Red Lamp + Table = "Lample" is Finished!

It's finished! Our first "lample" is a bright, cheery apple red with white legs and trimmings. The lamp globle is painted with red stripes, yellow and blue spirals and dots. I think it looks cute and it is definitely unique! I'll be bringing it to show at the Art & Wine Walk downtown this Saturday. My art kids really like it and I hope it inspires them to some art inventions of their own! It is especially pleasing to me because this white globe was destined for the landfill and now has a bright, new life!

I continue to work on the second lample - the one with the diamond willow branch legs and barnwood top and shelf. It was disgusting work cleaning the barnwood of bird poop, spider webs, bugs and other accumulated dirt gathering for 100 years. I used a good brush and wore gloves, otherwise I couldn't quite get myself to touch it! Yuk! But it did clean up beautifully and Eric, my husband, has pieces cut and glued for the table top and shelf. I'll coat those with satin finish polyurethane so they'll withstand use.

I need to get outside to get 3 more willow branches stripped. I'll be using tung oil to finish those - I tried it on a small branch and like how rich it looks. Hopefully, this lample will be done for Saturday, too!

Weathered wood and diamond willow trees are plentiful in the Missouri River bottoms where my sister and her husband live, near Williston, North Dakota. We went there over the weekend (350 miles one way) and came home with a trunk full of wood and willow. We had a great time scavenging around their rural area - David, my brother-in-law, has lived there his entire life and so he knew great places for snooping around and finding what I wanted...and even some things that I didn't know I wanted! Did you know there is weathered wood with cool, small, round metals things nailed to it with a previous purpose of holding down tar paper and shingles? I didn't either but now I am the proud owner of several such pieces of wood! I plan to use the wood for table tops and shelves...maybe to go with my painted glass globes - or maybe not. I love thinking about the possibilities. David also knew where there is a stand of diamond willows. The trunks of the diamond willow trees have an awesome pattern of large and small diamonds up and down the length of the trunk. I'm going to remove all or most of the bark to help emphasize the patterns. Then those trunks will become table legs or posts for shelves...photos will come when I get something finished. We also brought home some trunks from a thick chokecherry bush - it bled red when it was cut! Sort of sad, but beautiful, too. I can understand how amber is formed from such gorgeous colored sap. Too bad I'm going to Minneapolis this weekend because I'm charged up and ready to go with weathered wood and willow! I'm sure the Vikings/Colt game will be fun, but I'd rather do art now that I have so much new material to work with! David and my husband and sister were great helpers, without them I'd have nothing - thanks for your enthusiastic help with my recycled art projects!