Built in cupboard project - all salvaged and repurposed wood

Built in cupboard made from salvaged and re-purposed pallets

Pallet cupboard, this is the laundry basket

Wow !!

What an interesting project undertaken during last week and yesterday.

Customer; Erno van Dyk; commissioned a built in cupboard for his bathroom. 

All made from re-purposed wood, pallets to be more specific. 

Individual components were built from space measurements, and then assembled and finished onsite. 

The assembly took some cutting and adjusting as the wall and floors of this 1940's are not straight. (I'm guessing the time-period of this beautiful home)

Posting a few w.i.p, late stage assembly photos. More final photos to come ....

Pallet cupboard inside view shelf

I enjoyed this project, all the dead braincells had to be brought back to live !

The Hole in the Wall Horse Project table - Delivered Safe and Sound

The table that was donated by Salvage Kul.char for the Hole in the Wall Horse Project Collection Group, made its journey across the country and arrived safe and sound at home in the outskirts of Africa.

Below some pics:
1. the parcel as it arrived
2. unpacked in its new place.

1

2

Growing a vertical garden and foil the cats !

A Vertical Veggie Garden - easy to do !

I came across this idea and think it is just brilliant! :-)

If you don't have the space, or like me a household shared with cats, then planting and growing a proper vegetable garden is an issue. Solution - re-purpose your shoe organiser !!

This solution gives you an alternative for the space issue and solves the problem of cats littering and soiling in the vegetable garden.

So what do you need:

• Hanging pocket shoe organiser (preferably canvas type)
• Pole and attachments (curtain pole or pipe fittings, screws)
• Strong metal hanging hooks 
• Compost of a good quality moisture holding type
• Selection of plants or seeds... e.g. mixed leaf salad, herbs,sorrel, peas, mini tomatoes
• Piece of wood (5cm x 5cm) and as long as the width of the shoe organizer to keep the base of pockets  away from the wall
• Planter box, this will catch drips from organiser - Plant with herbs / veg

Hanging Vegetable Garden

Full instructions and sourced from  www.instructables.com

Step 1:

Attach a strong pole to a wall.
Curtain rods, wooden broom stick or any other suitable strong pole or rod can be used.
Make sure it is high enough to leave space for plants in the planter box to grow

Attach pole to a wall

Step 2:
Hang the shoe organiser.
Use strong hooks to hang the shoe organiser.  They must be able to carry the weight of the organiser, wet soil and plants.

Hang organiser on pole attachment

Use strong hooks

 Step 3:
Test water flow and drainage
Pour water into the pockets to check the drainage, if the drainage is not sufficient, poke a few holes in the bottom of the pockets

Water drainage test

Step 4:
Fill with compost
Use a good moisture retaining compost. to ensure the water does not pour out, fill the pockets to about 5cm below the pocket rim.

Add compost

Step 5:
Add plants or seeds
Plant seeds or seedlings.
Suggested plants:
Herbs - Thyme, Chives ....
Leaves -  Mixed salad leaf, spinach...
Peas - Petit pois peas
Tomatoes - cocktail, minibel tomatoes

Plant seedlings / seeds

Step 6:
Add a drip aid
Using the piece of wood, place at the bottom back end of the organiser to make sure the excess water drips directly into the planter box

Drip spacer

General and Maintenance:

• Water slowly to ensure that you dont wash the soil and plants out of the pockets
• Find out if your plants will need fertilizer and add to the soil as per instructions i.e. tomato
• Salad leaves can be picked and eaten and re-picked, but don't over pick in one go
• Watch out for pests and treat when spotted
• Replace dead / unproductive plants add fresh compost to the pocket and replant with a new plant / seed

Full instructions and sourced from  www.instructables.com

Today is the anniversary of Rembrandt van Rijn

Google honours the birth date of Rembrandt with a Google Doodle. 

Google Doodle 15 July 2013

I am an admirer and follower of art and find inspiration from a variety of artist and art forms; across all spectrum's, genres, timelines etc.   

Today I share this post in honor of a Dutch Master....

