< Fr. verb - to restore >
This was my second major project.
One evening, while sitting on the porch with my good friend Justin—who is also an English teacher—our discussion turned (as it often does) to literature and then specifically to Fitzgerald’s masterpiece. Justin’s fortunate, in that he gets to teach The Great Gatsby every year, so I asked him (although I already knew the answer) if he would ever get tired of teaching his Gatsby unit. He, as expected, said "no," which then led to an extended discussion on why that was. At some point, we began to discuss the novel's ending, and in particular, the closing sentences. Our conclusion was that those must be the greatest closing lines of any novel, ever. Poetically phrased, summative in their assessment of Gatsby and—by extension—America itself, and (while wholly satisfying) evocative in their ability to capture what it means to yearn for something that will remain—always and forever—just beyond our individual and collective grasps.
With that experience fresh in my mind, I sat out to capture what I could with this project. This spool was the best preserved of the Mobile lot. Structurally, it's rock-solid and the wood is absolutely pristine. I stained it with a light Summer Oak and, with this project in mind, painted the concave spindle washers with a Hammered Gold spray-paint. The top and base measure 30 inches across and—with 4 inch legs—it now stands 25 inches high.
The best way, I thought to capture, the concept of the "green light," and all it signifies, was to actually include a green light. The former was accomplished, as it had been with the Original, by cutting the base off a Jameson bottle. This time, however, I stood the bottle upright, so that it might better replicate what the light at the end of Daisy's dock would have looked like to Gatsby, himself, as he stared across the bay. In combination, the two provide more-than-ample light to read by. Because the spool itself is much larger than the Original, I wasn't sure if that lamp, alone, would provide sufficient light to read by, so I added a stand-alone lamp that pivots (according to one's needs) to whichever side one places his or her favorite reading chair.
The lamp's fixtures are 1/2 inch black malleable iron. The green light component is 24 inches high, which then makes the table's total height 49 inches. The green lamp has its own on/off rocker and the secondary lamp has a stand-alone switch, so each can be turned off or on separately.
While our dog Binx, pictured just to the right, is fond of reading by its light most nights, I couldn't get him to pick-up a book for this particular picture.
If you have any questions at all about this particular piece, please do not hesitate to contact me through the CONTACT link in the navigation bar.
This is one of my favorites. The top is only 28 inches across and it stands just 24 inches high. It was the smallest (and lightest) of the Mobile lot, but it has incredible potential.
It has sat on top of another spool in our living room for the last eight months, but it would make a great End Table or Bedside Lamp. In many ways, this spool is still a "blank" and the possibilities for crafting it to meet your desires.
If you're interested, please see the various lamps on my Lamps gallery to see a few possible ways that this spool could be transformed this into an End Table or a Bedside Reading Lamp).
The navy blue ring around the top was sanded (just slightly) before I finished and shellacked it, so it has a bit of a distressed feel to it. It also received a few additional layers of clear shellac so that it would have an extra shine to it.
After the New Year, I turned this into a mini-shrine of sorts to my beloved Cubs. The cap and ball, both autographed by Addison Russell, were gifts from Ben Singer and his father, Dr. Jeffrey Singer. I'm eternally grateful to both!
If you have any questions at all about this particular piece, please do not hesitate to contact me through the CONTACT link in the navigation bar.
This was the second spool I "found."
I actually purchased this one (via craigslist) from a gentleman out in Slidell, who'd salvaged it from a job site. He wanted to do something with it, but as he told me when I inquired—he just never could find the time.
It was much larger than I expected it would be. It measures a full 39 inches across and stands 28 inches tall. It fit (just barely) in the back of my 4Runner, and my wife, Kim, and I hauled it back to New Orleans.
Because it had been stored it outside, it was pretty weathered, but—structurally—it was rock solid. It took a few long afternoons to sand it down, but (like the Original) it's natural colors were apparent, so I chose to stain it with a light Summer Oak and, again, finish it with a few coats of clear shellac.
The considerable size of the table meant it wouldn't be a traditional End Table, so I had to think about its possibilities as a lamp in a different way. The six fixtures (all black malleable iron) vary in height from 12 inches to 19 inches. As I discovered when I was working with the Original, the Edison bulbs "make" the piece. The warm, amber glow gives off a wonderfully calming light.
It's now a mainstay in our living room, and—as you can see from the various pictures—the decorations often reflect the seasons.
This was, by necessity, my first major project.
