ScrapHappy October 2019:

Deconstructed guitar

Some scrappy projects seem to last a very, very long time. This one stretches back to a time before the internet – I kid you not – when surfing meant getting wet and web pages were books about spiders*.

My first guitar, when I was 13, was a Jedson Telecaster, which was a cheap knock-off (I mean copyright-ignoring) of the Fender with the same name. I loved it, even though it was rubbish. Many years on, and I decided to rebuild it so that it actually worked properly. Where I was working at the time (as part of my uni course), someone brought me a piece of a Land Rover body panel to form the new frontplate, on which would be mounted a new pickup and controls.

And so, with the energy that one has in one’s youth, I launched myself into the project. I sprayed the original body black and the frontplate gold. I scavenged switches (from the same source as those used on the two-minute timer) and a volume control and knob from a radio someone left in a skip.

Tremolo system

Frontplate

Neck

Thirty-five years later and I have since acquired a new neck (for the guitar, not for me) – actually, also technically a scrap that was sold off when the Shergold guitar factory closed. The new tremolo arm and assembly is, in fact, salvaged from another guitar by a nice man in Denmark Street in London, who sold it to me for twenty-five quid.

A ScrapHappy guitar, just waiting for that moment when I put it all together.

One day.

Honest.

[If you want to see guitars that are actually made from scrap, as opposed to one that is currently a pile of scrap, have a look at this WordPress site: Grot Guitars. There are some amazing instruments built out of all sorts of scrappy things.]

oOo

* Sorry, couldn’t resist that.

These ScrapHappy posts are curated by Kate, who provides links to other (mostly sewing) ScrapHappy bloggers at Tall Tales from Chiconia on the fifteenth of every month. I have sneaked a non-fabric-based ScrapHappy in when no one was looking!

Lots of other happy scrappers contribute too, so check them out: Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon (me), Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie and Bekki

ScrapHappy September 2019

Not a very inspiring post this month, but where I work throws out these empty coffee containers rather than clean them out and let people come up with uses for them.

Me? These tins have lids that close tightly making them perfect to be reused as a food waste* bin for the kitchen – as the one I liberated a week ago is currently used for. I collect food waste in the flat I live in during the week and then take it home to the garden compost heap at the weekend. AND this replaces my old food waste bin whose lid decided to stop closing properly, with predictable results.

Scrap and Happy!

oOo

* Not actually food waste, more food-to-be-repurposed

These ScrapHappy posts are curated by Kate, who provides links to other (mostly sewing) ScrapHappy bloggers at Tall Tales from Chiconia on the fifteenth of every month. I have sneaked a non-fabric-based ScrapHappy in when no one was looking!

Lots of other happy scrappers contribute too, so check them out: Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon (me), Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie and Bekki

ScrapHappy July 2019:High(er) and Dry(er)

Take one broken clothes dryer…

Some time ago, there was a crash and the shelves I had put up in the kitchen collapsed in a heap of plaster, wood and cookery books. In my defence, I had put them up a decade before, so I felt that I was not entirely to blame for their succumbing to gravity. However, as I had just kept putting cookery books on the top (book) shelf, I may have had a role in the whole noisy, dusty and dryer-mangling affair.

The clothes dryer, at that time folded up neatly as the manufacturer intended, took the full force of half a hundredweight of books and cooking utensils (only some of which were breakable) and, being designed to take the weight of a small quantity of wet clothes, promptly bent and broke.

It sat, as forlorn as any clothes dryer might look, for a while, swathed only in some wire, left from abandoned attempts at a fix. Then, one day, the Snail said “Take that old dryer apart and we will use some of the bits for the squashes to climb up!” and I did just that because a) it is a really good idea and b) who wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to make the Snail’s dream come true?

Careful with that axe, hacksaw, Eugene, er, Mr Snail

 

Sometimes, you need something a little more powerful that a hand tool, even if you have no idea how to use it safely*

All the bits that go into a clothes dryer

The rivets were easily cut through with a jigsaw – they were just too tough for a hacksaw.

A new lease of life as a squash climbing frame

There were some bits left over that made a ScrapHappy logo (and are now in the place where those useful bits go that haven’t let you know what they will be useful for yet).

oOo

* I learnt everything I know about DIY from Reg Prescott

These ScrapHappy posts are curated by Kate, who provides links to other (mostly sewing) ScrapHappy bloggers at Tall Tales from Chiconia on the fifteenth of every month. I have sneaked a non-fabric-based ScrapHappy in when no one was looking!

Lots of other happy scrappers contribute too, so check them out: Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon (me), Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie and Bekki

Tank(ard)s for the memory

Lurking at the back of the now newly-endoored* kitchen cupboard (see here for details) was this commemorative pint glass from the excitingly named Brewing Congress of the Americas. Back in 1992, I had a real job and just this once was allowed to go further afield than Yorkshire.

It was the first time I had ever flown in an aircraft – I flew from Heathrow to O’Hare, Chicago and then took another flight an hour later to St Louis. Fortunately, it turned out I quite liked flying, even when the landing at St Louis rearranged my coccyx somewhat.

I hadn’t really thought about that trip for years until this tankard emerged from the cupboard. Sadly, the severely cracked glass has had to be recycled but it lives on, in blog form, here.

oOo

• To endoor – to put a door on. Not to be confused with endear, which is the bit at the base of your earlobe.

ScrapHappy June 2019: Love Triangle

You can keep your Bermuda, your isosceles and your musical varieties – my warning triangle is the best. Unfortunately, like a lovelorn triangular heart, it broke. I think it lurked around in the boot of the car and was squished by either some luggage, a dog or a person. What it needed was some scrap – chiefly, three bits of old computer.

I just happened to have this old PC lying around…

The metal braces were once the covers to be found on the back of desktop-flavoured PCs, to stop small fingers and the wet noses of dogs intruding whilst allowing for extra gizmos to be added. Removable, handy pieces of metal once the PC has reached the end of its life – in this case, due to a combination of software obsolescence and reluctance of the power supply to start up first thing in the day (that I can relate to!).

Some strong glue, tins of coconut milk for a bit of pressure on the braces while the glue was drying et voila! One triangle as opposed to six straight lines. Add an old knitting needle in the case to stop the whole thing bending quite so readily when sat on, and the job was done!

Hopefully, I’ll never need to use it!

oOo

These ScrapHappy posts are curated by Kate, who provides links to other (mostly sewing) ScrapHappy bloggers at Tall Tales from Chiconia on the fifteenth of every month. I have sneaked a non-fabric-based ScrapHappy in when no one was looking!

Lots of other happy scrappers contribute too, so check them out: Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon (me), Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie and Bekki