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher.

Rembrandt is considered the most important painter in Dutch History and as one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art. 

His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the Dutch Golden Age when Dutch Golden Age painting, although in many ways antithetical to the Baroque style that dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative.

Famous Rembrandt van Rijn works of art: (in no particular order)

It is difficult to choose favorites, invariably that list is different from person to person. Below some famous ones. Go the link at the bottom to view the complete collection.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp c. 1632

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp - 169.5 x 216.5 cm. Mauritshuis, The Hague

The Night Watch c.1642  (The Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and  Lieutenant Willem van  Ruytenhurch)

The Night Watch - 363 x 438 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Feast of Belshazzar: The Writing on the Wall c. 1635

The Feast of Belshazzar: the Writing on the Wall - oil on canvas 65 3/4 x 79 1/8 in. National Gallery, London

And then, just because I know we can all do with a bit of light reading :-)

A bit about "The Legend and the Man," in The World of Rembrandt: 1606-1669 (Time-Life Library of Art), Walter Wallace, New York, 1968, pp. 17-25     

In life Rembrandt suffered far more misfortune than falls to the lot of an ordinary man, and he bore it with the utmost nobility. Three centuries after his death the misfortune, if a man long deceased can be said to endure such a thing, continues. To be sure, it is no longer the fashion for critics to attack him both as artist and human being. Today the injury is done with a fond smile by writers of romantic biographies and films who mean to honor him. Their revised standard version of Rembrandt's life runs approximately as follows:

 "The child of poor, ignorant Dutch peasants, Rembrandt was born with near-miraculous skill in art. As an uneducated young man, he established himself in Amsterdam, married a beautiful, wealthy, sympathetic girl named Saskia, and enjoyed a brief period of prosperity and fame.

However, because men of genius are always misunderstood by the public, fate snatched him by the throat. The important burghers of the city, who may not have known much about art but knew what they liked, gave him an enormous commission - the Night Watch - in which the burghers were to be painted in traditional postures and lights. 

Rembrandt responded with a masterpiece, a fact unfortunately apparent only to him and his wife. Everyone else, from the burghers to the herring-peddlers, thought the painting was dreadful. Rembrandt's patrons hooted in rage and derision, demanding changes that the artist, secure in the knowledge that posterity would vindicate him, stubbornly refused to make.

"At this point, because it is not customary for a genius to suffer a single setback but to be overwhelmed by multiple catastrophes, Rembrandt's wife died, the Night Watch was ripped from the wall and placed in some indecorous location, his friends deserted him .and he was hounded into bankruptcy. In his final years no one would commission a painting from him; he was reduced to making self-portraits, which he did whenever he could cadge the necessary materials from his art-supply dealer.
His only comforters were his san Titus and his mistress Hendrickje, both of whom died in heartrending circumstances. Prematurely aged at 63, he passed away in such obscurity that the burghers, observing his pathetic funeral, inquired, 'Who was he?' 
However, even at that dark hour the mills of the gods were slowly grinding, and in our own time the verdict in favor of Rembrandt's greatness has been amply reaffirmed by the trustees of New York's Metropolitan Museum, who not long ago paid 52.3 million for his Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer and were very lucky to get it at the price. Indeed, as the Metropolitan's director Thomas Hoving recently remarked, 'Look at that chain [on Aristotle's shoulder]. That alone is worth two million three!' " 

The foregoing summary is an interesting and tidy one, and presents the view of Rembrandt generally seen by the world. In most respects, however, it is dead wrong. 

• Rembrandt was not a peasant;
• nor was he uneducated;
• the Night Watch did not bring about his downfall; indeed, 
• he never had a "downfall" in the dramatic sense. And
• when he died, there remained more than a few people who held him in the highest regard.

Nonetheless, myths die hard, and that of Rembrandt is durable. In the United States the myth is particularly widespread, in part because of a 1936 film in which Charles Laughton portrayed the artist. Despite its age, Laughton's Rembrandt remains a valuable commercial property, is frequently shown on television, and has been seen and presumably accepted at face value by an enormous number of people, upwards of 100 million.

