Re-purposing some old boxes...

I recently got round to doing something with some boxes I picked up a while ago, there were originally used in the printing industry, and they held monophoto negative plates and other plates.

As everything these days is digital there was a chance the boxes would have ended up in landfill, but I've given them some tlc and turned them into artists boxes, quite pleased with the end result.

You can often find things like this at car boots, flea markets and local market places and boxes are always useful and can be quite decorative, I've added some pictures of some of the boxes I've renovated at the end of this post, sometimes it's not so much renovating the boxes as it is repairing them and making them usable again, maybe repairing splits in the wood, or fixing hinges and if it stops them going in the bin then that has to be good thing, I've also found that old boxes despite any faults are more often than not better built than things you can buy these days.

Here's the video of this particular set of boxes - 

And here are some others - 

This one was an old letter box, probably from the 1950's, a lovely Oak box that just needed some tlc.

The box in the image on the right was another one used in the printing industry, this box held large glass plate negatives, it's a great size for a bookcase as you can see.

So there we are some good sturdy boxes saved from the bin, has to be a good thing.

Thanks for visiting.

Barometer renovation...

There was a time when households would have had a barometer hanging on the wall as a way to tell what the weather might do on any given day, they were also used to forecast the weather as well, in reality a lot of the barometers that were available to buy were I guess treated like a gimmick, perhaps as something one might buy if you had the money, not particularly accurate compared to the instruments used by weather forecasters, but never the less they were interesting things to own.

Most of the barometers I have renovated and repaired have been aneroid barometers, these types of barometers were invented around 1844 by a French scientist called Lucien Vidi, and whilst the movements are largely the same the cases were very varied, often wooden, but sometimes in stone, such as slate, serpentine and marble, some had wrought iron cases (which is what I call them) below is an image taken from a catalogue that dates to around 1950(ish) and although the images are black and white you can get an idea of the variety that were available.

A small selection of what was available - 

Below is a video in which I make a new case for a barometer I purchased, I think it's a better fit for the style of barometer, and I'm pleased with the overall result, including reusing wood from an old pub table and stool set that was destined for the bin, part way through the video is an image of another barometer I renovated, although all that one needed was a refresh to the teak case.

Video -

They are interesting things to own and as the variety of styles is... varied there is something to suit most tastes, and in the case of the one in the video if you have the tools you can make your own case.

Thanks for visiting.