Playing with Oddities and Funnies

When I was a kid, I loved my grandfather's toolbench out in the garage. He had all kinds of leftover parts from fixing lawnmowers, scraps of wire and dark, mysterious bottles full of ominous liquids. And old jelly jars full of keys that had lost their locks, recycled nails, screws and springs.


He did some yard work, hauling and tree trimming for other people and he had a huge garden, so he had lots of tools and equipment for fixing tools.


My grandmother swore by the healing properties of various lotions, and she would rip up old towels and sheets to make bandages if you got a scrape or a cut. They were both very old school about using it up, making do and stretching what's on hand.



I found these terrific wood-backed cutouts on Etsy, at the ingenious shop of PorkChopShow and although I don't know yet what I'm going to use them for, aren't they fun? They are wooden, so I'm sure I can drill them if I need to, to add to some jewelry or keychain piece. Or under resin in a handmade bezel. The ideas boggle ...


I've been playing with them, rearranging and letting them find a combination. Keys in many various shapes and sizes and reproduced medicine bottles. Some of the labels are scary and some are just humorous. I think they'd be fun with a magnet on the back and hanging on the refrigerator.

He's got other styles, from old laboratory tools to meters from mysterious gadgets - pop over and check it out if you also love those old fashioned sorts of images!