Found at a yard sale in the Coquitlam area near Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, this piece was originally painted pink, one of the large drawers missing. The owner was part of a local Search and Rescue team, I turned that into a title for this chest of drawers. Continue reading Upcycling furniture: chest of drawers
Eighteen drawers – perfect storage! After painting the plain plywood piece I added strips of copper foil for extra sparkle, and the tiny drawer pulls were decorated in different colours to help finding things quickly.
The Green Tower was a custom order by a Vancouver friend who later moved abroad, couldn’t take this piece with her and had to sell it on. So I lost track of it.
Green Tower
Wood, acrylic paint, copper foil. 1999
120 x 30 x 20 cm
This chair is part of a set of four stylish oak chairs which I traded in for an old chest of drawers. The bland looking wood was sanded and stained, the drop-in seats needed re-upholstering. Continue reading Upcycling furniture: chair
When painting and selling upcycled furniture in western Canada, I was always looking for smaller items that would be easier to transport and display, and attractive for a smaller wallet. One of the ideas I came up with were these wooden boxes. A friend of mine, Ted Martin from Pitt Meadows in the Fraser Valley, made MDF boxes with lids for me which I then painted, using a masking technique. These colourful functional items proved quite popular.
MDF, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. 2000
15x15x15.5 cm
I like this kind of garment because it’s so versatile. So I bought a bolt of sturdy unbleached linen fabric and asked a friend to sew tunics for me. I dyed them in different colours and decorated them with my own stamps, cut in Speedball Speedy Cut.
The tunics of this series are all shown on one of the mannequins I designed to display my fabric art.
Linen, Procion fabric dye, Setacolor fabric paint,
hand made stamps. 1999.
Length: 82 cm