Wally's Basement: Custom Signs and Frames, Rustic and Reclaimed
All pieces are hand-painted, no stencils, and all wood is found, salvaged, or otherwise reclaimed. I Grandpa Wally had a hard time throwing anything away.
I can remember "dump runs" with him to the town Transfer Station where we would come back with more than we left. Grandpa wasn't a hoarder, he was a re-user, a re-purposer, a re-claimer. When he passed my brothers and I helped our Grandmother clean up the basement for an estate sale. His "estate" was categorized meticulously, and every little thing had its place: rows of Folger's cans filled with
bolts and washers, a chest of drawers containing fly-tying supplies, an aluminum cabinet with paint and varnish, all labeled with the corresponding room, baseboard, or piece of furniture. I remember a particularly exciting moment that day when someone blew the dust off a shoebox to reveal the word "miscellaneous" printed on a piece of masking tape. What could be so miscellaneous in a basement full of miscellany to warrant that label? We gathered around a card table and opened the box. Inside was the cut up remains of a bike tire (to be used as bushings), splinters of shingles (to be used as shims), and a handful of change (Canadian). This hobby of mine pays homage to Grandpa Wally's Basement: I take wood people threw away, and paint left over from projects around the house, and make old-looking new things. All are a little off-square, all are a little miscellaneous, all are one-of-a-kind original--just like Grandpa Wally.
