Craft Buy: Recycled Glory

The regular Glebe Market on Saturdays in Sydney is famous, and yet after more than seven years here, I’d never been. One recent Saturday I rectified that.

Glebe Markets, Sydney

The Market sets up shop on the grounds of a Glebe public school, and features food stalls, used clothing retailers, jewelry stands, old vinyl record dealers, and various craft stalls.

Almost the moment I entered the Markets for the first time, I happened upon a tent selling art objects made from used antique silverware and kitchen ware. The business is called Bent and Twisted Creations.

Bent and Twisted Creations, Sydney

The business is a husband and wife enterprise. The husband is the metal worker (pictured) – i.e., the bender and twister. His wife designs many of the objects, especially the wind chimes. I bought my mother-in-law a wind chime in the shape of Ned Kelly, made of small pots and silverware. She adored it and is so fearful of it being stolen, that she refuses to hang it outside. The clanging of the silverware makes a loud but pleasant music.

For my sister, I bought a silver bangle made from a fork, like these featured on the website:

And for myself, I couldn’t resist purchasing a candelabra made exclusively out of forks and spoons.

This candelabra is easily one of my favorite possessions. It’s the only one of its kind that I’m aware of. Of course, being entirely made of forks and spoons, its components were never intended to hold candles. As a result, the fork teeth that stick up as spikes for the candle to secure around are rather chunky. It took us a dozen candles to figure out how to mount the candles onto the teeth without the base of the candles crumbling: Just heat a Leatherman’s flathead screwdriver tool with a lighter and make a hole into the base of the candle before mounting. Easy.

The other complication is the way the candles melt. The candelabra is quite flexible, so you can still bend and twist the silverware. This means that the bases of the candles are not very straight, so when the wax melts, it more often than not collects on the candelabra itself, and on the table at its feet.

In the end, the wax is very easy to clean up. Most of it will lift up with the blunt edge of a butter knife. But as functional candelabra go, this one is a messier business than most.

But that makes me like it more. 😉