Shop Decorations?

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,703
Not talking curtains and settees here but manly decorations. ;)

Knifemaking is an art form and as such we need all the help we can get in the inspiration and creativity department. So I try to add items to my shop that serve no practical purpose but that I like to look at. I know that decorating a shop might not be everybody's cup of tea but it works for me and maybe it could for you too.

A couple of examples I added this past week.

A capacitor of some kind. I have plans to do some “steampunk” sculpture with this one in the future but in the meantime I thought I'd hang it up instead of having it hidden in a box somewhere. Looks very cool. I know it might seem to be in the way of working with the vise but this one is my Dad's and doesn’t get used a lot. It is more a sentimental thing. :(



And an old phone. Actually from the labels it looked to be some kind of intercom system for a big household. Maybe have it connected to the house someday so I can talk to my better half with it. :D



So what do you guys use to “decorate” your shop?
 
Stickers on tool boxes/cabinets.

Pretty much every other flat or vertical surface is covered with tools, shelving, pegboard, and so forth.
 
I do have curtains in my shop, but I use them to keep direct sunlight off my workbench.
I also have a painting on the wall. To me my shop isn´t just a place to make stuff, it is a place to feel good.
All these little, interesting or funny things I like, find there way in to my shop as I don´t want to clutter my house with them.
(a birds skull, a special coin, a piece of obesian, postcards, etc)

Also the 1:1 drawing of the musse bowie (thnx again Stacy) One day I´ll make one

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P1011719.JPG
 
Erik, for me dust doesn't hold any special creative or emotional value. :p Well it does generate an emotion (hate) but that doesn't help. ;)

James, I think I may have even less free space than you but I still try to find a little room here and there. :)

Hengelo, that is exactly what I am talking about. :thumbup:
And don't worry, those are manly curtains. ;)
 
I'm in the middle of moving, so it's not clear what will go up in my new shed, but my old garage had a cow skull, lots of bicycle parts, old dust masks and various posters on the walls.
I'm thinking of framing all the posters I used to keep in the house (but my partner doesn't want around anymore) and hang them in my new shop.
 
Interesting post Pat

I'd say that General Electric thing below your vise is a variable resistor or rheostat

http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/q695/LemeeKnives/MIsc/shop_decorations1_zps5c8502ac.jpg


I don't think I have anything that is a deliberate decoration, mostly stuff is stacked to the ceiling because I've no space to put it.

The wall space you can see I wish was white, but I'm still looking and begging for free paint to try to cover the OSB walls and I'm not going to pay $50 a gallon
to paint that

did you know they outlawed oil based paint?
what the hell is wrong with those people ?



Dust, yea some chips too.


I'd like to build some stuff like this someday

il_fullxfull.110358879.jpg


FREE-Shipping-Hand-font-b-Sculptured-b-font-Metal-Handicraft-font-b-Motorcycle-b-font-.jpg
metal-motorcycle-loudmouth-bike-sculpture--UDU2Ny0zMzk1NC4xNTMzNjI=.jpg
 
12345678910 said:
The wall space you can see I wish was white, but I'm still looking and begging for free paint to try to cover the OSB walls and I'm not going to pay $50 a gallon to paint that.
Click to expand...

I hear that. My old shop was all OSB and I just slobbered a couple coats of the cheapest white primer I could find on the wall behind the main bench.
 
Ok, I have some man decorations in my shop.

I picked up this pump face at a swap meet. I friend of mine made the inserts for it as a birthday gift.


Same friend painted this for me as a thank you for helping on one of his projects


General BS that I hang on the wall


Blueprints for choppers make cool wall hangings


Unfinished projects are like modern sculpture. I have larger sculptures outside the shop.
 
I don't have any art or curtains hanging in my shop, But on the wall of my indoor work room I keep this picture hanging, Its a picture of my dad and his work crew when he was building the Mackinac bridge, They are standing on one of 2 barges that hung the suspended frame work under the bridge, you can see it hanging in the back ground, every day when the weather was good, They would load up 2 sections and a tug would push them out, then a floating crane would lift them into place. The AB on their hard hats stands for american bridge, my dads hard hat was in the bridge museum until it burnt down, Now after the rebuild in a glass case they keep my dads union book with a log of the hours he worked.

My dad is on the far right the one with the shit eating grin on his face, he was the jokester on the crew, I swear he had a smile or a grin on his face his whole life right up until the end, But he was also equally hard, When I got out of line as a kid he showed no mercy

He also had a pack rat side, and a thing for keeping stuff in coffee cans and cigar box's, (he had a King Edward cigar sticking out of his face most of his life right up until 1973, then he just quit cold turkey, Gin and Cigars, Much to the over joyed approval of my mother) So in my garage I have a corner filled with his cans and cigar box's, I still find useful stuff in there from time to time





 
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I just thought of this

Starrett tools has decimal wall charts, free and simple to get by filling out forms on the website - if you live in the USA

Canada I've tried and not gotten any, but there are people on Ebay reselling the free charts; they ship to Canada

They do go ratty with moisture, so I've been thinking about getting a few placarded


http://www.starrett.com/documentation
 
I am going to paint "nose-art" on my filing cabinet. I have tried talking the GF into modeling in her unides for it, but so far she says no way. :D
 
Great thread Pat!!!

I had almost no room on the walls in the last shop for any kind of art or decoration, but I managed to sneak a couple things in there.

I have all kinds of room for it in the new shop... just no time to get it done enough that I'd be at the point of adding the finishing touches.

A man's shop should be a place that he enjoys to spend time in, and hopefully be comfortable too. If that means he wants some art/decorations, then I say go for it. :)

This is one of my favorites- (it's 44" tall BTW!)
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For those that haven't seen it before, it actually doubles as storage space. :)
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I restore and collect old vises, I'll try to get some pictures posted up. IMO Dave Lisch has some of the coolest wall art around his shop, hopefully he doesn't mind me saying and with some luck maybe he'll share a few project pics :).
 
Old equipment that is now obsolete ( post drills, sheaves and blocks, etc.), unique vises (foot operated caulking vise and post vises in several sizes, pipe vises), anvils of all sizes and types, lubricating oil cans of many types, farm implements, and anything really unique.

The new shop ( yeah, yeah...I'll get it built sooner or later) will have shelving all around the walls for antiques and collectables and signs everywhere...even some in neon.
One thing I really am proud of is my early National Cash Register, Co. candy store register. It will only ring $.99 max ( 1-9 and 10-90). It has six drawers for coins ( 1,5 10,25,50,1.00), only 3 wider bill drawers ( because paper bills used to be bigger), and a gold coin drop slot with a lock.
Outside will be my old plows and farm stuff. Of course there will be the requisite skulls and bones inside and out.
 
good point bladsmth. I happened by a dumpster the other day and on top of the plastic trash bags someone had thrown out a small arbor press. It looks just like my two ton but rusty and half size. It will look good when it gets clean and maybe sees a set of dies again.
 
Great guys, thanks for posting. :thumbup: I am looking forward to seeing some more.

I kept the coolest for last.

Meet my friend Joe!



:D
 
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