Fighting the Bum Foot Blues!

My last hurrah before breaking my left foot last Tuesday was shopping for the previous weekend's finds at Chartreuse, Lucketts, and a shop in between the two locations, My Wit's End. I've shared pictures at Chartreuse and Lucketts Store in previous posts, so here's My Wit's End:This shop has furniture, smalls, and a couple of outbuildings with items waiting to be worked over or repurposed. I bought a few things here, including some lock and key themed buttons that I'm going to use in crafts. Possibly jewelry. I also bought a vintage chalkware flower basket wall placque in perfect condition. Very bright colors; I'm taking it to Boonsboro Days. Yes, I'm still planning on doing the show that's just 12 days away (I committed to it last Feb. and have been looking forward to it). Yikes!

I only bought two things at Chartreuse this time--a round print of cherubs and a small aqua bottle. The Lucketts fair was going on that weekend and I didn't buy much there, either. Here's what I picked up that able-bodied weekend on those outings.
I'm trying to use some of my now-abundant spare time crafting. I made this out of an antique pink lustreware cup that I bought at a yard sale in between Chartreuse, etc. The cup was missing its saucer and has a hairline. This arrangement looks a bit like a berry explosion! Should I cut back the berry branches?
Here's a little vintage blue bird decoration I pulled together with a blue glass vintage compote from an estate sale last month:I think this is cute, but will it sell? I did well at Boonsboro last year, but that was before the big hammer fell on Wall Street, buyouts, etc. I'm planning to take lots of reasonably-priced items this year, which was pretty much my approach last year!

If any of you sellers out there have tips on how your shows have been going lately, please let me know. Antiques, vintage, crafts. What are people buying? Price points? Shoppers, I'd like to hear from you too! Thanks for any thoughts you might share :)

Even more importantly, thanks to those of you who have wished me well in my recovery and said prayers for my foot!

Spatterware

In some of my earliest blog posts (way back in June), I said that I would talk about antiques, vintage finds, crafts, and road trips. But I really haven't said that much about antiques. I've also said that I have personal style confusion. The problem is that I like so many different kinds of things and some of my collections reflect that. Do you do that, too?

Growing up the daughter of an antique dealer, I had lots of early exposure to auctions, shows, shops, and the gamut. Among Mom's specialties were American art pottery and ceramics in general. At one point, she had a yellow spatterware plate with a blue dahlia painted in the center. She was asking $300 for it. $300! was shocking to me in the 1970s. As a teenager then, $300 for one plate seemed incredible. I loved it, but....

I don't have a picture of Mom's plate (long since sold to some grateful buyer), but I can show you the legacy (some non-spatter items are on the bottom):About 10 years ago I started collecting spatterware when I could find it for reasonable prices. Mom gave me her books Spatterware and Sponge by the Robackers (out of print and $$$ when you can find it) and Homespun Ceramics by the Greasers (OOP also, I think). Yellow is the rarest, which explains the high price of Mom's plate way back when. Today, that plate would be in the thousands.

Among collectors of Americana, spatterware is a favored ceramic choice, even though it was primarily made in England in the early 19th century (really popular about 1830s-1850s). It was very popular and some think that the bright colors and patterns were especially liked by the Pennsylvania Germans. The paint forming the spatter design is thought to have been applied with a sponge or fine-woven cloth to achieve the spatter effect. If the paint was applied only to the rim of the plate or saucer, often a handpainted design was put in the center. These designs usually have a very folky quality. Sometimes, transfers were applied, like the example at the far left on my top shelf. I found that last summer at Upstairs Antiques in Concord, Massachusetts, for a great price! And I didn't expect to come across any spatterware while in New England. You never know.

Rainbow spatter is a piece that has a striped multi-color spatter pattern. There are two pieces on the middle shelf of my hutch. Both have flaws--but I love them! Important to note: condition is a huge factor in price for spatterware, just as with most other antiques. Rarity is another. I've already mentioned yellow is rare; blue, heavily represented in my collection, is the most common. Spatterware has also been reproduced, so beware when shopping for the real thing.

As anyone who collects anything knows, the search is at least half the fun. Do you find any spatterware where you live?

