BFF and Creator of Cool Stuff.... The Claw

I've mentioned him before but now it's time for a tribute post and a sneak peak at the workings of The Claw.

What I don't have pictures of is the inside of his circa. 1950 house. EVERYTHING (including a working telephone) is of the period thanks to ebay. It is amazing, astounding, and beautiful down to the smallest detail. That will be the next tribute post.

Lately he's been playing with toy pianos. He buys them on ebay, takes the cool parts of old discarded beautifully woodworked "real" pianos and these are just a few of the results:





My real intent today though is to show all of the things I've acquired from The Claw over the years. Sadly, one of my favorites was lost in a bad break-up. I thought I'd cleared the house of all things "mine" and realized that the box he built around an antique post office box "door" is no longer with me. Oddly enough, the ex did not include it when he sent me a giant box of my belongings that included one stray sock. Moving on...

The Claw had some wicker seats that needed refurbishing. He purchased the materials (in bulk) and rewove the seats. He had plenty of materials left. What to do? How about some lamps? Both are woven around the top and base with the "stuff" he used on the seats. The brown one (can you see the jungle theme) is actually the wrapping paper from a souvenir I brought to him from South Africa. I'm not even going to try to explain how he did this. Water and stretching and stuff were involved.




It would have been really nice if I had done a little de-cluttering for these next piece but I thought that those of you with small children might be able to play "find the..." with the pictures as you admire the handiwork.

This is the most recent acquisition in the collection. I will be using it as a plant stand. Right now it's holding one of the earliest pieces- a music/sewing/notions box that plays "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" If the picture were a tad clearer you would see that the leg of this table is from an antique piano and as the Claw pointed out, the whole thing was made of discarded piano parts.



Did I mention that at one time The Claw was a masterful tailor? The kind where you look, cut and sew without a pattern? He made this for me during my "sewing phase." Pictured in front of it are the refurbished (with no small effort) real jingle bells from a previous post.


He also made me an authentic "clarinet" lamp from a discarded instrument (the kind people bring to the music store and say "Is this worth anything?") If I recall correctly he made a tidy profit on several of these creations (much more than if they had been sold as instruments) The trashy-a$$ed lampshade is my own- I'm on the lookout for just the right one.


The largest piece in the Claw collection is this dressing table (here is the "Find The.." game). It's really beautiful and the only piece of furniture that I own that I would be sad to lose.


In addition to his creative greatness, he's also a really really good friend that I know I could count on any time. He's very wise and has a giant heart with an authentic way of being. Here's to you CLAW!

Feel free to make him blush..let the comments commence