A couple of years ago, I was almost obsessed with wanting to work with metal stuff. I had come across some clocks made with bread pans, spoons, sieves, all kinds of odd things. And I had taken a class with Linda and Opie O'Brien, and of course they make great use of old tins and springs and all kinds of found parts. So when I went to a Catholic thrift store, that was what was on my mind. This store is one of those places jammed packed with donated stuff, fairly well organized, but still a place where you squeeze through the aisles and dig to find the cool stuff. It's the kind of place where you would find a container full of old wooden rulers. Not plastic rulers, wooden rulers. The kind where someone a long time ago carved their name in it while sitting in class, with a pen knife that was probably allowed, didn't cause alarm, and did not warrant a terror alert and the shut down of the school and every business in a two-mile radius. But I digress. Nothing in this store is priced, but if you want it, when you check out one of the nuns will tell you how much it is and it's probably not very much. So I came home with a few items. And when I brought in the religious figure laying in the bread pan, with the ladle over his head, it just seemed like it should stay that way. I had intentions of drilling holes in the ladle and hanging some beads there, and adding more embellishments around the edge and in the background. But for now, this still sits exactly as it came home, with nothing permanently attached. I have always felt it gives me a little protection and comfort, this guardian of my home and art area.
Around that time, I also started collecting tins of all kinds, for deconstruction and future projects. But with some of them, I like them just as they are, and I could never cut them apart.
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