A day in St. Michael's - a vintage treat

If you haven't been to St. Michael's, Maryland, before or in a long time, try to visit. This is the home of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, restaurants featuring crabs, and shops galore! Our purpose yesterday was shopping, although we were there all day, so meals were also on the agenda....
First stop, Antiques on Talbot--sorry for the blurry picture. I hadn't been here in 2 months; didn't find anything I had to take home with me this time, but I'll be back.

Bags Aloft is a long-time St. Michael's shop that I've visited many times over the years. My son still uses a duffel bag we bought there at least 10 years ago. This time, we were tempted by Vera Bradley!

New discovery--Take Me Home. My first reaction on entering this shop was "OMG!" Regina has had her shop here since February and I don't know how I missed it on my last trip to this town. It is a beautiful, restful shop, with great things, including one of my faves-garden furniture. Calgon, take me away! (Only ladies of a certain vintage get that one :))





The blue stool with the glass top went home with us!Run, don't walk, to this store!

An interesting visual counterpart (in every way) to Take Me Home was Oak Creek Sales, a short drive from St. Michael's in Royal Oak, Maryland. We found this complex (it's 2 jam-packed buildings with spillage into the yards) on the way to the Bellevue/Oxford ferry and made a stop. The girls found some small treasures for craftmaking inside, while our driver had a refreshment at Bella Luna next door (more on that later).
Waiting for the ferry in Bellevue at the tiny beach:Oyster shells in abundance!

Cute little replica building on the other side of the ferry in Oxford:
We only took the ferry one way and drove around Oxford. So many charming homes for sale that it was shocking. Too bad we're not near retirement! We drove back to Royal Oak and ended the day with a wonderful dinner at Bella Luna Restaurant and Market:
Everything was delicious! The bruschetta was especially memorable.

So get out your planners and schedules and find a way to fit this area into your vacation time. BTW, I offer all this information free and without obligation to the places mentioned!

Recent Vintage Finds

While in Ohio, I made a little time for some antique and vintage hunting. Here are my finds:In the last few years I have developed an interest in painted vintage hangers, hat stands, and paper-covered boxes. I've loved antique Christmas ornaments for years, especially the mini ornaments for feather trees.

A close-up of the Christmas ornaments:Aren't they cute?

Our northern Ohio destination was Cedar Point, oldest amusement park in the country (I think). After two days of rides, we got a little wanderlust and drove around. One of the towns we visited is Milan, Ohio (pronounced MY-lan; almost nothing in Ohio that exists as a name somewhere else is pronounced the same way--Versailles is VER-sails-no kidding; New Concord is New Con-CORD, etc.). This is fairly amusing for my east-coast husband! Milan is the birthplace of Thomas Edison, so naturally we had to pay a courtesy call. How adorable is this house?
We discovered some antique shops on and near the village square. I found the pink hat stand at Milan Inn-Tiques. Then we found Sights & Sounds of Edison:This shop had the round paper-covered box and the Christmas ornaments. If I'd had more time, I could have spent hours in that shop. It was a curious mix of Edison memorabilia and American antiques. I didn't notice that the two shops are apparently owned by brothers! I picked up the business card at each shop and both are owned by couples named Gfell. Milan is a nice little historic town--check it out!

We also spent a day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. This was my second visit--it's a great place. We saw a beautiful sunset over Lake Erie. The R&R Hall of Fame is the triangular shaped building to the left of the sun.Lots of great ephemera on display that would make great art projects--ha!

Shabby Chic, Primitives, Vintage, Garden, or what?

My son's middle school PTA used magazine subscriptions as a fundraiser. Two of my favorites were Cottage Living and Country Home--both of which have ceased publication in the last several months, along with Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, which I usually bought off the newsstand. What gives? The downward spiral of the housing market led to a downward spiral of advertising in said magazines. Maybe the prevalence of home design blogs was a factor, too. (Chicken? Egg?) Without my magazines (oh, I still receive Country Living and the resurrected Victoria), I have been trying to get a handle on blogs and style.

The kids have complained that I have an art gallery in the powder room. We had some really dated pseudo-stencil primitive wallpaper in there when we moved in. After awhile, I convinced my other half to strip off the wallpaper and paint. Unfortunately, the shade of green we picked had a few more neon notes than we anticipated. But we're stuck with it for awhile.A small space is an ideal place for small pictures that could otherwise get lost in a larger room.

