Are You Creative?

{source}

INSPIRATION 2014 #69: Do you surround yourself with beauty, lose track of time, and observe everything? According to this article, these are three qualities of a creative person. Make sure to read the post to find out what the other fifteen qualities are ~ you may be creative and not even realize it!

Silver & Gold

{source}

{source}

INSPIRATION 2014 #68: These beautiful objects are actually awards that were given for achievement or service in France, Holland & Belgium ~ the silver spray above is engraved and dated 1926. An award spray of gold or silver laurel, oak or bay leaves was hung on a door, pinned on clothing or fashioned into a wreath ~ a different kind of trophy than we are used to.

New Addition!

{photo taken by Sandra Bowe}

INSPIRATION 2014 #64: I was so inspired by this cabinet that antique dealer and friend Sandra posted on Facebook the other day, that I had to go and check it out - thanks Sandra! It is lovely ~ beautiful paint color and patina along with vintage hardware. Needs a bit of repair to the drawers, but once done, this will be such a great piece to keep my collections of ephemera, booklets, old photos, sheet music, and even lace all organized. Post with details coming soon!

Woven Objects

 {source}

{source}

INSPIRATION 2014 #22: Beautiful antique fan and top hat woven of straw. The craftsmanship and the use of a simple material to create such lovely objects is inspiring to me. The description of the top hat mentions silk as a material as well, but I think that is referring to the silk ribbon.

Fabulous Find ~ McCaskey Credit Register

As I mentioned earlier, I have begun selling some of the vintage items I have collected over the years. While doing some internet research on McCaskey credit registers, I came upon this magnificent piece here.  I would LOVE to add this one to my collection, but at this point, I am short both space and money.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I have never seen one like it before ~ the upright style nor the color.  This would look great with photos or as is shown ~ the piece is being sold with all of the ephemera as well.

In case you were wondering, below is a more common version of what one of these registers looks like when complete. When I have found them over the years, they are usually in pieces, so they aren't easy to spot.  If you do find one that is complete, it is usually quite expensive and amazingly heavy!

Below are two ads for McCaskey registers ~ these registers were basically the precursor to the credit card of today. In one of the registers I bought several years ago, I actually found the original manual and instructions on how it was to be used ~ it seemed rather complicated to me!

At any rate, I love the look of these obsolete filing cabinets ~ they are wonderful repurposed for use as photo or ephemera holders. I think a wall filled with them would be amazing ~ it would make it easy to change out whenever you wanted a different look. So, while I don't have a whole register to offer, I do have single "pages" at the moment. If you are interested, check out my vintage etsy store.  Below is a vignette of one of the pages in use.

Fabulous Find ~ Plaster Pedestal

Today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite finds ~ a beautiful plaster corner pedestal discarded from a church. I bought this probably close to 20 years ago from Steve ~ an artist friend of mine with a great eye for the wonderful and unusual.

As I mentioned, it is a corner piece and while it is gorgeous and I so wanted to use it in my home, I have not been able to find a suitable corner for it in 20 years! I finally gave up and decided I needed to sell it ~ after all, if I couldn't find the right space for it in all of that time, so I doubt the perfect spot is going to surface now. I sure hated to part with this piece, but hopefully it will find a home that is more suitable than mine!

I had really hoped to find a crispy dilapidated saint to display atop the pedestal, but I never found an affordable one of those either.

So, does this sort of thing happen to you when you buy an antique? As a result of this instance, when deciding on a piece, I now make sure I have at least two places where it might work ~ if I cannot think of two spots, I am not allowed to get it. Unfortunately, I am VERY good at rationalizing and coming up with multiple solutions!

{beautiful detail with just the right amount of crispiness!}

Cigar Box Contents Revealed!

Guess I have made you wait long enough! There were several good guesses as far as what the box contained, but no one came up with the right answer ~ I don't think I would have been able to guess it correctly either!

Zillions of old and canceled stamps all organized by color and tied up with string ~ not worth much money, but an interesting collection and certainly an interesting way to keep them.

