accumulata

Friday, May 21, 2010

Collections Out of Control? Oh, What to Do?

Once you start collecting seriously, you put yourself at risk for addiction. One item is not enough. You think you can easily handle three, or five or ten. Soon, everything is completely out of control and your collection is now in charge. The objects of your desire have taken over your space. You are at risk of becoming the subject of a hoarders episode. You finally realize that you have to do something about the problem, so you can get your life back and get your space back in order.

What happens when your collections get out of control?

You rent a space in an antique mall and sell it off. To wit.

On the way back from the East coast, we stopped at some antique malls, one, a big mall in Centerville, IN where we found the following evidence of collections which clearly had gotten out of control and which had to be banished to the antique mall.

First, an entire booth focusing mostly on BREAD containers.

Another booth had hundreds of rolling pins.

Found a grinder line-up in another booth. What's up with those kitchen items, anyhow?

Looks like the car collectors came to their senses early on. Only three here.

But wait, right next to the cars there’s a booth with motor oil. Lots and lots of motor oil There were three huge shelves with different brands. Full cans. I understand most collections, but I really do not get motor oil collectors.

All kidding aside, Webb's Antique Mall, Centerville, IN, is a huge mall with booth after booth of really great stuff, lots of it. It is not far from Richmond, IN. We bought very little there though, because our car was already full from a previous stop in a small town mall earlier in the day. Here are just a couple other pieces I photographed.

For those who want to store their collections we saw this Library cabinet on legs for only $250. Very nice buy and in great condition.

On top of it was a wallpaper trimmer, of interest to me only because it was originally from Evanston, IL, my old hometown. But actually totally useless.

And for the mid-century modern collector, there was this 1950s cafe booth. Hard to say for sure whether it was original or a repro, but it looked very nice. The boomerang formica was beautiful. They were asking $695 for it.

If you ever go to Centerville, take an empty truck. And an appetite. They have great peanut butter pie.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Back Home With Decisions to Make

We had a great trip and the workshop went well. More on all that later.

We have a new issue to deal with which is consuming my brain right now.

We are seriously considering moving downstairs to the first floor apartment in our building. We've lived in the building for ten years, so we are very much ensconced in our space. So moving, even downstairs, is going to be a big task. But the opportunity to both continue with reasonable rent and to live on the first floor is very attractive, not to mention getting squatters rights on the yard and possibly use of the garage. And I think my knee will thank me very much for being spared going up and down two flights of stairs every day.

The apartment needs a fair amount of work, plus painting and cleaning throughout. I'm approaching this as a reno-for-renters opportunity as we try to pick and choose what we are actually willing and able to do and how much we can really afford to spend on property we don't own to make it acceptable for us. So we will be working with the landlord as to how we will handle it all. At the same time I am also wondering if all the work required will really be worth it in the long run. Accomplishing it all definitely feel a little daunting.

I'm not putting any pics here, because it's technically not really my apartment yet. But if we do this, I will try to post some pics of the ongoing process.

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After speaking with the owner, it definitely looks like we are all in agreement and we are going to proceed.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Shape Shifting

Dear Internet,

Please excuse my absence.

I’ve had to set the vintage and collectible blogging aside for a bit as I’ve assumed my jewelry artisan persona and have been busy filling a lot of jewelry orders. Next, I’ll be shape shifting into bookclasp workshop teacher. Since the workshop is coming up very soon, I’ll have to do some prep for that, and pack my tools and equipment.

While having so many personae can certainly be interesting, it can also be counter productive, especially when there is an inconvenient intersection of demands on my time, and I have to be more than one person simultaneously. Inevitably, just when I begin to get engrossed in one thing, I have to shift to another mode which often prevents me from being able to devote enough time to do anything as well as I would like.

Now, more than ever, it's time to think seriously about eliminating something. Most likely it will be the thing which produces the least return for the amount of time I put into it. I'll be thinking about this while I am on my trip east.

Along the way I am hoping to stop to search random antique malls for bargains. If I find something good and if there is a free moment I may surprise you with a brief update or two.

When I get back I hope to post new entries in my collections series, which I began in March. In the meantime, I noticed someone else has picked up on my accidental collection thought in her post over here.

Meanwhile, you can always shop, live, in Chicago at the Edgewater Antique Mall. We are always adding new items to our booth as we find them.

I still have a lot more work to finish before I leave, so I'd better get on it before the next shape shift.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Fleas and Owls

This morning we went to a flea market at Robert Crown Center in Evanston. This one has been around for a while, and in the early days it was sometimes fairly interesting and fun because it was like a little conglomeration of small garage sales all gathered to together in one space. But as the years went by, it slowly deteriorated until it became a venue for mostly not-very-crafty types, Avon sales reps and bulk merchandise sellers, with only a few other sellers who had something interesting to offer.

This year for the first time they held it in the Spring instead of the Fall. Thinking that this change might attract some new people, we took a chance hoping to get lucky and hook up with some good merchandise.

We got there early and the line was not that long, not a good sign. Only one regular was there. We stood behind this guy, hoping the words on his jacket would be true, but knowing that it was probably going to be a waste of time.

And, as you can guess from looking at these photos it was pretty much a disappointment.

We saw three dealers we know and picked up a couple items from one of them, in addition to a few small items from some other legitimate vintage sellers.

On the way home, we happened across another rummage sale and stopped. It, too, was mostly disappointing.

Although we did not make wise choices this weekend, it turned out to be an owl-ly day for me.

I picked up a cute owl dish made by the Couroc company of Monterey, California back in the 60s. They produced items made in black phenolic resin, which is basically just a form of black Bakelite, think of those old pot handles, hand inlaid by artisans with various items like shells woods, coins and metals. This owl is wood and metal, and is surprisingly nicely done.

If you collect owl-ish things from the 60s it would make a great addition to a collection. It would be really handsome hanging on the wall, which would be a good place for it since it is apparently not dishwasher safe. Again, think of those old bakelite pot handles which develop a nasty matte finish after many times through the dishwasher.

The other owl I picked up is really kitchy. It’s one of those made from distressed copper coated tin, vintage, popular in the 70s. Turns out he is missing one of his eyes. So in an effort to sell him as is, I made him an eye patch and decided he’s going to have to hoot like a pirate.

“Who, who, who, matey!” AAAR.

However the day wasn’t a total loss. A book purchased for 50 cents is worth $40.00. We will likely sell that on eBay. In addition, we may also have found a really old piece of Early American hand blown glass, or so says the resident glass collecting expert in our house. Here it is below and on Flickr.