Great little mirrored shelves from the Pink Cabbage:The shelves hold a vintage chalk bird (bought at a nearby church yard sale) and an antique chalk box bought at Thoreauly Antiques in Concord, Mass.

I love the 19th century schoolgirl pencil drawing in its original frame. The dealer I bought it from in New Market said she got it on Eutaw Street in Baltimore. There is a girl's name written in script on the back of the frame's edge. She appears in the census in Baltimore in the late 19th century. It's great when you can connect these dots!
Being able to learn something about the person who created a picture or object is rewarding. You can enjoy a picture for its own sake, but the personal story makes it even better. What I collect fluctuates a little; I tend to go to all the styles mentioned above. Maybe these are Victorian Vignettes in their own way on a life-size scale!

From a kid's eye view- antiques and vintage shops

It's Emma the youngest of the flock. My brother would not post anything on my mom's blog for a million bucks so this whole section will be written by me (and edited by my mom). A good thing I learned from my mom is that you have to know the value in an object. One of my mom's biggest shopping pet peeves is brand new furniture made yesterday painted or distressed to look like an antique or vintage. Also having a good eye is a good quality when shopping. My mom and I share a lot of interests so shopping together is never a hard thing. We have a lot of favorite shops and we've decided to share:
- R. Trammell & Sons; Old Bowie, MD
- The Pink Cabbage; Rt.144 and Triadelphia Rd., Ellicott City, MD
- Lucy & Ethel's; Savage Mill, Foundry St Savage, MD
- The Vintage Shoppes; Main St., Ellicott City, MD
- Steele's Country; AAA Mall, Freestate Dr. Laurel, MD
- Antiques on Talbot; Talbot St., St. Michael's, MD
- Antiques Emporium; E. Patrick St., Frederick, MD

Those are all the ones that come to mind at the moment but there will be more. [Note from Mom: I love Jeannie Trammell's shop in Bowie for antiques. I'm a long-time customer-about 18 years. She has great taste and good things. Back to Emma.] The Vintage Shoppes and The Pink Cabbage have to be our favs (vintage). Very girly, prices are reasonable, and there's something that comes out with us every time! My mom and I recently did a yard sale at The Pink Cabbage called Strawberry Days from 8-5.

I'm really starting to enjoy doing yard sales and craft festivals/shows. Back in Sept. '08 mom and I did a show near Hagerstown called Boonsboro Days:
It was supposed to be a two day event but the Saturday was rained out by heavy rains by hurricane Ike. There was nothing else to do because we were an hour and a half away from home and we were staying with my brother's friend's family who lived 5 minutes away from the show who were also doing it. It was raining really hard and I was really bummed so mom and I found ourselves spending the majority of the afternoon at an outlet mall some 20 minutes away. Then the next day it was sunny and the skies looked really good so we did it. We shared a booth with the friend we were staying with. Our crafts are called Victorian Vignettes and hers were called Lydia Oh Lydia! Her blog is called " Beauty will surely save the world". So we are doing Boonsboro Days again this year because of all the fun we had last year and this year we have our own booth 10x10' under a tent! Wish us luck! Arrivederchi!
In the interest of equal time, even though he wouldn't blog himself, here is something about my son. He doesn't do much shopping. He'll help at a yard sale, but won't shop too much at one unless I'm there selling. And that can get old fast. His long-time interests are playing soccer and art. The mandala mounted with a yellow mat (pictured below) was on exhibit in the observation deck gallery at Thurgood Marshall/BWI International Airport last year. It was quite an honor to be among the middle schoolers in Maryland whose art was selected.
This year, his silk painting of an orangutan was on display at Columbia Mall. I love this painting! This was his third time participating in the annual exhibit of Howard County students' art at the mall.Hope you enjoyed learning a little about my children :) We'll have more to say about yard sales and antiquing in future posts.