However, through no fault of Laughton's, who in private life was a serious connoisseur of art, the script with which he was obliged to work was not a masterpiece of accuracy. Whenever the film is shown, another half-million viewers are exposed to the myth, but whenever a scholar ferrets out a new scrap of truth about Rembrandt and publishes it in an art journal, only a relative handful of fellow-scholars are aware of it. There is, of course, nothing novel in this situation-Michelangelo, Leonardo, van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and others have been similarly treated-but Rembrandt has endured more than the rules of the game should allow.


In Rembrandt's case myth-making comes easily as an alternative to fact-finding. Romantics and scholars alike are handicapped by a scarcity of contemporary information, not only about Rembrandt but about most of the artists who participated in the great sunburst of painting in the Netherlands of the 17th Century.

Rembrandt left no journal or notebook, and only seven of his letters have been located-all addressed to the same man, concerning a specific project and revealing little of his thought or personality. Yet even this thin sheaf is comparatively a rich hoard. From the hands of other major artists of Rembrandt's time - Frans Hals, Jan Steen and Jacob van Ruisdael - not a solitary note has been found. Possibly Dutch artists rarely wrote letters, but it seems more likely that their correspondence was not thought worth keeping.

Read more from http://www.rembrandtpainting.net

Pallet table - made for a "Pay it forward" donation to The Hole in the Wall Horse Project Collection Group

Another pallet got a second life as a coffee table.  

Through the Salvage Kul.char Pay it Forward initiative; Salvage Kul.char donated a rustic table to The Hole in the Wall Horse Project Collection Group.

The group decided to do a fundraising auction of table and collected a satisfying amount in a short period of time.

Enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed the project.

This project was made using:

1. Own design
2. A discarded pallet (plus extra planks)
3. Muscle and brains (ok in all fairness, the bits I had at hand)
4. Homemade stain (light)
5. Nails and screws and brackets for legs
6. Horse quote and graphic - www.? (sorry i have had this image so long don't have the source anymore)
7. The Hole in the Wall Horse Project Collection Group logo from their Facebook page
8. Salvage Kul.char trademark logo 
9. Water based outdoor sealer

For this table I just had to do a horse image to match the charity project it represents.

Final product

Design proposal

Pay it Forward Voucher - now Redeemed

Table with sanded and ready for graphic to be done

 

Side view, see I still have some pallet in me :-)

Salvage Kul.char trademark and the serial number stamped and stained

 

Painting letters

Painting image

Hole in the wall project logo

Graphics done - layer 1 before sanding again

Close up - completed graphic transfer and paint work

Final sanding done and first coat sealer

Close up side view after stain

Top view table top

We have been featured on ...

PS.  a Salvage Kul.char product is featured on the Monday Brag Feature on the Graphics Fairy website.

- follow the link to view

http://thegraphicsfairy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/French-Pallet-Wood-Table.jpg

Typography design

Art inspiration

Art is...

Unique with a Serial Number !!!

Nice nice .....

not just any old run of the mill production line, mass produced item!!

Meet Chock

Hi, I am pleased to meet you. 

 My name is Chock. 

I am named after the rain forest hum "Chock, chock, chock,"

 

the love song of Agalychnis Callidryas which is played in overlapping notes around a pond.

Yep, It's a Frog's Life - Born on the run, hiding in plain sight

Pretty much like items for salvage. 

I am looking forward to spending time with §alvªge Ƙul.chªr and you.

Culture / Kulchar - meaning

Meaning of Culture ...

= Kul.char ...

Salvage - Definition.....

What does Salvage mean ??

Starry Starry Light

Dual function - light / painting

Starry Starry Light (unframed)

Painted on salvaged high density styrofoam ceiling strip. Painted with salvaged paint (paint shop colour mix flops as well as standard acrylic pva halfcans)

Illuminated from back light source for an interesting light art object.

