Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Trinkets and Treasures

I love browsing through AAnthropologie catalogues and looking for inspirations. These guys do things so well. So, browsing through the most recent catalogue I came across these gorgeous candle holders named Trinkets and Treasures, but at the sticker price of $398 per stick you better treasure them for life.
As a maker of things, I studied the picture a bit and decided to make my own version of these lovelies so I headed out and sourced all the goodness that I could find to make an awesome candle stick. I decided that starting off with an old lamp base would be a good way to go, as the middle rod that would normally house the electric cord would offer good support for the body and would allow me to turn it into a lamp should I choose to do so.
I, of course, bought more trinkets than I could use, but building a stand like this is a creative process that takes time, each one of them went through several iterations before I landed on the final concept. Having a few extras helps as drilling through some of them is a tedious task, and they do tend to break from time to time.
So here is the end result - three candle sticks that I am quite proud off and some left over material for the next one. They may not look exactly like the starting point, but that was never the goal. The idea was to give them my own spin and make them unique in their own way. Oh, and the fact that they are made from locally sourced goodness makes them a bit extra special in my mind too. Let me know what you think, would love to hear from you!!

7 comments:

  1. I think you did an awesome job, Jelena! I like simply looking at the stuff at Anthro too, but as someone who sews, I just tend to leave the store with more inspiration for my own sewing. At least I can make dresses that are actually lined, for a fraction of the price!

    Hope you've been well this year! I still love my dresser:) Happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete
  2. HUGE HUGE fan of what you did hear. I'm a college student who would LOVE to make these for my mom since i can't afford to buy the beautiful anthropologie ones. Do you think you could answer a few questions...
    like what glue did you use?
    and did you have to physically break some of the trinkets in order for them to fit?

    you did an AMAZING job!!
    -julia

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Julia, thanks for the kind words, Would love to help with advice.
    There was actually no glue involved, all the pieces were drilled and strung on a lamp rod. You can get the special drill bits for ceramics at any hardware store (make sure they are large enough to accommodate the width of the rod) As for the rods, you can reuse one from an old lamp or buy new from stores like Lowe's or any lamp supply store. The last part is fastened with a nut. Any more questions, just email me at jelena@poppyseedliving.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. As I was flipping thru the Anthro holiday catalogue, I just KNEW someone out there would try and re-create those way cool candlesticks! Yours are awesome... love that you used a lamp base... brilliant! I bet that Antro's have some kind of rod in the center also.... need that stability! Way to go ... !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yours are 100 times cooler than the anthro version!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You did an awesome job. I am impressed and lie them better than the anthro ones. I think I will try it! Nina, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you Ann, for your kind words, I really appreciate all the support I am getting.

    ReplyDelete