Upcycled, metal art and more: Boondocks Vintique opens in Ocean Park

Published 2:47 pm Monday, May 20, 2024

OCEAN PARK — What started out as selling upcycled art online has blossomed into a full-fledged new business on the peninsula’s north end.

Owned and operated by Nancy and Wes Elwood, Boondocks Vintique held its grand opening last month with the Ocean Park Area Chamber of Commerce. The art gallery and gift store is located at 25902 Vernon Ave., a block south of Jack’s Country Store.

The store is open from 12-4 p.m. on Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Special business hours are in effect this week over the Memorial Day weekend, however. The store will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Monday.

Their own spot

If you recognize the Elwoods or their art, it might be because you saw them at the Ilwaco Saturday Market last year. The couple sold their metal art at the market in 2023 and did “really, really well,” but a shoulder injury Nancy suffered last fall put an end to those plans due to the physical toll of hauling the heavy art back and forth from their home to the port each weekend.

“The process was crazy, we didn’t realize we’d be working six days a week,” Nancy said. “We worked five 8-10 hour days a week to sell on one day, and then Sunday was our ‘dead day’ — we couldn’t move.”

But the Elwoods jumped at the chance to open their own physical location, which had been vacant for about a year before they moved in. The inspiration behind the name of their store is pretty simple: both Nancy and Wes grew up in the boondocks — Nancy in the Columbia River Gorge and Wes in eastern Oregon — and they offer both their own art as well as vintage and antique items that are sourced from garage and estate sales.

Before moving to the peninsula, Wes was previously a mechanic for large industrial pumps and Nancy was the director of a community center. Nancy’s parents brought her to the peninsula while she was a child for spring break in the 70s and 80s, and she and Wes would visit the peninsula every year when they would go camping at Fort Stevens State Park across the river.

Nancy began selling her upcycled art online in 2010, on sites like Etsy and eBay. The couple also has a space at Forgotten Treasures, the antique and collectibles store in Ocean Park just a few blocks east from their store, as well as at the Phog Bounders Antique Mall in Astoria.

“I got really good at figuring out ages of things, how to sell stuff, how to wrap it — I’m a really good wrapper and shipper — and [conducting] research, lots of research,” said Nancy.

Upcycled, metal art

The upcycled art Nancy makes is sourced from “bits and bobs of stuff” that people are throwing away, and it’s something that really started to stick with her when she was going through her parents’ house after they passed away.

“It’s like ‘oh, wait, this is some really good old jewelry, it just is missing the back. How can I reuse it?’” she said. “It’s kind of been in the last 10-12 years that I started making this stuff. It was definitely brought on by the parents and cleaning out their estates and just seeing ‘oh, hey, this is kind of peaceful and fun.’”

Upcycled items for sale in their store includes wall and desk art, magnets, notebooks, needle minders, ornaments, clocks, bird feeders, key chains, tablet holders, jewelry holders and signs made out of driftwood.

“It can take a while [to make], because you have a vision and then you go out to your shed and you’re like ‘oh, this needs something,’” Nancy said about her upcycled art. “I’m good at starting it and putting it aside because I don’t have the right piece.”

Metal art that the couple have on display and for sale at their store include wind chimes made out of scuba, oxygen, fire extinguishers and other tanks. They purchase the scuba tanks at a spot in Astoria after they’ve been decommissioned, which Wes then prepares by draining any fluid and cutting open before being painted and beautified by Nancy.

They recently completed a custom order for the Kraken Kafe in Long Beach, which took a couple of weeks to finish — cold and damp weather can make the painting process take longer. “Last year during Saturday Market, I was doing these in a week to take new stuff because we were selling as much as we were making, so I had to really crank them out,” said Nancy.

Wes also does the welding for the store’s horseshoe art. His dad was an off-and-on automotive welder, which is what got him interested in the practice. Their horseshoe art includes creations like crosses, flowers, cupholders, animals like rabbits and flamingos, and the sun — the latter of which is made using 18 horseshoes and took Wes 3-4 hours to make.

“When you throw the words ‘metal art’ out there, people instantly go to the cut things on the wall,” Nancy said. “But this is totally different, it’s all upcycled.”