 

Salvage Kul.char pallet bench project - Sturdy High Bench made from Salvaged and Re-purposed pallets

Pallet Bench -Sturdy High Bench made from Re-purposed pallets

An acquaintance asked (very doubtfully) if it would be possible to make a high bench, as in Bar Stool height, out of pallets.  But ensuring that it is sturdy, solid and can carry weight.  Now for those readers not from sunny South Africa; we have some "heavy duty" citizens.  Purely because we all love to braai (South Africa style BBQ), eating rich foods and socializing and more eating and more socializing. I understood exactly what he meant.

I am always up for a challenge, so I said absolutely! (not having the faintest idea of how I will put this together).  Well needless to say, after a rough design on paper and first attempt in assembly (which did not turn out exactly as I wanted) it was back to review the design, then assembly and voila !.... 
The proof is in the pudding - or rather the proof is in the final product. 

A stunning but sturdy high bench made from salvaged and re-purposed pallets, complete with a backrest, solid seat, footrest and french graphics from my favourite graphic blog: The Graphics Fairy http://thegraphicsfairy.com/.

My recipe and ingredients for concocting this Sturdy High Pallet Bench:

1. Own design
2. 2 Pallets
3. Graphics - I used the Ville de Paris and French Postmark from The Graphics Fairy, then cropped to suit my design vision - you can find the source files here  French-transfer-printable-ville-de-paris and here  French-transfer-printable-paris-typography
4. Printer
5. Jigsaw
6. Circular saw
7. Hammer
8. Screws
9. Drill and screwdriver bits
10. Carpenters square
11. Homemade stain and applicators
12. Water based low gloss sealer and applicators
13. Stuff to mark with (pencil/chalk)
14. Savvy
15. Space and more space
16. A bag of patience and creativity
17. Patient family - I found this item particularly useful 

So let me take you on a photo journey...  Starting at the end and working our way back

The Final Pallet Bench - Photo shows the back

Close up of Postmarks- sourced from http://thegraphicsfairy.com/

Ville De Paris Graphic - with one of my assistants doing a quick Q&A check  :-)

.

Where to start ?

After selecting the pallets I wanted to use, the main structures for the bench are cut from the pallet using my Ryobi Circular saw.

Pallets are cut into sections that will form the base of the bench structure

This is what the cut out sections look like

Pallet bench cut outs for structure

In my initial design concept I grouped two cut outs together. The idea was to use 3 groups in the bench, but I soon realised that unless you are the Incredible Hulk, you will have a pretty hard time moving this bench around. 

So back to the drawing board

Design that was thrown out and reviewed

And then.. Final Design Concept; Seen here the concept set up to deliberate.  I chose to go with this, using only 3 Sections

Pallet Sections - rough set up

With the backrest; seat and foot rest in place, the Pallet Bench is ready to be sanded.

Front view before sanding

Unfortunately the "during" pics for the sanding process did not happen - I get absorbed in the job and forget about pics

Graphics:  After sanding the entire bench, the graphics are done.
As a norm to maintain the rustic effect, I don't fill in holes, whether they are old ones from the original pallet nails or new ones I made during assembly.

Postmarks after transfer

Ville de Paris after graphic transfer

Stain and Sealer:
The bench is then stained with a layer of my homemade "light" stain, and left overnight.
The next day it is sealed with a  water-based sealer.  I normally apply about 3 layers.  The marvelous thing with the water-based sealer is, there is hardly any waiting time / drying time between layers, and no chemicals needed for cleaning.

Stained (Please mind the background lol)

WIP - Applying Sealer I find that the sealer lifts the colour of the stain and graphic

Sealer being applied

And the end result?
A sturdy, solid yet comfy High Bench made only from salvaged and re-purposed pallets.
See Photos below ....

Final product - Side view

Graphics on Backrest

Big comfy seating area

Proof - Made from salvaged and re-purposed pallets

Salvage Kulchar Trademark

Final product - Back view

Final Product : High bench made from salvaged and re-purposed pallets

This bench design, and variations thereof, is now standard in my range.  The graphic design will change from customer to customer.

Hope you enjoyed this photo walk-through as much as I did doing this project