Etsy Vintage Finds

While doing a little research for my trade show booth, I was searching for vintage side tables (for my notecards and wedding invitations display) and candy dishes (because who can resist a cute and friendly bowl of candy, I ask you?) on etsy.

Here are a few of my finds, along with some completely unrelated items that were too cute not to share. When I look at vintage wares I am inevitably drawn towards the kitchen items. The striped pyrex bowls and ombre mugs are just too much! Makes me want to bake a cake and sip a cup of coffee with an old friend. And the rooster recipe box is excellent; it's good luck to have a rooster in the kitchen.

Top, left to right: "Smoker's table" with painted crane motif, Blue-topped pedestal table
Above, left to right: Scallop-edged blue and white bowl, Milkglass dish with raised botanical pattern

Below, left to right: Wave candy dish, Blue glass candy dish
Center image: Vintage rooster recipe box
Bottom: Striped Pyrex nesting bowls, Cool "ombre" coffee cups

Vintage Finds

I was one of very few shoppers willing to brave last weekend's bitter cold at the Hell's Kitchen flea market (thanks to my strategic tights-under-the-jeans layering system); I picked up a small army of vintage scarves in awesome patterns and colors. These make for great design inspiration, and can be incorporated into various projects - I think my fave is the insanely bright, watercolor-y floral below, but there's something really sweet about the turquoise dot pattern, above. Happy Friday!

Loving...

...these gorgeous patchwork quilts from Sally Campbell home textiles; the Australian designer works closely with many different artisans in India, who specialize in natural dye block printing or intricate hand embroidery, to create these amazing handcrafted textiles, and a percentage of the profit goes to support rural communities.

Photo-Ephemera

My sister-in-law generously bequeathed to us much of her late father's photography equipment collection, which includes a late 60's Polaroid Land camera, a Kodak Brownie box camera from the early 1900's, and a few Super 8-type video cameras. Included in the huge box we received in the mail recently (like Christmas morning all over again!) were a few of the original brochures that accompanied the cameras as well as some early 60s photography magazines.

I love seeing this kind of vintage print material so I thought I would share a few of my favorite spreads with you here. Wouldn't you just love to wear this excellent striped bikini/shorts/jacket combo to your next archery lesson? There's also an excellent demo showing how to make a groovy projected background from a doily. And included with one of the projectors are some great sticky letters for titling your slides and films.

It's clear these products were geared towards men, because besides the borderline-racy patterned figure study below, there were a lot of chicks in bikinis. I guess photography was really a male-dominated field back then. Times have changed!

Etsy Faves for Friday

Rosie Music's "I think I'm in Love" print was a featured Etsy Find recently and it led me to her shop where I fell hard for the very dapper Mr. Elegant Cat, top. He is just awesome. I'm pretty sure if he was here in my studio we would have stimulating imaginary conversations about the state of the world and such.
The Elegant Cat by Rosie Music

Other Friday faves: Tangerine cosmetic bag by quiltish, 70's Sheer Striped Dress by Ainslie Wood Co., Screenprinted poster by honey & bloom

What's Old is New

It's a whole new year, so let's....look to the past? I wanted to share a few spreads from one of my favorite design books, Antique Packaging by Josep M. Garrofe. This yummy, tactile hardcover features Victorian-era graphics from products ranging from food to pharmaceutical to cosmetics...great inspiration! The cheeky Nestle packaging is a fave - quite different from the brand's look today.

Magic Crystal

Here's another fave from the MS Holiday Craft Sale. I totally fell for these spun-cotton ornaments by Vintage By Crystal. Made by the same techniques used by old-world German artisans, these quirky creatures have some serious charm and a certain timeless quality that eludes description. And really, who wouldn't be charmed by a spun-cotton narwhal or a dapper bendable giraffe (below)?

They also remind me of the much-beloved 1960s Rankin and Bass holiday specials - i.e. Rudolph - that inspired the cool creatures for Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Crystal also crafts these groovy vintage-inspired bottle brush trees that would make a really cool holiday display. You can find lots more interesting characters in her etsy shop and on her website!

Retro Squares

These excellent quilt squares (just a few of the many now in my possession) came to me by way of my mother-in-law; they are leftover scraps that belonged to my husband's grandmother's friend's great-aunt - got that? The extra fun thing, besides all the great fabric patterns, is that most of them are stitched to newspaper bits dating from the 40's. I definitely have some collage ideas in mind for these babies - anyone else know of any good projects to create with these?

Rolling it out...

Whew! Just finished packing up my shipment to White Elephant, the cutest darn boutique in Hamilton, Ontario. The store is a very cool mix of vintage and handmade items; I pretty much want to buy everything in the store and move it all into our apartment. I couldn't be more thrilled to have my stuff in their well-curated selection, especially since some of the pieces are by other artists I admire and have purchased before in shops here in Brooklyn, like dutch door press and Modern Radar (in image below).


I'm sending them a bunch of organic cotton tote bags, and a variety of notecards, including some letterpress, some gocco prints, and some based on my collages (see image below). So, if you happen to be in the area, check it out!

Vintage Dutch tins

My only souvenir purchases on our Amsterdam trip, I was so incredibly psyched to find these; I had been eyeing some vintage tins on e-bay a while back but there's nothing better than coming across something totally unexpected and wonderful like these. The rectangular one is so great in all its pink/green/gold swirliness and the kooky farmers cylinder is very reminiscent of Alexander Girard, one of my all-time favorite designers. I found these in a cute store called Juffrouw Splinter. The girl told me she had just put them out on the shelves that day, so it must have been destiny...