Oddly enough, I found the photo below on Pinterest ~ it had been posted here. As this must have been listed as an item for sale, it is no longer shown on the site where it originated, Butik Sophie, so I assume they were sold. I'd love to find out more about these ~ why would someone collect and carefully organize canceled stamps in this way? For that matter, why did TWO people do this? Wonder if it was a commonly done practice, or just a weird coincidence? If you know anything you can contribute, please leave a comment. In the mean time, I think I may see about contacting Butik Sophie and seeing if she can shed some light on these.

{image from Butik Sophie}

UPDATE: My boyfriend, who works at the library, happened to be working when the stamp collectors group came in for a meeting. He was told by one of the collectors that commons (I assume that is a term used for the most used stamp of the time) were often bundled in groups of 100 and saved in that fashion, so this must have been someone's commons collection.

Fabulous Finds ~ Cigar Box & Contents

Finally got a few photos taken today ~ here is my favorite (and fabulous!) find from the KC Flea Market I posted about previously. I bought this from a dealer (Jerry's Vintage Treasures) who was selling fine and expensive china, so it was rather a surprise to find this crunchy and dilapidated cigar box resting on a table amongst all the fine goods.

Despite it's tattered appearance, I just love the box as is. The graphics are just beautiful and the added labels are also very intricately designed. Notice that the top of the box is printed to look like wood even though the label was applied to a wooden box of a similar color. While the sides must have been totally covered at one time, now the paper labels are only partially present as shown below:

Best of all is what I found inside ~ can you guess? ~ post your guess in the comments if you dare! (Knitting group, shhhh!) The photo above provides a clue of sorts. I will post photos of the contents later this week, so stay tuned!

Packaging Inspiration

Thought I would end the week with some packaging inspiration ~ someone at work had purchased these at a flea market, so I borrowed them to take a few photos as I had never seen anything like this before.  Those clever Victorians!  What a great way to package hat pins ~ plus the graphics are lovely as well ~ you can see I kind of got carried away!

{front view}

{back view}

 

Hat pins aren't that easy to find, so to find some in their original packaging is very unusual ~ now that I know they exist, I am going to keep my eyes peeled for a set for myself.

Fabulous Find ~ Vintage Sewing Basket

Today I thought I would post about this lovely vintage woven sewing basket ~ I think it may have been green at one point, but was painted black and comes apart in several sections. Recently at an antique show I saw a similar basket and as the dealer is a friend, we had a conversation about these sewing baskets ~ I mentioned the one that I had has a flower and bird decoration added ~ so, this is for you Nan!

I always love going to Nan's booth at any of the shows she does as she always has a lovely assortment of buttons to search through and many beautiful and unique sewing treasures. Make sure to go to Sparks/White Cloud and the Walnut Antique shows (see links at right) if you want to see for yourself ~ she and her husband are usually at both of those shows.

{different compartments}

{side view}

So, I have three of these baskets ~ the other two do not have any added decorations and they are all painted black. They are similar in size, but there are no manufacturers markings anywhere, so I am not sure if these were made by hand or how old they might be. So, how many of something do you have to have to call it a collection?

National Button Week ~ Day 2

Day 2 of National Button Week is here, so as promised I thought I would share one of my most favorite finds ever ~ a vintage box of Wash Crochet Buttons from Germany! I bought this years ago in an antique mall in Greenwood, Missouri ~ I wish the box was full, but I felt lucky that the cards it did contain weren't all the same. It made me wonder if it was an assortment when it was new or somehow multiple types of crocheted buttons ended up in the one box.

Even though the box wasn't full, I love how the buttons were to be displayed in the separate compartments on their individual cards ~ can you imagine walking into a shop and finding these for sale? Although the cards and the box are in rather rough shape, the buttons themselves are in good shape ~ except I doubt I will have the heart to ever take them off their cards and use them as they are so pretty as they are.

I love the variety of crochet work as well ~ I think the ones directly above are my favorites, although I love the first ones shown as well. I do wonder how these were made ~ by hand or machine? If anyone can supply any information, please leave a comment or email me ~ I'd love to learn more!

