One of the things I love to do is to make new things from old ones. Giving new live to dusty, often forgotten pieces makes me smile.
I have been getting old silver plated silverware to make things for the later few years and was just waiting for another opportunity to use some of them. Some of the spoons I have are from the 1800’s so I love learning about them and then finding ways to use and display them. They really are beautiful, especially with a little patina to them.
Recently I had been wanting a mug rack by my coffee bar and everything I found was either too big, too small, really expensive, or left me feeling uninspired. *sigh*
My next thought was to make something myself but I was really trying to decided if I wanted to make something myself and start what could be a messy project.
While looking for wood scraps for another project, I saw some old fence boards we had in the back and thought it would be easy to make a custom size wood frame for some hooks, but then I ran into the issue of finding hooks that I loved and were also budget friendly so I spent a few days mulling over what else would work that I might have around the house. This is typical of many of my projects that grow organically and can be a fun, if not slightly annoying part of the process.
For me, part of living sustainably is remembering to try to think like our great-grandparents and using what you have and not being so quick to buy everything new. As some things are getting a little more expensive or harder to find, it just makes sense to start thinking like this as much as possible.
After a few days, I woke up completely inspired and wondering if I could pull off using spoons for my hooks.
It totally worked.
This isn’t really meant to be a tutorial, as my son and I totally winged this construction, but I will outline what we did anyway and maybe it will inspire you as well.
My son took the dimensions of the space I wanted the rack to fit and cut the fence boards to fit. He also reinforced the back with a couple more pieces of wood and added two frame hooks to the back to hang it on the wall securely with.
I then took some white paint and watered it down a bit and “white washed” the wood.
While the wood was drying I took the spoons that I liked and flattened the bowl part.
This can be done a few ways, but the easiest for me was to just hit them with a hammer on a hard surface until the spoon part was flat enough for me. A work bench was ok, but I was actually more successful just sitting on my driveway to do it.
Don’t forget to wear eye protection for this part
Then I had to bend the handle of the spoon.
I have a piece of rubber I used for this that my husband built for me a few years ago, but using a piece of PVC, or metal tubing can work as well. Only bend the handle, as you will still need space on the spoon of the old bowl area to drill through and hang it.
Then I used my drill press to drill a small hole in each now flat spoon bowl. You can also use a regular drill but you will need to have a clamp to hold the spoon still while you drill.
Be sure to eye protection for this part too as metal shavings can fly around and wear gloves and be extra aware of your finger placement at all times.
After the holes are drilled and the spoon is bent into a curve you are happy with, you can lay out where you want your placement to be on the wood and drill each spoon hook in place. I used a pencil for this and played with placement as some spoon patterns looked better to me spaced out and the patina’s looked better depending on where I had them as well. Have fun with this part!
Lastly, hang it on the wall securely with anchors and place your mugs on it.
There you have it!
A fun vintage mug rack from vintage silver spoons.
A great upcycled talking piece and a beautiful way to display things you love and use daily.
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