little wonky in its spacing.. I am having some conflicts with Typepad tonight, and certainly don't feel assured of getting the results I want!
These little pieces grace our table currently, but will probably change shape and form and end up elsewhere, maybe even as gifts. Nice to live with a talented man.
