Welcome back to my piano art studio. Today I’d like to share with you the power of a friendly suggestion.
Not worth keeping?
I was cleaning up my side of the garage one day, and came across a piano desk. This is not a writing desk, but the piece of wood from inside the piano which supports the keys. This piece is utilitarian, but not pretty, and I was going to throw it away. It wouldn’t fit inside the trash bin, so I ran several passes on the table saw to cut it into more manageable pieces. That was when inspiration began to flow again.
The piece somewhat resembles a four-panel door, with several lengths of two-inch thick wood and three sheets of thin wood running down the center. As I cut the desk, these thin wood panels slipped easily out of the grooves that had held them in place. I picked up the small pieces, which now had a groove in them, and thought immediately that these could be made into cell phone holders. Other uses became apparent for my new scraps; and before I knew it, I was placing every piece on the shelf instead of in the trash bin.
Trial and error
The groove wasn’t actually wide enough for a phone with a case, nor did it have a good angle. But again I put the table saw to use, making several passes over the blade until the groove was just the way I wanted it. I sanded the block down and tried it out. It worked fairly well when the phone was in the landscape position, but most of them fell over when I positioned the phone vertically. To fix this, I added “feet” to the bottom, each one made by gluing together two jacks. To my delight, these feet could also hold a cell phone, so now my mount could support two phones at once. I also thought this little device could work just as well to hold business cards, making it even more versatile.
A friendly suggestion
I showed my latest creation to my children, and they loved it. My son Matthew suggested that I drill a hole coming up from the bottom so that a power cord could run through, making the cell phone holder a charging station. It took some doing, but I made it happen. After more sanding and a couple coats of varnish, the cell phone holders were finished.
Now for the hard part
To me, the hardest part of any new creation is giving it a name. My inclination is to theme the title after music theory or a popular song title. This time I deviated just a little bit from that, and called it “Hold the Phone,” since that is its intended purpose.
How can I make it mine?
“Hold the Phone” is available in my Etsy shop. So put your call on hold and click over to the shop now, while these babies are still available. Whether for your phone or your business cards, “Hold the Phone” is the right choice for you. Get one for your office desk and another for your night stand. Your phone will thank you for giving it a place to call home.
♬ ♬ ♬ ♬ ♬ ♬
Thank you for joining me on this tour of the studio. I look forward to seeing you on the next one. Until then, I invite you to check out photos of my other work in the gallery. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Encore! Old Pianos with a New Song 