changing course

Sometimes, you get up in the morning thinking your day is going to go one way, and then, by lunchtime, it's going in a different direction altogether.

It happened like that for me today.  I thought I was going to use my precious afternoon off figuring out how to turn an old wooden wire spool into a cake stand.

Instead, I ended up making three little tabletop planters.

I started with a piece of cedar rain gutter.  This usually comes through the shop in super-long lengths, like twelve or sixteen feet.  Yesterday, though, a shorter piece turned up.  I set it aside, thinking that it might be good for something.  I didn't really have much of a plan, but today, I came up with an idea.

I cut the gutter into three pieces that were each a little shorter than a foot.

I traced the outline of each "end" onto a piece of aluminum flashing and then cut out each tracing with a pair of tin snips.  (The tin snips were pretty essential for this part.  If you decide to take on a project like this one, I'd recommend making an investment in a good pair.  Or better yet, maybe you could borrow a pair from someone else...)  Then I tacked a little aluminum cap onto the end of each piece using some galvanized nails.

And then there they were.  Three sweet little planter boxes.

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably use copper instead of aluminum for the ends.  Copper would look nicer, I think, especially once it starts to get a bit of patina.  "Use what you've got," though, is something I like to say.  And aluminum flashing was what I had.

I'm also planning on drilling a few holes in the bottom of each container for some drainage.  I think I'm going to plant these up with some little succulents for next week's workshop.  I'll post some more pictures of them when they're all dolled up.

And the cake stand?  Well, there's always tomorrow...

Thanks for reading!  I'll be posting again on Monday.  Happy weekend!