Winterthur and the Brandywine River Valley

If you live close enough to pay a visit, go to Winterthur and see a fine exhibit this summer, "Who's Your Daddy?" http://winterthur.org/calendar/needlework.asp. It's a small exhibit, but loaded with rich needlework documenting families, handed down through generations. It's going to be up until August, so try to fit it in with your summer plans if you love needlework. Winterthur is a great place and one of a kind. The gardens are fabulous, too, if you prefer being outdoors! Nearby other sites are Hagley Museum, Nemours, and Rockwood--all in Delaware. Close by in Pennsylvania are Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine River Museum, Chaddsford Winery, and more. We've been to all of these over the years and our visits are always fun. Yes, we have dragged the kids with us, mostly with success. (My parents indoctrinated me, therefore I must do the same to the next generation.)

I have to put in a plug for an antique shop I visited when we made a trip to Winterthur last month. Take a detour a few miles north along Route 52 to Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Go to Springhouse on US Route 1. It has a bit of the French country flair, with some garden things, porcelain, a nice mix in all. Unfortunately, there isn't a web site for the shop, but check it out in various online business sites. We discovered that a shop we liked in Centreville, DE, had closed. The Windles had great early things. It's always disappointing when a good shop closes--they seem to get fewer in number all the time!

Dumb encounters at yard sales...

Last Saturday I went to a community yard sale not far from where I live. Only about 8-10 homes were participating. Most had things I was not interested in like baby items (been there) and books (I have plenty at home that I haven't gotten to yet). If I bring something home, I try to get rid of something else so it has to be worth it (or take up very little space).

One house was busy with several adults trying to pull things out of boxes, the garage, and the house onto the long driveway. I was thinking that this was a bust, too, when I noticed a man unpacking some china. At the bottom of his pile was an antique oval ironstone transferware vegetable dish. The transferware was teal and very pretty. I asked, "how much," and he asked his wife, "what do you think, $20?" She said "yeah." I said "oh, thanks anyway." It's not that it wasn't worth it. It's just that I didn't want to pay $20; I would have paid $10. Only a few weeks before I found a less wonderful, but nice, ironstone piece at another sale for 50 cents (way cheap--I took that one home). Besides, they said it was a piece from the wife's family. So my feeling was that they really didn't want to sell it; I didn't counter offer. When I'm out, I don't want to irritate anyone with a low-ball offer.

I did spot 2 small galvanized steel topiary pots for 50 cents (the pair). Sold! I'll craft them into something.

When I've been on the other side at my own yard sales, which usually are held not in my yard but at other sites for charity (your registration fee goes to the PTA, American Cancer Society, whatever, and you keep the proceeds of your own sales), I've been amazed at some of the things people say. A couple of years ago at the sale at the kids' elementary school, I had an old print among my things. Most of the stuff I sell hovers around $1. A shirt-$1. A hardback book-$1. Etc. So I didn't see the harm in bring a few things that went a bit beyond $1. Most people are very friendly, but there are exceptions.

One woman approached me holding the old print and asked nicely, "how much for this?" I said, "Oh, I'd like to get $15 for that." She blurted out at me, "I just BET you would!" Then she turned and stormed off. Another woman looking at my magazines said to me, "well, that was weird!" My daughter, who was probably 9 at the time asked me what was wrong with her. Couldn't explain that.

Last year at the same school sale, a woman wanted to pay $1 for my son's Yugioh (sp?) thousand plus card collection. He was only asking $4. He worked with her to get a small number of cards for $1. She was so cheap about it, but he didn't let her have the whole thing for her price! Then some younger boys came along and bought the rest for $4. He came out ahead on the deal and the other boys were thrilled.

Usually when people low-ball the prices, I balk. If it's marked $2 and someone offers 25 cents, I say no. But other times I'm a wimp. At the Pink Cabbage sale last month, I was asked if I would take $4 for an item marked $5. Not really a low-ball offer, but $5 was the price I had paid--what a fool I was-should have marked it $6 for some wiggle room. I caved only because I wanted to move things out of my house. Overall, the sale went well and I sold a lot.

I'm signed up to do another yard sale for my son's soon-to-be high school at the end of the month. We seem to have an endless supply of saleable junk!

