MATERIALS & METHODS

A day of "shopping" could include anything from a trip to an old farm with worn outbuildings to a warehouse or former industrial building. Many materials can be recovered and reused - made into something new and useful in a different way. These materials are what Dirk is really after. With imagination and the right kind of work, many pieces that might otherwise be discarded become integral to new structures.

So how does one prepare a giant old light pole - like the ones from McNary Dam which now form the structure at the center of the Boneyard Project - to become an integral building block?

"We took each piece and sandblasted it. Next we ground it down with a wire-wheel, heated and waxed it. It was not a quick process," says Nelson. After this labor of love, a rusted and worn-out light pole from the McNary Dam became a smooth and shiny column that asks to be touched as well as admired.

Please contact Dirk if you have or know of a structure that may contain the next building blocks for a new and beautiful home.