Giving Junk a Place and Purpose

A couple of years ago, my aunt showed me an interesting piece she picked up at a craft fair. It was a wooden board, about 12" long, that had been cut out in the shape of Texas and covered with all kinds of trinkets and junky knick knacks with "TEXAS" spelled out in Scrabble letters. It probably sounds like what it is...junk, but it was artsy junk! It captured the spirit of Texas in it and it's one-of-a-kind. I instantly wanted one for my own home state, Alabama. But I decided to make it myself.

Fast forward more than two years later and I FINALLY completed my state junk collage. My dad cut out the shape of Alabama for me using his jig saw. I liked the rough-looking grain and color of the wood. It looks rustic, so I left it bare.

Since I first laid eyes on my inspiration piece I began collecting junk to one day use for the project. The junk mainly consisted of old jewelry pieces that were broken and earrings with long-lost missing mates. I also collected buttons, pins, bottle caps, screws, beads, anything that was small and didn't have any practical use, but added to the variety of junk.

I was unsure at first how to go about adhering all this weirdly shaped, often not flat-edged stuff to the wood and deducted my best bet was good ol' super glue. I wore gloves while applying the glue because many of the pieces were so small I had to hold them, and there is nothing I hate more than then the feeling of dried super glue on your finger tips (shudder...) It worked like a charm! Clean fingers and the junk adhered beautifully. I can't wait to hang it on my wall to display my Bama pride!