Bud Vases (2012 – by JLS, for ???). In 2000, I received a very cool spice rack as a gift for my first NY apartment.
While cool, it lacks practicality – it takes up a lot of space, the labels on the tubes are not designed to stay on for long, etc. Left with a cool wire rack and 40 test tubes, I finally got around to this project in 2012. The metal rack and a few of the tubes are now a “vase” in my dining room. The other tubes were added to a new project.
The new racks were constructed with remnant wood that was hand-distressed to make it look a lot older than it is. The tube holes were purposefully mis-drilled to make it look like they were intended for something else (the addition of the felt pads also suggests heavy retasking). As a friend once told me about design (paraphrased)– if you cannot make it perfect, why not then make it imperfect and gear to make it look like you worked around the imperfections as much as possible, in an intentional manner. The metal rods were the most challenging and new for me. They are new stock made to look old – note the rusting. There are many ways to do this, but I needed a process that I could do inside (it’s cold in MN). The final finish you see above was accomplished by: (i) polishing the rods with a normal metal polish in order to remove grease and other surface materials; (ii) some light sanding with coarse sandpaper; (iii) soaking the rods in normal white vinegar overnight; and (iv) a final overnight soak in super-saturated salt water (warmer water will hold more salt in suspension than cold, if you remember some basic chemistry). My research tells me there are likely better ways to age metal – if you are doing this and have the ability to do it outside, I recommend looking into other methods.
Ah, design flaws. This one was a bonus “flaw”. The mis-drilled holes ended up being large enough for dinner candles. The frame can then be converted into a unique candle holder, and the added distress/texture from the wax adds to the patina.
Hit me up on this one…I love the distressing process and there are a lot of different and fun ways to go with it.
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