h JOLLY OL’ JUNK T hink you’re too old to play in the backyard? Think again, say local artists, antiques dealers, land- scape designers and nostalgia buffs. Whether you call it upcy- cling or repurposing, using found objects in new ways throughout a garden is fun and trendy. And while no one can top the wonders created by Mother Na- ture, why not embellish your cor- ner of the outdoor world with your own creative style and give a second life to something slated for the trash heap or back of the thrift shop? Mirrors, mannequins, machine parts and more can be remade in- to useful or decorative items. A neighbor’s broken mirror dis- carded by the curb inspired Deb Zahner to create a work of art that hangs on her wooden privacy fence in Lenexa. Zahner, a former art teacher who works as a landscape design- er, covered the mirror with a tarp and cracked it into smaller pieces before gluing them onto a square piece of waterproof backer board. She added small dragonfly tiles and glass coasters with a geode pattern from a discount store. After grouting around the de- sign, she pressed glass pebbles (the kind used in flower arrang- ing) onto the surface, then ap- plied a waterproof sealer. It now sparkles year-round above a row of blue hydrangeas. Patty Schere, a long-time gar- dener and antiques dealer, also likes outside mirrors, using one to open up a small patio space in her yard (she topped it with a Green Man iron ornament to stop a male cardinal from attacking his im- age). Schere’s one-acre lot in Mission Hills is studded with repurposed antiques. A path made of round millstones laid flat on the ground leads to a patch of milkweed where an enameled French stove wired with LED lights glows at night. An ornate metal furnace grate serves as a tabletop, while antique lightning rods speared in- to the ground assume the role of sculpture as they circle an urn. Schere got hooked on antiques as a child when she found a silver GARDENS | Old stuff finds new life as art ។ Teede Stipich, a Kansas City jewelry artist, covered a wig head with tile mosaics and tchotchkes to create a garden sculpture that sits on a tree stump in her “outside art gallery.” PHOTOS BY JILL TOYOSHIBA | THE KANSAS CITY STAR Patty Schere, an antiques dealer, used millstones to form a path in the yard of her Mission Hills home. Stipich planted begonias in an old wooden desk. Mirrors, mannequins and machine parts can be useful again. By JILL DRAPER Special to The Star SEE JUNK | C3 house and home EXPERT ADVICE | NEW PRODUCTS | SECRET SOURCES | EVERY WEEK h + WWW.KANSASCITY.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013 C THE KANSAS CITY STAR. THE HOME OFFICE: 1729 GRAND BLVD | [email protected]Twice as nice We feature two quilt block patterns this month, and a special note about the center square. | C4
Transcript
hJOLLY OL’ JUNK
Think you’re too old to playin the backyard?
Think again, say localartists, antiques dealers, land-scape designers and nostalgiabuffs. Whether you call it upcy-cling or repurposing, using foundobjects in new ways throughout agarden is fun and trendy.
And while no one can top thewonders created by Mother Na-ture, why not embellish your cor-ner of the outdoor world withyour own creative style and give asecond life to something slatedfor the trash heap or back of thethrift shop?
Mirrors, mannequins, machineparts and more can be remade in-to useful or decorative items.
A neighbor’s broken mirror dis-carded by the curb inspired DebZahner to create a work of art thathangs on her wooden privacyfence in Lenexa.
Zahner, a former art teacherwho works as a landscape design-er, covered the mirror with a tarpand cracked it into smaller piecesbefore gluing them onto a squarepiece of waterproof backer board.She added small dragonfly tilesand glass coasters with a geodepattern from a discount store.
After grouting around the de-sign, she pressed glass pebbles(the kind used in flower arrang-ing) onto the surface, then ap-plied a waterproof sealer. It nowsparkles year-round above a rowof blue hydrangeas.
Patty Schere, a long-time gar-dener and antiques dealer, alsolikes outside mirrors, using one toopen up a small patio space in heryard (she topped it with a GreenMan iron ornament to stop a malecardinal from attacking his im-age).
Schere’s one-acre lot in MissionHills is studded with repurposedantiques. A path made of roundmillstones laid flat on the groundleads to a patch of milkweedwhere an enameled French stovewired with LED lights glows atnight. An ornate metal furnacegrate serves as a tabletop, whileantique lightning rods speared in-to the ground assume the role ofsculpture as they circle an urn.
Schere got hooked on antiquesas a child when she found a silver
GARDENS | Old stuff finds new life as art
ù Teede Stipich, a KansasCity jewelry artist, covered awig head with tile mosaicsand tchotchkes to create agarden sculpture that sits ona tree stump in her “outsideart gallery.”
PHOTOS BY JILL TOYOSHIBA | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
÷ Patty Schere, an antiquesdealer, used millstones toform a path in the yard of herMission Hills home.
÷ ÷ Stipich planted begoniasin an old wooden desk.
Mirrors, mannequins
and machine parts
can be useful again.
By JILL DRAPER
Special to The Star
SEE JUNK | C3
house and homeEXPERT ADVICE | NEW PRODUCTS | SECRET SOURCES | EVERY WEEK
h+
WWW.KANSASCITY.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013 CTHE KANSAS CITY STAR.
teapot buried in the dirtnear a resort cabin. “I’ve al-ways admired the detail andpatina of old things,” shesays.
