On the Road Again...

A couple months ago when I came back from vacation, I shared some finds with you that were form the peddler's Malls and flea markets in Kentucky. Among those items was this little guy:

He's an antique road flare. I knew when I saw him that he was absolutely perfect and he had to come home.

P.S. I felt like I had to give him a trucker's name, like Big Joe or Bubba or something. SO yea, I went with Bubba.

 Anyway, Bubba needed some work, and today I finally got the chance to give him some much-needed attention.

 The first thing I did was I took him apart. The top unscrews easily, then the wick cover inside, and then I pulled out the wick and threw it away. It is still full of whatever fuel was used to light it, and I thought maybe it was a good idea to, you know, get rid of all the stuff that could blow up in this very combustible home I live in.

Yes, that's my sink.

After all the parts were removed, I sanded off all that greasy, grimey gunk and rust that made it look kinda... well... crappy. What a difference it made!

 

Then, I cleaned it. Since there is some gunky residue, I used soap specifically designed to remove grease, and though I didn't use a Brillo pad, it might have been a good idea. But hindsight is always 20/20, right?
Lastly, I painted it. It would be fun to paint it a really unexpected color like a deep purple or hot pink or neon green, but for the theme I'm working on right now with some of the stuff I'm doing, I just repainted the original red.

Wouldn't this be amazing as a vase? I just love mixing the industrial, rough-and-tough elements with something as soft as a bunch of lilacs or daisies.

Another great idea would be to convert it into a lamp, using a very inexpensive and easy-to-find lamp kit from a hardware store.

Personally, this one I like just as is for now. I really am digging this whole industrial thing lately, and I love it. But I think I'm going to buy more and experiment.

If this is a project you're interested in trying, these are incredibly easy to find online on sites like ebay, where you can get a whole box of them for around $10-$20. Imagine the profit if you fixed up a whole box of these and sold them!

So that was today's project. It was super easy, a lot of fun, and most importantly, incredibly inexpensive.

Happy thrifting!