Success!

Reports of a successful vintage bazaar are already here,  here  and here,  and I have little else to add. Thanks for a great job, Katherine and Libby. I was most impressed that the internet buzz could induce an estimated 3000 people to show up and wait in line for a 5 hour event which featured vintage goods and clothing. You'd have thought it was a rock concert or something.

This after photo of my booth pretty much tells the story. We sold a good bit of the stuff we brought, including three chairs, a large wooden airplane, and a child's chair, so we were quite happy. 

The trouble with busting your butt preparing for something like this, and throwing your whole self into it, is that when it is over you tend to feel a little lost and at loose ends. And, of course I was so exhausted all day, that I could barely move, so that hasn't helped either. A friend of mine calls this syndrome PPD, Post Project Depression. Aptly named, I think.

I do predict, however, that tomorrow I will probably be leaping wholeheartedly into the next ring in our circus!

The door to our studio.

vintage bazaar set up

Set up today for the vintage bazaar. Load in was a piece of cake. Of course it didn't hurt anything that we were the first people scheduled to unload.

Set up for the vintge bazarr

I brought variety of stuff.  Some with collectible value, some just useful items, and  some funky oddball items which might appeal to the artist types. All priced to sell! Hard to say what will go really. I'll find out tomorrow.

I'd never met Katherine Raz or Libby Alexander before, I only knew of them from their blogs. And now that I have, I can't say enough good things about them. On top of being really on the ball with regard to managing this show and publicizing it, they are  really very nice people. As is Katherine's husband. If you are interested in vintage in Chicago and like blogs you really should check them out. You'll find good, solid info about how and where to shop to find good thrift and vintage items in the Chicago area for sure.

Better yet, come to the show tomorrow and meet them yourself.  In addition to the vendors of stuff, vintage and otherwise, there will be music, a cash bar, tamales, and cupcakes. The vintage bazaar, 12 - 5, 4740 N. Western.

the vintage bazaar

Still sorting, pricing, packing...

Spent most of the week getting ready for the vintage bazaar coming up this Saturday, Feb 27, form 12 - 5pm at the DANK Haus in Lincoln Square, 4740 N. Western Avenue.

Katherine Raz of Backgarage.com and Libby Alexander of Alexandersalvage.com have really done a wonderful job getting this all together. 

Around 40 midwestern vendors will offer lots of reasonably priced vintage collectibles and antiques, décor, furniture, clothing, and accessories. The full list of vendors is here.

This is the first sale of this kind for me, and my items are very reasonably priced. I have lots of smalls, and a lot of jewelry, along with a few larger items. As much as I  want to be selling my stuff,  I also am looking forward to the opportunity to do a little shopping as well. After all, what do I do when I get rid of a lot of stuff? Replace it with more. Our motto is, “ Too much is not enough!”

Hope to see you there!

Culling the Herd

We have two spaces in the Edgewater Antique Mall which we are consolidating into one space. You'd think it wouldn't be too complicated. But we have spent the better part of the last four days moving and moving and adjusting, and moving some more.

We had six very large bookshelves in one space. We were moving three to one wall in the other space. Three others had to go back to the studio, and another, better bookcase had to go home to replace a very old home made one we've had for ages, because upgrading your own stuff is the name of the antiques game, right? Of course, it's not just a matter of simply moving bookcases, because, first, all of the books on the bookcases must be removed, and then you have to put all the books back on the shelves. Then there's the shifting around of all the other antique junk in the booth in order to integrate the new shelves. All the while you have to recreate displays which make the merchandise seem appealing every day because you can't just walk out and leave a huge mess in the mall.

This has also necessitated moving a huge amount of other stuff and junk hither and thither at the studio and at home as well,  in order to make all these changes possible. It all boils down to a hell of a lot of work, and at 65 and 68 our bodies are telling us that we are really too old to be doing this. Not that we are listening. We're just moaning and groaning and stumbling forward.

Focus forward. Isn't that what I wrote back in January?

I don't even want to think about what kind of hell it would be to move our studio. But I am beginning to get tired of having all this space and all this junk, so I am also beginning to think that we should be planning ahead and thinking about other effective mehods of getting rid of this stuff so, when the time comes, it won't be so daunting.

Janus

These ceramic heads reside in the pigeonhole cubbies of an old hotel mail shelf which hangs in my dining room. I like the sense of past and present and future, looking forward to a new start of the year.

Focus forward. My motto for 2009.

The two larger heads are not necessarily antique or collectible. I bought them commercially back in the 80s. They are meant to be candle holders, and they look very eerie with the candles lit and the light shining through the porcelain. The little tiny one is probably an antique doll head of unknown origin, no special markings are found on it. The ceramic ladderback chair it sits on was created by my brother who worked, pretty seriously, in clay as an avocation.