The Sound of Fasteners

For our last entry of the year, for our Month of Music, please allow me to introduce a new series we are putting together called

The Sound of Fasteners

So from 'The Sound of Fasteners' here is our first sound - the sound of 300 pieces of Steel 1"-14 Flex Locknuts being poured into a keg...what might be noise in a warehouse to some people is music to our ears!

Maybe I will try to add a drum beat and some vocals to it and make actually music out of it...stay tuned.

Heavy Metal

I couldn't write it better than Christopher over at This is Colossal.com so I am reposting what he wrote about Brian Mock who is, in Christopher's words, a Portland-based sculptor who is a welding virtuoso!  

Since this is music month I am posting all of his guitar sculptures, but he makes lots of beautiful sculptures so if you like these also check out his Website, Facebook or Etsy page.

Christopher wrote the following : 

Portland-based sculptor Brian Mock turned hundreds of discarded nuts, bolts, hinges, and forks into life-size dogs, birds, and even faithful replicas of doubleneck Gibson electric guitars. Mock says of his work:

I am intrigued by the challenge of creating an entirely unique piece from an eclectic collection of discarded objects. Giving these old, common items a new and extraordinary life as one sculpture is an artistically challenging yet gratifying process. This type of work is also designed to be highly interactive and prompt viewers to question the reality of what they see. Audience reactions fuel my motivation.

They're full of nuts and bolts, screws and washers so of course they caught our eye, but really there is so much more in them - a lot of creative & interesting things.  

Take a look at his Gibsons and Statocasters:

This one is 7 feet high!

These guitars ROCK!

For more photos, you must click here!

Look at my ears!

Got my earbuds - and I screwed them in!

Everyday I listen to stuff while I work - now, I do it in style...oh yah

Listen to these!

Perfect for music month - perfect for listening to the music on your iPod

Screw-in Ear Buds!

Hurry and get yours now - they are on sale at Urban Outfitters for only $3 !!!

At that price I got each of my sisters a pair...I'm a giver...

January Rocks!

It's 2013!  And it's January!!
And last year we declared the month of January to be the month of MUSIC!
(Be sure to check out last years posts.)

To kick off the month, from 1966, we're introducing you to

BENT BOLT & THE NUTS

and their album called

THE MECHANICAL MAN

There's a blog called The Devil's Music which basically introduces you to old vinyls - that's where we discovered them (it's a cool blog so it deserves a mention.)

And here's the song!

It's basically sung by a robot and it's pretty adorable - the robot is looking for love.

Hey - sing along!

I'm a mechanical man,
I was built in a factory,
my serial number is 
084567123.

I'm designed in The U.S.A.,
and manufactured in Japan.
Does anybody here know a
robot girl who wants to meet 
a mechanical man?

I was made out of stainless steel
to protect my brain from rust,
there's a vacuum cleaner built
into my chest that automaticlly 
picks up dust

I am 5 foot 8 inch tall
and as strong as a moving van
Does anybody here know a
robot girl who wants to meet
a mechanical man?

I can fix an automobile,
I can put up a Christmas tree,
I can milk a cow,
I can mow a lawn,
I can pour you a cup of tea,
but I'm looking for someone
who could help me to charge 
my coils,
and fill me up with bat-ter-ies
and feed me my daily oil

I would not care at all
if she looked like a garbage can,
does anybody here know a
robot girl who wants to meet a
mechanical....chanical....chanical....
chanical....chanical....chanical....
chanical....chanical....OH NO!!!!

(CRASH!! KLUNK!!)

And lastly, here's a photo of an actual bent bolt.

We made you something...

For our New Year's Eve celebration we made charms for our champagne glasses out of - you guessed it - fasteners!

We were inspired by these we found on Etsy.

They're great, right?

Perfect for a small little New Year's celebration, right?

So we made some of our own!  We made 6 different ones.

And guess what - I still have the Christmas spirit in me and I want to give you a set!

For the first 5 people who leave us a comment I will send you your very own set of 6.

Leave a comment and then email me at justine@freewayfasteners.com with your address and off it will go.

Have a safe and happy new years everyone - see you in 2013!

We Decked our Halls...

We'll be closed Monday & Tuesday and this is our last post until after Christmas so

Season's Greetings Everyone!

Time to shop!

2012 Holiday Gift Guide

From (or For!) a Fastener Freak

Nut & Bolt Ice Cube Tray

Would you believe I couldn't find this for sale in the US - only in the UK!
But I found one site that will ship worldwide - Auravita.com

A Cap Nut Bowl

Am I crazy to think this is beautiful? You can buy it at Uncommongoods.com

Screwball Paperweight

Also from Uncommongoods.com - this is so funny! For that special screwball in your life.

Screw Wall Hooks

Get them at Gadget.brando.com

Screw Lamps

Perfect for a night light. Found them at USBGeek.com

And lastly...

Screw Pens

Basblue.com sells the whole pen set - who wouldn't love this?!

There's still time to order so get shopping!

Gift an Andrew Myers

THIS WOULD MAKE A GREAT GIFT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Andrew Myers is our favorite artist. (We've posted about him a couple of times here, here and here.) Not only because he uses screws as his medium but because his ability is amazing. I'm always impressed how much feeling there is in his pieces. It's the way he draws, his details and his lines, the subjects often have a vulnerability, playfulness or sweetness that I am deeply attracted to.  They're just great, like this one.

Anyways, until now I never thought it possible I could have one! But Andrew is giving one away (GASP!)  It's not one of his portraits but an abstract, which are also beautiful.

Here's how you can enter:  First 'like' him on Facebook and then share a photo on your Facebook page - this photo - and you're entered! You may win the piece in the photo (the one below.)  That's it.  I included the links to everything so click away and enter.

And when you win,

GIVE IT TO ME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!

More Holiday Fastener Crafts

Menorahs! Why not make one?!

We found some good options online...all with fasteners.

Nuts surrounded by glitter is so great! 

Super simple and super awesome - I love that she used birthday candles.

She'll teach you how to make one over at Vickie Howell's blog.

Despite being hardware, it's cute!
And you can use birthday candles in this one too.
Learn how to build it at Craftster.com

Here's one with bigger nuts.

Although I would put it on something a little more classy than cardboard, 

maybe like bubble wrap - just kidding! (Or am I?)

Found it at instructables.com

And lastly...

It's not the most complicated but the color makes it great! Go to his webpage - The Bohmérian - to see it in action. He makes the nuts move with a gif file (you know I love those from this post!) 

Start lighting December 8th - you've got two days to make one.

Happy Hanukkah!