It is hard for me to spring now!

Sorry about not updating for a while.  My dear hubby lost his battle with lung cancer and passed away from congestive heart failure on May 5, 2012, and it kind of knocked me for a loop.

Now on to springs.

I recently had to go up on what I charge for my springs.

I am finding springs everywhere, but getting them home is a problem since I don't own a truck, and even if I had a truck I would not be able to lift it up into the truck by myself so I am now paying one of my nephews a finders fee to locate mattresses for me.  After the mattress frames have time to rust, I pay him again to take the springs out of the frames for me.

Maybe someday soon I will find time to work on some new patterns.  Right now I am struggling to just keep up with my bill payments.  I promise to write again soon.

Some Springs Take Forever to Rust!

The last time we were out Marna helped me get a good haul of rusty springs that will last a good while. We have more then 200 rusty springs taken out of the frame waiting for orders, and we have 4 more good and rusted mattresses to take apart.

We even got another antique box springs in our last haul to add to the one we that my brother gave to me last fall. The only problem with these antique box springs is that they are very slow to rust.

This is how I want my rusty springs to look.....

But the ones my brother gave me last Fall have been laying in the driveway since we brought them home, and they have barely started to rust yet.

I think that the last ones we got were coated with some type of silver paint so I may be waiting for them to rust even longer.

I have been working these last six months first for Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, and then as soon as I was laid off there on April 15th I got called in to work for the Census Bureau so I have not been able to work on designing any new nodder patterns. I finally got laid off again Friday so maybe I can finally find the time now.

I Struck it Rich Today!

My sister Marna called me on December 25th to tell me that there was a mattress store on Craiglist that was giving away some used mattresses and boxsprings.

My hubby and I did not have a truck to go after them, but Marna told me that she would take us to go pick them up on her day off which was on Sunday.

The next day the ad was gone so I was not sure that someone had not picked them all up so today which was Sunday I drove over there to talk to the man that was giving them away, and after I told him what I was doing with them he went with me to the rear of his store to show me which ones that I could have for that purpose since he wanted to keep the better ones to give to someone who needed a mattress to sleep on.

When we reached the mattresses the first thing that I noticed was that one of them was an antique box springs with a metal frame around the edges, and I was so excited when he told me that this was one of the ones that I could have along with two of the mattresses.

I quickly called Marna to tell her that they were still there, and to tell her to get over here as fast as she could before someone else saw my antique box springs and hauled them off.

It was dark by the time Marna got here to take hubby and me to go pick them, but when we got there my antique springs were sitting right there waiting for us to load them up, and they were just perfect. The springs were about 6" tall, and looked like they had about a 2 1/2" wide top and a 5" wide bottom.

We loaded them all quickly and brought these three finds home. Then Marna wanted to take us to an apartment house where she had seen another box springs and mattress sitting beside the dumpster so off we went again.

This time we found one full size box springs which was not an antique, but the springs inside had what looked like an 1 1/2" top and a 5" bottom so they were still a very good find, and we also got one full size mattress and one king size mattress.


In all we got two box springs and four mattresses which will be enough springs to keep us in business for most of this year, and my payment to Marna for going after all these aprings for us is just the promise for me to hem six dresses for her.

Not a bad haul for one Sunday afternoon!

Just Look at What I Found!

I found one of the really old box springs where there was no cover on the springs. You know the ones that I am talking about...The ones that made the interesting noices when you moved around in the bed. Anyway these springs are about 8" tall which is about 2" longer then the newer box springs which are about 6" tall.

My hubby is taking these out for me a few at a time since he has been tiring out quickly and coughing a lot after his treatments for lung cancer ended last month, and the springs still have to rust so it will be a while before they are ready to sell, but I just had to show everyone what I had found.

It is getting hard to find good springs!

I still have two box springs to take the springs out of, and these springs will sell okay since they have the 1 1/2" top, but they will not sell as good as the other box springs do since they are the type with a V in the bottom.

My sister took me to look at two box springs on different sides of town last night that she had spotted while driving the city bus, but both of them had the square type springs in them which is no good.

I am working on some new nodder patterns for my springs that I think will be really cute, but I don't have a lot of time to play around with them since I am trying to get ready for an upcoming craft show at Dollywood in October.

These are the nodder patterns that I have ready so far:

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My Springs on my website.

I Got Some New Springs In!

We picked up three box springs last week so I want to continue my series on how to take out the springs. The box springs are a little harder to take out then the mattress springs, but they are not nearly as messy, and if you use the tricks that I am about to show you to take the springs out then the city trash will haul the empty box springs away for you.

Tools needed are:
A good set of wire cutters
A large screw driver
One set of box springs

First you need someone who drives around the city a lot to keep an eye out for box springs for you like my sister Marna who drives a KAT bus for Knoxville. She has found most of my springs for me. Then you need to check inside the box springs because there is nothing worse then bringing a box springs home in anticipation of getting some good springs out of it to discover that there is either the square springs in your find or just an empty box without any springs at all. This has happened to me many times. So again I want to say this because it is very important. Open your springs up so that you can see just what is inside before you bother loading them up to take them home. My find looked like this.



Next turn your springs up so that the chessecloth like covering is on the top, and tear it completely off if you did not take it off completely before bringing it home, and throw this piece in the trash. Next take your good wire cutters and cut at the corner where the X's are at the bottom of your springs.



Now take your big screw driver and insert it between the top of your springs and the board that it is stapled to and pull back towards you to loosen the staples that is holding the springs to the wood. When you get tired of doing that you can bang on the top of the springs with the hammer. They will come loose using both methods.



Then work the piece of wire loose or cut it loose if there is any wire still attached to your springs.



The amount of springs that you get from a box springs varies. I got 37 springs that look like the spring below from this box springs since there was some of the L shaped springs mixed in with my good ones, and I could not budge three of the springs that were in the four corners.



Now my springs are all out, and the box springs shell is still intack which is good since the city trash will not haul away any loose pieces of wood.

My Crow on a Sunflower Nodder

I had a good time making this rusty spring nodder yesterday! I thought that it turned out really well except for the edges of the sunflower being a little droopy. Maybe turning it upside down, and spritzing with hair spray then letting it dry would perk it right up. I am offering it as a free pattern to go with an order of 10 springs for $6.50 plus shipping on Ebay. My Springs on Ebay