On developing an "eye," or, how antiquing can make you a basket case

Any time we antiquers, yard-sale followers, and all-around shoppers for a good buy venture out in search of something, we are training our eye. Unconsciously over time, we learn to identify what is good or excellent and what to dismiss. I was subjected to this early in life as the child of an antique dealer (Mom) and her willing accomplice (Dad). My sister, brother, and I were hapless participants in such diverse experiences as driving through eastern countrysides to the other extreme of visiting Parke-Bernet and Fred Silberman's shop in Manhattan (I'm sure they thought were hayseeds right off the turnip truck). And some places were practically in our back yard, like Garth's Auctions (http://www.garths.com/). This was the 1970s: Parke-Bernet is now Sotheby's, and Mr. Silberman and Garth's are still going strong from all accounts.

So my parents liked Art Deco and art in general and I liked primitives and folk art. Go figure. The early indoctrination worked. Which is why I find myself going to antique shows when I can. One near me twice a year is the Mid-Atlantic Antiques Market. Last year, I spotted this great basket in the booth of dealer Judy Welton:

I really liked the top; it was so unusual and I hadn't seen anything like it before.
Ms. Welton told me that the man she bought the basket from said it had been made by a man in Delaware named Miner, probably early 20th century. I decided to buy the basket, took it home, and it rests to this day on top of our old cupboard. A few months later, we were visiting relatives in Massachusetts when the kids wanted to go to the beach. I encouraged them to go to one near Essex so that I could make a side trip to Cogswell's Grant. Funny, but none of the adults wanted to go with me!

Cogswell's Grant was one of the homes of Bertram and Nina Fletcher Little, who were experts in American antiques and folk art (see sidebar for link to more information). The tour I had there was fantastic. I was the only person besides the guide, who humored me for 2 hours with an in-depth look at the Littles' house and their collection. Early in the tour I spotted a basket that looked something like mine, or so I thought: This picture, and the one that follows of the bottom of the basket, were later supplied to me by Cogswell's Grant--no pictures were allowed on the tour. Nina Little had a habit of putting jelly jar labels on many of her finds. This basket was apparently Shaker and from the community at Enfield, NH. I think that the CG people thought I was crazy, but they were incredibly helpful. When they saw me foaming at the mouth gaping at their basket, they knew they just had to help!When I asked the folks at CG about the basic technique of a Shaker basket being so similar to my Delaware basket, they pointed out that basket making has variations, but a lot remains similar. The techniques persist over time and space. Always ask questions if you have them. Visiting treasures like Cogswell's Grant are golden opportunities. It's fun to keep working on your "eye."

Victorian vignettes &c

This is my first post on my blog--welcome! I make crafts that I have been referring to as Victorian Vignettes, but I have just learned that another blogger goes by that name. So the name of this blog could change. But this blog will be about the crafts and all kinds of other subjects-mostly related, but some probably not.

I work full-time, so craftmaking is a part-time thing for me. My primary home activities are dictated by my children's schedules--soccer, Girl Scouts, choir, and anything else they do.

Meanwhile, my crafts use vintage millinery flowers and fruit, ribbons, fabric, antique bottles, vintage porcelain figures, ephemera, and other items to make a picture. These are based on Victorian crafts like nature and flower shadowboxes or still lifes under glass domes.

This all started as a winter project with my daughter Emma in 2008. We would go looking for vintage items to use for crafts and then trying working on some shadowboxes together. Initially, Emma made lots of tags--really nice ones.


Then last September, we helped my friend Lydia at Boonsboro Days. She's an artist; we shared a booth selling artwork, vintage smalls, and antiques. The first day of the show was rained out by Hurricane Ike (yes, even in western Maryland), but the second day brought sun and crowds. We did well so we're doing Boonsboro Days again this year.

The shadowbox in the upper right sold at Lydia's Home Show last fall. Then I traded the one on the lower left with a fiber artist.

I participated in the Pink Cabbage's (http://www.geocities.com/thepinkcabbage/ ) 4th annual Strawberry Days Yard Sale last weekend; it's a fundraiser for the American Cancer society. The shop invited its customers to sell household things, their own crafts, or whatever! Here is a picture in our booth taken by one of the shopkeepers--thank you-I am flattered--of some of the crafts we showed:

We sold one shadowbox and one other craft. Most of the public took this show at its word-Yard Sale! So we sold lots of our house things--miscellaneous stuff that just seems to accumulate and multiply :) Emma and I have a lot of fun with this. I spend some of my free time scouting out more vintage things and antiques. And I'll share some of those adventures on this blog. I'll post when I can. Thanks for visiting!