Mary Wood, a gardener inRaytown, feels the same. Acracked 10-gallon crockserves as a pedestal for a potof coleus and impatiens,while old galvanized wash-tubs and a farm hopper holdcollections of smaller flo-werpots. Flower beds, whichsometimes contain weath-ered cultivators, are edgedby cobblestones.
“I like things with a histo-ry,” she says. “They remindme of old farmyards and ofgrowing up in a small town.”
To please a sentimentalclient, Lauren Mackin onceplaced a bicycle in a gardenfor a combination focalpoint and trellis. Mackin, alandscape designer withStonebridge Outdoor, likesto browse websites andblogs such as Pinterest, Etsy,DesignSponge and Apart-ment Therapy for upcyclingideas. Wooden pallets aretrending, she says, and canbe made into coffee tables,hanging swings or verticalplanters.
For smaller projects, makea tiki torch from a wine bot-tle, a rain chain from a stringof little upside-down terracotta pots, or a plant markerfrom an old fork skeweredinto the side of a cork la-beled with permanent ink.
Other ideas from Pinterestinclude designing a colorfulbird bath with a cheap vaseand platter, or painting a col-lection of bricks with yourfavorite book titles in an odeto the Kansas City CentralLibrary’s iconic CommunityBookshelf.
Browser beware, though,Mackin cautions.
“Not all projects are do-it-yourself, especially those in-volving gas, electricity andwater features. Professionalsknow how to take manysmall measures that can saveheadaches later on.” She alsowarns that the line betweencampy and clutter is easilycrossed.
That line is somethingTeede Stipich occasionallywrestles with. “I always haveto ask myself when enoughis enough,” she says, gazingaround her small Waldoyard where mosaicked man-nequins and parts from autosalvage yards nestle amongflowers and greenery. “But Ilike to sit out here. It’s like aprivate little oasis.”
A row of upside-downwine bottles in amber, blue,green and clear top the edgeof a privacy fence; they re-mind her of stained glasswhen the sun shinesthrough. Begonias spill fromthe drawer of an old desk onthe patio, and glass totemsbuilt from baubles epoxiedto upended vases line a gar-den path. A mobile madefrom empty wooden pictureframes hangs on a tree, of-fering tiny, exquisite views.
Stipich, who began de-signing jewelry after retiringfrom the corporate world,describes her yard as an out-door art gallery. One of herfavorite pieces is a ladies’
wig head mosaicked withglass tiles and sporting ear-rings made from salt andpepper shakers, a candybowl bonnet and a ponytailmade from a ceramicgoose’s neck. She displays iton a tree stump.
“Once I finished decorat-ing the inside of my house, Iturned to the backyard,” shesays. “It’s a whole new pal-ette to play with.”
Ron Megee, an actor wholives with fashion designerJon Fulton Adams in historicnortheast Kansas City, is stillin the beginning stages oflandscaping their “veryeclectic ramshackle Victor-ian mansion.”
Megee bought a children’swooden playhouse onCraigslist and built a nestingarea inside to accommodatethree urban chickens. A Vic-torian metal sink basinserves as an ice bucket forbeverages at summer par-ties, and his flower beds arebeing edged with half-moon
pieces of broken china fromhis collection of 200 stateplates. A 7-foot fiberglassvase that once decorated adepartment store circa 1980will one day hold a dramaticspray of pampas grass in thefront yard.
Megee likes to browse es-tate sales and thrift shops,but some of his favorite findscome from the huge Sparksand White Cloud flea mar-kets that open in May andAugust in the northeast cor-ner of Kansas. “Dealers setup hundreds of booths in thecornfields,” he says. “It’s al-ways an incredible day.”
Sometimes repurposing ispurely practical. BobbyWright, a member of the GetGrowing team at KansasCity Community Gardens, isresearching different ways tomake raised beds. Rough-cutcedar works well but tendsto be pricey, while old wood-en pallets that he used to ter-race a slope deteriorated af-ter a few years.
One easy alternative,Wright found, is to buy a300-gallon food-grade IBC(intermediate bulk contain-er) tote from Craigslist.These are 4-foot square plas-tic containers with roundedcorners surrounded by ametal grid. He cuts off thetop and bottom with a jigsaw,then slices each tote into8-inch deep sections. “Theymake nice small beds,” hesays. “I can get five out ofeach tote.”
Wright also makes raisedbeds from strips of old tiretreads lined with metal web-bing. Each tire usually yieldsa flat 7- or 8-foot strip that hescrews together and standson edge to encircle a bed, us-ing rebar for the corners andpulling the pieces tight witha winch.
A finished 12-by-5-foot bedcosts only about $10 for ma-terials, but it does requiresome labor, he acknowledg-es. For details, contact thegardens at kccg.org.
JUNK: Outdoor decor makes for sparkle and fun
The wine bottles that Stipich attached to the top of her privacy fence remind herof stained glass.
PHOTOS BY JILL TOYOSHIBA | THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Stipich made a glass topiary by gluing together thriftstore items and attaching it to a garden stake.
Deb Zahner, a former teacher and part-timelandscaper, created a mosaic using a neighbor’sbroken mirror for her privacy fence in Lenexa.
Schere put antiquelightning rods in herMission Hills garden.
Schere placed a “green man” over a mirror in hergarden to prevent a male cardinal from attacking hisown reflection.
FROM C1
“I like things with
a history. They
remind me of old
farmyards and of
growing up in a
small town.”MARY WOOD,
OF RAYTOWN
WWW.KANSASCITY.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013 C3THE KANSAS CITY STAR.
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