This spool—by a considerable margin—was the largest of a group of thirteen spools I bought from a kind gentleman over in Mobile, Alabama. The top measures a full 48 inches across and the drum stands just shy of 30 inches tall. Its so large, and heavy, that the spool's drum hole was reinforced (on both ends) with two heavy 1/8 inch metal plates.
Because I had absolutely no available storage space for a spool this large, I talked to one of my good friends at Isidore Newman and she kindly allowed me to store this beast in the Upper School's Maker Space classroom (thanks again DBB!). Then, of course, I had to get it there. Because it was too large to fit into the back of my 4Runner, I had to roll it three blocks down Jefferson Avenue. That was quite a sight, and my wife was mortified.
It took a full week of hard work to get it cleaned up. I had to sand off the weathering and sand down several splintered pieces. With the help of my Dremel, and seven wire brushes, I was able to remove layers of rust and muck. While I was working on it one afternoon, I happened across Elizabeth Elizardi, who is the Head of Green Trees at Newman. I asked if if she might be interested in this "found" object, and she responded that she thought it might be a great piece for the Green Trees' Entrance. She then asked if I might be able to complete the project before December 3, when Green Trees would host its annual Arts Day. I agreed to try my best, and with her purpose in mind, began to think about the possible fixtures.
Over the course of three weeks, I painted a Kelly Green ring around the outer edge and the core hole and sanded those two elements down to return a bit of a distressed look to the spool. Three coats of Summer Oak stain and another three of clear shellac and it was ready to be installed.
Once, I was able to get it set-up in the lobby, I installed four 4 inch legs and then I began work on the lamp I'd designed. The fixture is made of black malleable iron fitting (from 1 inch down to 1/2 pieces). I spray-painted a base coat of Hammered Copper on each piece and then a hand-painted, with Hammered Bronze, slashes of "bark." I, then, wired each of the eight branches of the tree so that each would be illuminated with its own Edison Bulb, which reflected warmly off the Hammered Copper paint. I used bulbs of various sizes (4.5 inch down to 2.5 inch) to top-off each branch.
On the night of December 2nd, I was able to put the final touches on this piece, which had been transformed from a well-weatheredspool into a tree of light that would stand a welcoming beacon to everyone when they walked in the front door every day.
The December 3 completion date, coincidentally, was quite special for me on a personal level. On December 2, 2015, my father passed away. One year and one day later, I was able to dedicate this project to him. He was a tremendous light in my life, so I thought it altogether fitting and proper.
This spool (one of the thirteen from the Mobile lot) began as an experiment. While I had stained a few of the spools I'd hauled home from Alabama, I'd not tried painting any of them. That's what I initially did with this one. I painted the entire spool with the remaining Kelly Green paint from the Green Trees' Light, but in so doing, I discovered that I had lost what I think is unique to so many of these projects, which is the visible grain and the myriad imperfections in the pieces of wood themselves.
So, I went back to work with the hand-sander and several pages of 150-grit paper. The result was a fully distressed look that gave me the best of both worlds (color and grain).
The spool was too large for a single light, so I—instead—opted for three lights, each in the shape of a cross.
As with the Original, I thought the spool could use some additional color, so I cut the bottom off a heavy wine bottle, and then sat that it the drum hole.
This spool was purchased as a wedding gift and now resides out on the plains of Amarillo, Texas. I hope Rebekah and Hank are enjoying it.
This is the spool that started it all.
Last summer, when I discovered it near a construction site not far from my house in New Orleans, it was covered in a heavy gray clay mud. One of the vertical slats was badly splintered. And, the metal spindles were covered in rust.
I had a few ideas about what I might do with this spool, but—as a project—it really took shape organically as I toyed around with it in my back yard over the course of a weekend. It took quite a bit of sanding to get past the layers of mud and, then, past the orange spray-painted logo, but 60 Grit sandpaper and a few determined hours can work wonders.
Soon enough its natural colors were apparent, and the rough edges had been smoothed down. I burnished the spindle nuts and washers with the Dremel before I stained it with Summer Oak and brushed on a single coat of clear shellac.
The size of this spool (it's 23 inches wide and it stands just 19 inches in height) suggested it would make a perfect side table.
Because I wanted it to also serve as a reading lamp, I added the black malleable iron fixtures you see and then wired it up with a heavy brass lamp fixture and a rocker switch that would hang out of sight.
The final step, then, was to cut the bottom off of a Jameson bottle to serve as the shade.
The 80- watt Edison bulb inside gives off enough warm light to read by each night.
The flowers you see were planted inside another (smaller) Jameson bottle, which then fit perfectly into the spool's drum-hole.