the vintage fork easel...

As promised...

today is all about bending a fork out of shape...

just for fun!

I saw this idea on pinterest a few months ago...

and immediately went on a hunt for old silver forks.

Old silver forks make fantastic easels...

to display a wee photo or a vintage card.

The card pictured above is one my dad gave my mom...

some sixty-five years ago.

The forks can be found at thrift stores...

sometimes for ten cents each.

Other times...

more.

I had only a photo to go by...

so my easels are 'by guess and by golly'.

Since my forks were quite curved...

I started by flattening them a little on the workbench.

Using hubby's vice...

I secured the fork tightly and then proceeded to bend the tines with a plier.

Both outside tines were bent forward and a wee bit out at the base.

The two center tines were bent to the back...

and also out at an angle.

I used needlenose pliers to flip up the bottoms of the tines.

Nothing fancy...

but it worked.

The silver is quite soft and easy to mark with the pliers..

Use masking tape on tines to prevent that...

or not.

Once the easel is done...

check to see that it is sitting level.

If not...

it may need a wee bit adjusting.

I have given these away as gifts...

have a few sitting around my place...

...and we used some on our birthday party table earlier this week.

Next week I'll share a few of the other pinterest inspired things I have made recently.

So there you have it...

a five or ten minute project that makes a great gift!

bent out of shape...

I'm a wee bit 'bent out of shape' this morning...

to think that I spent nine hours with my dad in ER yesterday.

All that just to get a doctor to write out a prescription!

Earlier this week dad spent a day and night in the same ER...

was treated for pneumonia and released with a prescription.

He took one dose of his meds...

got really sick...

and declared he would NEVER touch that medication again.

His family doctor was away until next week...

and so it seemed to make sense that we go back to ER where they had all his earlier records...

and could quickly prescribe an alternative medication.

Don't you think?

We mostly waited...

and waited some more.

Dad told stories...

loud enough to entertain some of the other ER guests as well.

I mostly listened...

and every two hours I went and fed the parking meter.

I had him home by midnight...

and when I left he was heating up a bowl of borscht for night-lunch.

He seems to be on the mend...

so I sure hope his new meds agree with him.

I found this photo in my files from his extended hospital stay three years ago...

and thought it went quite nicely with this post.

Dad quite dislikes forks that are bent out of shape.

He is known to straighten them out...

even in a restaurant!

As for me...

I've been bending old silver forks out of shape...

just for the fun of it.

That's my post for tomorrow.

the congregation in my neighbourhood....

They are back...

in full force.

We thought they had chosen another neighbourhood this year...

but it seems they have returned to their old stomping grounds.

The bald eagle.

So majestic!
I like having them around.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!