Customer Julia Thom Creates Items of Beauty From Castoffs!
We were stunned to see some of the beautiful items that she has refurbished and restored around her home.
Customer Julia Thom has been shopping at our ReStores for about 2 years. She buys ReStore furniture because she feels that the quality of the items is much greater than what is available in stores these days. Her great-grandfather was a furniture maker, so she looks for items that are reminiscent of the items (and quality) that he used to make.
Julia bought this dresser because it was very unique. She loved the idea that the little drawers could be used for jewelry and accessories. The dresser was on sale for $75. She painted the dresser with Fusion mineral paint in black and took off the hardware and painted it with Fusion gold. Now the unique and beautiful dresser has a proud place in her bedroom.
Julia also found this one of a kind, Peruvian carved wood chair for only $30 and restored it using an orange oil and beeswax treatment. She now has a one of a kind piece for under $40!
Repurposed Glass Art from Habitat for Humanity
One of our frequent visitors to Restore (Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland ReStore) is our pictured customer, Cindy Di Pinto. She is an artisan that uses glass or china pieces to create flowers and bird baths. (See cobalt blue and clear glass bird bath in right front corner of photo.)
Cindy tells me that she has to go frequently to Restore in Silver Spring and Rockville to find glass pieces. She has learned which pieces make into the prettiest flowers by the reflection of light and colored pieces of glass. She tells me that the colored pieces are the hardest to find. She tries to find fairly flat pieces. She makes both all clear glass flowers and solid china flowers. These pieces are referred to as “Glass Garden Art.”
She uses glass glue to glue the layers of glass together (usually 3 layers). To make the glass flowers stand up like a flower, she takes a soup spoon and pounds the bowl of the spoon flat and bends the handle. She glues the flat spoon to the center of the back of the glass flower. She purchases 3 foot long PVC pipe and spray paints them a soft dark green. The pipe is pounded into the ground. Then the glass flower spoon handle on the back is placed into the PVC pipe to look like a flower on a stem. These flowers can be placed among a garden either with blooms or among shrubs. They look best in clusters of 3-5. See pictured below the glass flowers in her garden.
Cindy began making these glass flowers as gifts for friends. She enjoyed looking for pieces that would look good together and discovered she was spending more money than she had planned to spend. She now sells them as glass garden art under Cindy’s Glass Flowers at the Olney Farmers and Artisans Market. If you are interested in seeing her work or purchasing her art you can e-mail: cdipinto1@gmail.com.
