Upcycle Inspiration – Memory Box

For my project, I decided to just go to Goodwill and see what I thought was interesting. I spent a while looking through all the trinkets and realized that a lot of what I was seeing reminded me of my late grandmother.

She loved going bargain diving at Goodwill and I felt that these items were things she would have bought for her house. She loved trinkets and small memorable things, plus she was British and that ship in a bottle has a tiny Union Jack on it–I had to get it!

My plan is to repaint the chest so that its refinished and clean. Then I want to cut holes in the scarf and place flowers through the holes so that it looks like “dirt” and real flowers.

Then within the frame, I will place a photo of her and then nestle the ship within the flowers. I hope to add watches to the outside of the box to show the passing of time and how even though time passes, she will always be in our memories.

The brunt of this project will be refinishing the box. It’s hard to tell, but it’s pretty dirty and needs some serious help.

Ideally, this will be a little memory box of her and something me and my family can look at and think about her 🙂

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2 Comments. Leave new

  • Hey Isabella,

    This is a really thoughtful and beautiful idea. Also, like Thomas asked, I’m quite interested in knowing if this relates to any particular aesthetic. The whole project sounds very classy and has a very elegant touch to it. I wish you all the luck and I’m quite interested in knowing what the end product looks like.

    Reply
  • Thomas Buckholtz
    February 2, 2020 11:58 am

    Hi Isabella,

    This is a beautiful idea, I really like the idea of creating a memorial with the upcycling project. Do you think this meshes with a particular aesthetic, maybe even the one you are working with for your main project? This gives me a very “Ofrenda” vibe for sure, although those are typically only set up during the Day of the Dead. It also could be likened to a “Butsudan,” though without the religious context. I look forward to your progress on this project, if you pull this off I think it will look really great, and will be a very happy reminder of your grandmother.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofrenda
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butsudan

    Reply

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