every treasure tells a story :: a gleaners collection

March 10, 2011

every treasure tells a story :: a gleaners collection

remember these? i'm certain i have told their story before, but maybe you haven't already read it. how there was a time when my son was young that i had a collaborator and dear friend who happened to live in a rickety old three flat right next door to a giant scrap metal yard beside the chicago river. during our weekly visits, over the course of the few years she lived there, we came and went with our little boys and stooped in all weathers to pick up the odd bits and shapes of copper, tin and brass metal scraps that the wind blew out of the yard and the backs of the big dump trucks onto the street and sidewalk. if we walked in the other direction from her front door, turning down the wide alley, we would happen upon the scattered debris from the salvation army loading dock. here small plastic buttons, beads, clock parts, crushed charms and safety pins would collect in the potholes and settle among the loose gravel on the ground. we were suckers for free treasure and gathered all that we wanted. most of the fragments we found we transformed into jewelry and embellishments for the garments we made. what remained was a couple of formidable found object collections (that continue to expand). a portion of mine has been sorted, photographed and tucked into a cubby in my workroom. while i was busy with a multitude of other projects and ideas, a year passed. now i am finally getting around to listing them in the bricolagelife shop.

if there is a mini chandelier, shadow box, jewelry idea or altered art project in your future, you might want to pick up one or two of these instant collections for supplies!