Swords into art
October 20, 2010 4:14 PM   Subscribe

A throne of weapons. An armchair built from a Russian seamine. A dress made of bullets.

The throne of weapons was built as part of the Transforming Arms into Tools project, made from decommissioned rifles used in Mozambique’s civil war, and is the 99th object featured in the excellent BBC Radio 4 Series “A History of the World in 100 Objects” (previously on Metafilter), which concludes tomorrow.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul (29 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
This seems so much more of a Cheradenine Zakalwe post...
posted by Artw at 4:16 PM on October 20, 2010 [13 favorites]


I was totally going to post this. I don't like weapons but... I like some of these.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:17 PM on October 20, 2010


Oh man are we finally living in the comic book universe yet?
posted by The Whelk at 4:18 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


There's a small guesthouse/hotel in Phonsovan (Laos) where there are weapons all over, some of them made into things -- planters, tables, etc.. I found it hideous.

Something about the stuff made from sea mines, though, really appeals to me. Not sure why.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:23 PM on October 20, 2010


The first link looks like something you would see a boss from Borderlands sitting on.
posted by Evernix at 4:24 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


I am so tired of the antics of Lady Gaga.
posted by GuyZero at 4:24 PM on October 20, 2010 [3 favorites]


Something about the stuff made from sea mines, though, really appeals to me. Not sure why.

Yeah, those are rather neat.
posted by Artw at 4:26 PM on October 20, 2010


Oh, I should note -- by "this" I mean the seamine furniture. BHG creatively put a few different sites together, the other two I wasn't familiar with.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 4:30 PM on October 20, 2010


Somebody was listening to A History of the World in 100 Objects today.
posted by Rinku at 4:39 PM on October 20, 2010


D'oh. Didn't see the below the fold half of the post.
posted by Rinku at 4:40 PM on October 20, 2010


Cuando una guitarra y un fusil se quieren muchíssimo el uno al otro, se hacen una escopetarra.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:44 PM on October 20, 2010


Of course there is this cathedral.

This gun coffin was made in one of my favorite shops, the Box Shop where the Flaming Lotus Girls also work.
posted by poe at 4:45 PM on October 20, 2010 [3 favorites]


Got anything made out of M1A Pulse Rifles?
posted by mmrtnt at 4:47 PM on October 20, 2010


The cross on the bullet vest is a bit of a ham-handedly obvious touch. But the vest would be a natural with Lady G's meat dress, worn by Hirst's diamond skull. Oh, and the shoes? Dorothy's ruby slippers, of course.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:55 PM on October 20, 2010


The mine furniture is nice. The throne is, although obvious, still a cool metaphoric artifact. The fact that the vest is described as "bulletproof"...well, I'd prefer a Bhagavad Gita in the breast pocket if a bullet had my name on it.
posted by kozad at 5:07 PM on October 20, 2010


So, sort of a modern version of the Iron Throne?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:10 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Peace Art Project Cambodia
posted by clavdivs at 5:17 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


How much would you have to shell out for a dress like that?
posted by hal9k at 5:17 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'll say about a 1000 bullets (+- 100) in the .30 dress
say 28$ for a box of 50
20 boxes X 28$ + labor= the price
posted by clavdivs at 5:27 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


That seamine furniture is great. Super Captain Nemo-y.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:28 PM on October 20, 2010


A dress made out of boxing gloves.
posted by alms at 5:42 PM on October 20, 2010


Alex, what is in "Lady GaGa's guest bedroom?"
posted by GilloD at 6:30 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


poe: "This gun coffin was made in one of my favorite shops, the Box Shop where the Flaming Lotus Girls also work."

Holy cow. All of that Al Farrow stuff is fantastic.
posted by notsnot at 6:38 PM on October 20, 2010


Not to nitpick but the .30 cal dress is made from spent casings, not bullets. The bullet (along with the charge and primer) is the part that is missing. If the designer is a one-shot one-kill kind of person, that dress is kind of disturbing.
posted by VTX at 7:04 PM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


I really want one of those round mine stoves. I find them extremely fascinating, for some reason.
posted by inparticularity at 9:04 PM on October 20, 2010


The "bullets" dress is really made from cartridge cases, not bullets per se. You could probably get them pretty inexpensively; they sell in bulk for about $85 per 1k. You can probably get rejects unsuitable for reloading for much less, if you worked with a reloading company.

If you wanted one in OD green instead of bright brass, you could use non-reloadable steel cases ... they have no value besides scrap steel (far less than brass) and can often be found in the trash cans of any rifle range. The main problem would probably just be finding enough identical ones for a sizable piece of clothing.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:09 PM on October 20, 2010


In Sarajevo, I purchased shell casing pens. Some of them were purchased from a man who helped build the famous tunnel to the airport. They run about $5.00 and are very cool pens. Mine is a retractible.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:48 AM on October 21, 2010


I want that mine furniture sooo badly
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:47 AM on October 21, 2010


In related news the Guns Into Plowshares monument that used to sit next to the Judiciary Square metro station in DC is rotting in storage.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:47 AM on October 21, 2010


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