'Cheap Thrills' be my middle name.
I acquired the items pictured after watching blacksmithing demonstrations at two separate venues this year. The square head nail was made by the blacksmith at last weekend's Amador County Fair (great fair, btw) and the coat/towel/ whatnot hook was hewn a few months ago by a blacksmith at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, WA. The fellow at the fort called his creation a '1865 clothes dryer'.
At each smithing demo, I happened along at just the right time and 'scored' the end result of the crafter's labor. It wasn't even necessary for me to shove any little kids aside (not that I would've...)(wink) to situate myself in an advantageous position to view the demo. Front and center definitely increases the likelihood of being the lucky recipient of a they-make-it-then-give-it-to-an-interested-onlooker item!
Sooooo - what to do with these two neat-o souvenirs: I intend to attach both to our cute n' handy kitchen cart from Ikea. The nail will have an oven mitt hung on it and the hook will hold a dish towel.
Functional - as they were intended to be.
Little things like this provide me with daily 'mini doses of joy'.
Hence the 'cheap thrills' moniker.
'Huzzah for blacksmiths!'
2 comments:
did no one else catch the whole smithie connection?
no wonder you won em both!
although I don't know if I totally buy that part about not shoving aside little kids...
next time you take a visit to the bay area's ikea, invite me! I need an excuse to go, and to see you smithies!
I promise I won't make you smith me a nail.
p.s. they are allegedly trying to develop an IKEA in petaluma... gross...
very observant, jessamynit!
i go to ikea not-too-often, but will definitely give ya a holler the next time!
we could meet at the cafeteria and eat swedish meatballs and/or soft serve ice cream.
as an excuse to see each other, of course!
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