Don't you wish items like these were still being sold today ~ beautiful packaging, display and product? I suppose there are such things available, but the cost seems outrageous ~ it makes me wonder if these items were costly in the past as well or if they were affordable.

Fabulous & Functional

One of the most difficult challenges (for me) I have been facing as I move forward with working on my art work for Surtex, is that I have had to cut out (or at least seriously cut back!) my weekend antique & vintage shopping sprees! Not only do I feel like I don't have the time, but I need to be very conservative with my funds these days as well!

Never fear though, I have a houseload of stuff I haven't shared with you yet ~ probably enough to get me through as least a year or ten! So, do keep checking back as I will be posting about my vintage finds as usual ~ plus, there are a couple of shows coming up that I just know I will not be able to resist! I will let myself go to them if I have enough art finished to warrant taking a break! Sacrifices must be made!

As I mentioned, I have loads of photos from shows or trips out and about that I have not shared yet, so these images are from a trip to the River Market Antique Mall ~ I love this little country grained painted tin container and perpetual calendar! I remember seeing a similar one up at the Enchanted Frog a while back ~ perhaps it is the same one? I could kick myself for not getting it ! it is one of those items I regret not buying.

While it is a little dinged up, I still love the colors and the design of the piece. It reminded me of this painted tin item I had seen and posted about here. The piece below is from the collection at the American Folk Art Museum in NY.

In Like a Lamb

The usual saying for March is "in like a lion, out like a lamb", but this year March arrived in like a lamb (albeit a windy one!), so I suppose will go out like a lion. So, since it has been awhile since I have posted any sort of antique or vintage find, I thought I better see about rectifying that issue! Didn't take long for me to locate something to share ~ even happier to find something that I could actually connect to the March saying ~ thus, the lovely little hosiery mending kit I picked up a few years ago, complete with an illustration of a stylish woman walking her scottie dog on a windy day.

{front and back views}

Initially I thought it was a match book, but upon closer inspection, found it to be a cute little mending kit for silk stockings - I'm guessing from the 30's?

This is one of those items I cannot remember when or where I purchased it, but at some point I discovered it fit perfectly in the little syroco (or Ornawood) wood scottie card or matchbook holder I had bought at a different time. A perfect match!

The Xylothek ~ A Wooden Library

Have you ever heard of a xylothek? A few days ago someone had posted an image on Pinterest that piqued my curiosity ~ as the link didn't work, I did some more research myself. The word xylothek is Greek and breaks down to the following: xylon = tree and theke = storing place. So, a xylothek is a collection of wood specimens placed together in some kind of cupboard.

{images from here}

The first three images shown are from the wooden library at Alnarp, Sweden ~ there are 217 volumes in the set. This specific xylothek was made in Nurmburg, Germany from 1805-1810. Each book is made from the wood of a specific tree or shrub and contains specimens pertaining to that variety as well as a written description, biology, and practical use. What an amazing way to catalog ones research! Read more and see a few more images of the wooden library at Alnarp here.

I wasn't able to find very much information or images ~ just bits and pieces here and there, but I'll share what I found. Below is a similar xylothek to the one above ~ apparently the makers of the wooden library at Alnarp made multiple sets to sell, so this could have been one of the other sets.

(image from here}

{Image from here}

Below is another xylothek of a different style ~ this one seems a bit rougher, but still beautiful in its own unique way. Many of the sites where I found images were in German and didn't seem to contain much additional information. The two images below are from two different sources, but look as if they are from the same library.

{image from here}

{the rose bush ~ image from here}

{From a 200 year old collection of 130 volumes ~ image from here}

Last, a Japanese xylothek housed in a wooden cabinet. From what I could glean from the translated German, the cabinet was European built, but the individual "pages" were created in Japan. This version is unique in the fact that the images were painted rather than collected specimens. You may be able to get more from the translation if you read it yourself here. I would love to see any of these collections in person ~ they all look so interesting!

{images from here}