Instead of talking books, today I’m talking about a newfound hobby—junk art! A couple of years ago, I went to an art fair while on vacation in Michigan and came across this amazing artist who made art out of found metal items: old tools, car parts, silverware, etc. I was in love with so many of them, and I ended up buying two—one that’s hanging out right by my front door and another that I gave to my dad for Father’s Day. Choosing just two was almost impossible.
Well, just recently my husband started talking about getting a welder. I jumped at the idea because it meant we can make junk art of our own!! And, just like that, a new hobby was born.
We’ve been planning and gathering parts from neighbors while we waited for the welder to come in (though I’ll confess we cheated a little and made the flowers out of stuff that we bought from the hardware store). Check out our first three junk art creations (I’m including pics both in our garage and in their new home in our garden since the garage ones are a little easier to see):
We made the flowers out of nuts and bolts (which is pretty obvious). We ended up attaching a second bolt to the bottom of the first one so that we could stick the flowers into the ground and they’d stay, which ended up working really well.
Our third project (since there were two flowers) was the cute wrench grasshopper. I found examples on Pinterest (click the link if you want to see lots of examples of adorable junk art—mostly animals) and figured he was a good project to start with since he’s relatively simple. Since Scott is brand new to welding (he took a class, but only got partway through it before it got cancelled due to COVID), there’s a bit of a learning curve, especially when it comes to welding different materials and thicknesses together. I think he did a darn good job for a first try!!
I’ve got some more complicated projects up my sleeve too, but we’re holding off on those until Scott’s had a little more practice welding and we’ve also gotten more practice with the best ways to put the pieces together. But I’m thrilled with the results of this first go at junk art!
Have you been doing anything creative lately? I want to know!
Oh my gosh, I love the bug! He’s adorable! I’ve always thought welding seemed interesting but kind of scary to try, haha.
I’d be too scared to do the welding myself, so I’m glad I have my husband for that part. 🙂
I am so impressed. These look extremely professional, and they are adorable too. You going to open an Etsy?
Ha! I’ve actually thought about it … sometime in the future. I think we’ll need a little more practice first, but it could be fun to try out. Especially since we can only fit so many junk art animals in our back yard. 🙂
This is so cool and so creative! I absolutely love the flowers! And the little grasshopper is SO cute! You guys did awesome!
Thank you! We were super excited with how he turned out!
Oh love these! What a fun project to share with your hubby – and what fun!
Thank you!! It’s definitely been a fun thing for us to work on together!
This is ADORABLE and I love it! I’m with Sam, start an Etsy! This stuff is so cool! I am like, zero percent creative and I watch 5 Minute Crafts with Lena and I point out all the stuff I could never do hahah.
Who knows? It does seem like a fun idea!
They are amazing! Those flowers look great, I would love something like that in my garden (no worries that I won’t keep those flowers alive!). The wrench grasshopper is adorable. I really hope you keep on with junk art because I think it looks brilliant.
Yes, these are the kind of flowers I need, for sure! I’m very good at killing the regular ones. LOL!
I love the flowers, and what a cute grasshopper! It’s so much fun exploring a new hobby. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for checking out our creations! 🙂
Oh my goodness, you all did a fantastic job. My mom would LOVE those flowers, and the little grasshopper is so cute! It’s crazy how much it LOOKS like a grasshopper. I can’t wait to see more of your projects as you go along!
-lauren
It’s really amazing how you can turn lots of things into recognizable faces just by adding “eyes”. I’m having fun creating and coming up with ideas!
Oh I love these! My daughter has always been into using recycled stuff.
It’s such a great way to use items that would have otherwise ended up in the trash!
That grasshopper is the cutest thing ever! You guys are so talented! The only creative thing I’ve been doing these last few months is making all the baking recipes I’ve been meaning too. I’ve been baking a lot lol.
Baking is definitely creative, though—and yummy too! 🙂
Oh, these are really cute!
Thank you! We had lots of fun creating them!
They’re so cute! You guys are like professionals already. I love that the grasshopper looks surprised. 🙂
My daughter Jade says it looks like he’s screaming. We kind of love it. 🙂
Those are so cool! I am so impressed! I haven’t actually been doing much creative stuff. Being stuck at home with needy dogs has kept me from doing any writing, and I’ve been either reading, or getting sucked into Animal Crossing because I made the mistake of buying a Nintendo Switch at the beginning of all this craziness just to see what it was all about.
We’re about to get another pup, so with all three of them, I’ll be VERY busy soon!
Oh my goodness, I love this! So creative. I’m terrible at being creative, but I love seeing what others create. <3
I don’t feel very creative in many ways, but this is one exception. 🙂
I LOVE this!!! I used to upcycle a lot of things when I lived in FL. One of the downsides of moving cross country is that I don’t have a lot of excess junk anymore lol
But I was talking to my husband about getting a welder (he was a welder in the Navy so he can teach me) to do just this.
I’ll have to check out that pinterest page.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
Oh, you should definitely do that! We’ve really been enjoying this hobby!!
Oh my gosh! That Grasshoper is brilliant Nicole!!!
Thank you! This has been a great hobby for us!
Your junk art looks so cool! I know want to learn how to weld just so I can make creations like these! I think one of the coolest thing about this is how you’re able to re-purpose something that would normally be thought of as trash into a beautiful work of art! I can’t wait to see what you create next!
I’m glad I have my husband to do the welding part for me. LOL!
This is so cute and creative! I don’t even like bugs, but I love your grasshopper!
Metal bugs are so much better than real ones!