The Last Bouquet

Last Bouquet

Marc put these together on Sunday. This will be the last Bouquet of the year.  So I think my summer hiatus must officially be over.

Back with an AuctionReport

Yes, I’m still here. The Letterpress project continues. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been out there buying.

Last night there were loads of tools to sit through and I only bought a couple of things. There were two lots of hankies, about a hundred in each lot. But they were all folded up, or more accurately put, scrunched into tiny balls and tightly stuffed into plastic grocery bags. So I really could not tell too well what they would turn out to be like. A quick search has turned up a Nursery Rhyme, and astrology wheel and a scottie dog. Not to be greedy, but after they go through my little laundry I am hoping for more good ones.

There are also a number of mens’ hankies in there. I actually love a hanky with a nice plaid around the outside edge. In fact, that is the kind I like to take running with me. (Have a mentioned that I’ve taken up running again?) I was thinking that some clever person who loves a more retro look has probably come up with some fabulous way of using these. If someone has a picture of anything made with those I’d love to share it here.

And then I bought a mailbox. I am embarassed to say that my shop mailbox has been broken for about two months at least. The door came off. Last night for $5.00  I got a great one in white that just needs to be cleaned off a little. I’m also going to stencil a number on there too.

But now for the bad news. The auction was nowhere near over when the building started to flood. No kidding. I felt so badly. The water seemed to be pouring in as the water came down in sheets outside. The runoff was incredible. Most people started to help move things…but to where.  Their building is always so chock full of stuff. I am afraid that today they have a terrible mess on their hands.  Hopefully, their loses won’t be too great.

Sniffing Bakelite

Sometimes when discussing bakelite with people they have expressed their inability to distinguish the scent of it.  For myself, after thirty years of looking at it and using it I’m not usually one of those people who stands in a public place feverishly rubbing the piece in question to work up some heat on it and then sniffs it. I’ve even seen folks licking the stuff.

Chartreuse Bakelite Tablespoon

A couple of weeks ago, before “Letterpress World,” I placed a handful of bakelite pieces into a plastic bin I’ve been using for years. It has a tight fitting lid to keep the dust off things that are waiting for their photos to be taken. Yesterday when I opened the bin the smell of bakelite, or the chemical phenol formaldehyde of which it is made, nearly knocked me over. So if you have a piece you could easily learn the smell by such a strategy. I’ve had other plastics in the bin and there was barely an odor at all when the bin was opened.

A mix of different color bakelite handles  is a cheery site. So don’t be put off by the lack of complete matching sets available.  But keep the handles out of direct sunlight as that will quickly change the colors.

Art Deco Bakelite Knives

It isn’t that vintage letterpress isn’t pretty…

…it definitely can be.  The filigree-type pieces from the 30’s are lovely. It would make a lovely paperweight if you don’t print. So I don’t really want to say I started to miss pretty after nearly a month of working with so much printing stuff. It may be light and bright that I started to crave.  So I did break down and list a couple of other things.

First, a Crown Staffordshire cup and saucer in the Blue Bow pattern. If you’ve never seen this pattern or any other china patterns that has  raised enamel work on it, hunt for some.  On this pattern the bows are enameled and feel embossed as you run a finger over them. Gorgeous!

And for a fabric fix I added a vintage, 36″ floral bouquet fabric to Etsy. This is a piece I bought thinking I would use it. Truth be told I can’t even remember what I thought I would use it for. That’s always a bad sign. And it is really too lovely for a life in a drawer. It is barkcloth era, but it is more of a flat broadcloth. There are no makers marks on the salvages.

Wondering what happened to the auction and flea market reports?  A couple are on the way as soon as the sun shines for some major picture taking.

A Lovely Spring Shower

Some people just have a knack for pefect entertaining and my friend Linda has it in heaps. She also has years of practice too. Here are some photos for the Bridal Shower she just had for her future daughter-in-law, Kelly.

The food was a super assortment of finger foods.
She prepared it all herself, with the help of the bride’s mother.

The French Tulips in the Glass Pocketbook Vases here door prizes.

So this is a picture of the dessert bar. What the heck!
Ok. It is better that you can’t see all the desserts.
You would be so jealous.

If you haven’t been to Linda’s website, go to Lilli-Maeg Floral  Specialties
to see what fabulous work she does.

World War II Posters and Cherry Ames

I’ve been so busy sorting and listing things we hauled back from Brooklyn twenty-five years ago. We’ve moved the stuff numerous times and we haven’t always stored it as properly as we should have. In fact, I no longer have the right to sit around at auctions complaining about how other folks have stored their things. Anyway, there are a number of original World War II posters that are still in very good condition.

The ones with illustrations of women are the most fascinating to me. The one above is a recruitment poster for the Army Nurses Corp. The artist is Steele Savage (1900-1970), who is best known today for his illustrations for science fiction book covers. The moment I saw this I immediately thought of Cherry Ames. I loved her. To this day I remember her saying that she never went to bed without washing her face. At about the same time my godfather told me never to go to the breakfast table without washing your face.  They both stuck, having probably reinforced one another.

