I have to believe there are other procrastinators out there like myself who are still gathering ideas for father’s day (which is this weekend by the way!). So for all you last minute gift buyers here are some Father’s Day ideas for under $150.00.

For the guy who drives you  nuts…who you’re also nuts about:

Nuts and bolts paper weight: $42.00

Nutcrackers: $55-63.00

Nuts and bolts bookends: $95.00

Man cave lighting:

Blow torch table lamp: $120.00

Adjustable car jack stand table lamp: $95.00

Gas cap table lamp:$59.00

A place to park his rear:

Spring stool by Tyler Vendituoli: $150.00

Is your dad’s name Jack?

Car jack stand paper weight or candle holder: $55.00

Railroad ties turned Giant’s Jack: $75.00

A fish you could never catch in Lake Champlain:

Ice tong fish by Tyler Vendituoli: $140.00

We recently were asked to create a “personal profile” of one of our employees for the Vermont Buy Local Book . When I asked Tyler why he lives/works in VT he answered:

“I’ve tried to leave Vermont several times. I get on a plane, or drive off down the highway all in the hope of stumbling into some place I’d rather live. Inevitably I’m forced to see that home, Vermont, isn’t like other places. I’ve been able to make a career out of playing with things, making lights, furniture and sculptures out of the oddest assortment of materials and have created a community that fully embraces and encourages it. What I’ve learned is that it isn’t the norm and it keeps me here. It keeps me wanting to be here. “

What keeps you in VT?

Working with repurposed materials is always fun and rewarding. Not only are we preventing these materials from being thrown away, we get to see their full potential once they have been transformed into something new and different. I recently had the pleasure of working with a customer to design a large sculptural piece from  repurposed materials combined with a beautiful hand blown glass block made by AO! Glass.

When starting a new project the first step is always to gather information. Just like the pieces we create, each of our customers is unique and different. I always start by asking as many questions as possible to make sure we are moving in the same direction with the design.

Once I determine the customer’s vision I can start hunting for parts! Our upstairs space is stacked with materials waiting to be repurposed. It is always fun to go treasure hunting.  As I see things that fit with my project I start to lay them on the floor to get an idea of scale. With the design finalized it is time to move into production!

Being able to see the piece in its new home is always rewarding. The transformation is complete and the customer is left with a truly unique one-of-a kind sculpture, which is exactly what she wanted!