Cherry Ames also had dark hair, which was another reason for me to love her beyond her bravery and quick thinking. The first seven Cherry Ames books were published between 1943 and 1946. At least the first couple dust jackets were illustrated by Ralph Crosby Smith (1911-1965).  If you would like to learn more about the history of Cherry Ames you must visit The Cherry Ames Page. It has loads of great information. Makes me want to reread one for old times sake.

There were also posters to incourage woman to fill jobs that were once held by men, Rosie Riveter type posters.

“I’ve found the job where I fit best!” The artist here is George Rapp. Are you getting a theme of the ideal beauty of the day? Even the one below that used a photograph has a very lovely young woman.

The more WOMEN at work the sooner we WIN! She is working on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F Navy Bomber…in case you were wondering. I think I need to pick out one of the women to keep before I sell them all.

Not too cottage you say. maybe I can make anything cottagey. These poster can conjur up images of cottages all over Britain where women sat wrapped in old wool shawls, knitting as they sat near the radio listening to Churchill.

Flea Market a Freezing Bust

Last Friday we did go to our favorite flea market for the first time this season. Usually the first good week is Good Friday. But my husband likes to push the boundaries. As we approached the site we could see from a good distance that there were very few dealers. We are always there very early. But usually there are already people carting things back to their vehicles. Last week the dealers were just pulling in. And these were mostly the old guy dealers who bring mostly old guy rusty tools and other assorted rusty men’s stuff. I can’t  overemphaisze the old and rusty bits in that. No one seemed in any hurry to unpack either. It was a little like a stand off. What buyers there  were milling around trucks piled high with rusty stuff while the owners of said trucks were just standing there shooting the breeze with other dealers.

My first purchase was a pink Shawnee bulb bowl. The man didn’t have change. He only brought one $20 bill and a couple of $100’s. Those are great for making change, especially if you don’t even have anything worth more that $20. He said he trusted me to take the bowl and come back when I could give him the exact amount.

At this point we went back to the truck for hot coffee and some bagel, hoping that there would be more unpacked when we were finished.

I swear to you that they were still out there shooting the breeze! There was a woman who was rather quickly throwing things out onto her tables. She did have two things I was interested in, a pink donkey and cart planter by Shawnee and a retro Androck sifter. First she told me to wait while she went and bought something so that she would have some change to give me for my purchases. Then she stood there and kept rooting through all her pockets and finally came up with the change. Ok.

Usually when I go to the flea market I do take a bunch of small bills. This was a spur of the moment decision on our part though. But…whenever I sell at markets I take even more small bills with me…so that I can make change  for my customers. I was shaking my head when I left and that wasn’t just because my jaw was frozen it this point.

We went home. Last weeks auction reports forthcoming!

Social Media – Help or Hazard

I love all this social media stuff most of the time. But sometimes a gal just has to be doing the things that really drive the antique and vintage business, being out there getting things, cleaning them up and doing the paperwork on them, photographing them, listing them, shipping them.  I will be catching up with some reports of all this over the next couple of days.  In the meantime, I did manage to beat the bunnies to these crocus, our first flowers of the season. There was a little clump of snowdrops too, but the rabbits got them within hours of blooming. Dang!

Support Your Local Food Bank

Last week our cat, Sarah, left us for the great mouse hunting fields in Annwn. The week before, knowing full well that she was on her last legs, I bought a whole bunch of cans of cat food. Ok, we all know what that is called. Anyway, after I closed the shop yesterday I went to the food bank to give them the cat food.You can almost see the food bank from the porch of our shop.

They usually distribute food four times a month, for an hour each time. Last evening they were supposed to be there from 5:30 to 6:30. At 6:30 there were still at least a dozen people standing out in the chilling wind. The place is small and they can only let a few people in at a time.  I sat in my car until around seven, when the last people were loading up. It happened that several of the workers there are long time customers.  One of them told me that they had run out of cereal this week. That is really one of the worst things for them to run out of because all the families with children want cereal. But she said that in general they could use anything as they have so many more people showing up.

If you can, contact your local food bank and see what you could do for them. If you are local to me…I’ll be gathering what I can between now and March 25 when I’ll take it up to them.

Antique Dealers and Their “Stuff”

I was wondering today about other antique dealers. Do we all have masses of stuff everywhere?  Today I went into our guest room at home and came back out shaking my head at myself. There is “stuff” in there that I had completely forgotten about. It isn’t “stuff” I bought for myself and never got to that I am concerned about. That happens to everyone, practically everyone anyway. Every other thing I put my hands on in there is supposed to be for sale somewhere.  And I really had hoped to get my house in order before gardening season started. Here is what I photographed today. It is a start.

Thatched Rose Cottage Jigsaw – Box is still sealed!

Over three yards of vintage Floral Bouquet broadcloth Fabric

Cut Velvet Ribbon on a wooden spool

Panties so old there are buttons