elephant's trunk flea

today marked what was probably my last visit to the elephant's trunk flea market this year. technically, the market is open until december 8, but it will soon get brutally cold on that connecticut field. even though it was a drizzly, foggy day today, the shopping was great. here's a little taste.

before and after

another great find from the braderie de lilles in the north of france: a vase in the shape of a head, with holes for flowers or foliage. very reminiscent of a chia pet, only better. here's the before-and-after.

fly ashtray

i seem to have started yet another collection: fly ashtrays, a real category apparently in the world of tobacciana. i found my first ones at various flea markets, and am happy to report i paid nowhere near what these critters go for on ebay. my plan is to collect enough to mount on the wall all around a door frame. fly on the wall.... get it?

armadillo

i've always been on the look-out for a vintage christopher ross animal belt buckle, his hare would be a top score. no luck so far, they're very collectable and quite expensive. so imagine my delight at finding this armadillo belt at the flea a few weeks ago. how cute is he?.... also, he was $2.

costume jewelry

i can't wait for the exhibit "fashion jewelry - the collection of barbara berger" which will open on june 25 at MAD (museum of art and design) in new york city. there is something so thrilling about buying costume jewelry, especially when the pieces are so extravagantly designed, they are obviously fake. take away the burden of expense and creativity soars! of course expense is a relative term. the costume jewelry of lanvin is jaw-dropping, but not exactly affordable. thus my hunting ground remains the flea market. here are a few picture of some recent finds.

vintage enamelware teapot

this was the find of the day at the annual yard sale for the bvfa - the block island volunteers for animals. a vintage czech enamelware teapot from the 1930's, bought for $2. i love the crazy pattern and spray-on colors. yikes, this may the start of yet another collection...

hat pins

over memorial day weekend, we went to a yard sale at one of the oldest houses on block island. the owner's mother passed away and he was selling the house, and all its contents. i picked up an old box filled with jewelry bits and pieces, for $10. it was so much fun going through all of it later: i found victorian hair jewelry, black mourning beads, mother of pearl buttons and a great little collection of hat pins. my favorite is probably the one that looks like a scarab. since i rarely wear hats that require pins, i think i may mount these on a mat, and frame them in a shadow box. looks like i just started yet another new collection....

cotton tail

i purchased this one-dollar-bunny at a yard sale last weekend, just because he was so darn cute. i was puzzled by the hole in his hindquarters though, until allison pointed out to me that he is a bathroom accessory, made to hold cotton balls.... cotton tail, get it???

celestial maps

i have been decorating lately. the family summer rental in block island needed refreshing, on a budget though. so i have been trolling the internet for affordable furnishings - i am now a loyal overstock.com customer. to keep things simple, i stuck to a mostly black and white palette. when i started thinking about wall art, it occurred to me that a celestial theme might be appropriate. i love the clean graphics and neutral colors of star maps. also, there is no better place on earth for stargazing than block island - as it is in the middle of the ocean, there is little to no light pollution. i found some great vintage national geographic celestial maps from the early seventies on ebay. the best score though was a little booklet called "star maps for beginners" (published in 1942 by i.m. levitt and roy k. marshall). i paid $3.75 for it and will cut out all 12 maps in the booklet, insert them in simple ikea frames and hang them in a grid above the sofa. stay tuned to see how this will turn out....

hoot

you know how when exploring a flea market, it seems like a theme emerges? say squirrels or pandas or... owls! last weekend, it was definitely owls. i had to buy the last one I spotted: a heavy cast bronze (?) specimen, with removable head. he looks a little grumpy, but i kinda like that.

frogs

another collection that seems to have spontaneously developed at my house, is one of frogs. no, not the animal, the closure. apparently the name comes from the fact that a frog closure splays out across a garment , like the limbs of a frog. i picked up some great vintage ones in silver and gold lurex last year at brimfield and things spiralled from there. i can't wait to incorporate these into future craft projects.

the portrait collar

after seeing the valentino fall 2013 rtw show, i have been obsessed with the portrait collar. an old-fashioned term/idea that deserves to be resurrected. there is nothing more elegant than framing the face with with a pretty, white (or off-white), starched, lace or crochet collar. it invokes a simple timeless beauty that could be found on portraits by artists as diverse as goya and vermeer. all collars below have been purchased at flea markets.

spring?

the residents of brooklyn building where i live have a wonderful habit of leaving unwanted items on the "free" counter in our hallway. this is a fantastic way of recycling and preventing miscellaneous stuff from ending up in a landfill. one person's trash is another man's treasure as they say. this is my find of the week: a dandelion paperweight. this takes me right back to the days when my dad experimented with making resin paperweights. to this day, i love the toxic smell.... really.
let's hope this dandelion really is a harbinger of the spring weather we are are all dying for.

plastic!

i saw this faux coral necklace at a flea market, picked it up and - before i could inquire about it - the sales lady enthusiastically exclaimed "100% genuine plastic!". sold! for $8...

weird medical paraphernalia

this is why i love flea markets: you come across the strangest stuff. medical pamphlets and posters from days gone by are fascinating, sometimes gross, and often hilarious. a good example is this distinguished gentleman, instructing where to place the tourniquet "if bitten by a mad dog or poisonous reptile". the second image is a detail shot of an absolutely gorgeous framed print entitled "original reproduction of normal and abnormal fund" by william a. fisher, m.d.
basically, it is an illustration of various eye-diseases (very appropriate for me, as i have lousy eyesight). aside from its bizarre subject matter, the print is graphically amazing, to me a real work of art.

disco

i picked up this sequined disco-era batwing top a few weeks ago at the flea. sadly, it does not fit me well, but for $5 it is a bargain as I can recycle the beads and matte gold sequins. i just wanted to take some pictures before I start taking it apart.

embroidery floss

i purchased a large quantity of vintage embroidery floss at brimfield a few weeks ago, and it made me want to find out a bit more about the companies - often centuries old - that still manufacture them. i was most familiar with dmc which got its start more than 250 years ago in france - 1746 to be exact - when a 23-year old artist started a joint venture with 2 equally young entrepreneurs. they were the first to manufacture hand painted indian prints in europe. the nephew of one of the founders discovered the invention of the chemist john mercer - "mercerizing" - the process of passing the cotton thread to caustic soda to give it strength, longevity and silky appearance. dmc remains an international organization manufacturing consumer threads, industrial threads and textile related products.

in 1755 james and patrick clark began a loom equipment and silk thread business in paisley, scotland which eventually grew into the company j & p coats, now also a weaving business with a cotton mill that produced its own thread. the firm expanded internationally, particularly to the usa, where the coats brand eventually dominated the american thread market.

in 1898, the american thread company was incorporated in new jersey, a combination of 13 new england firms. business went very well in the early years of the 20th century. the beautiful building occupied by the new york wool exchange at 230 west broadway was purchased and became the new york headquarters. today it houses condominiums.

yellow birds

it's weird how collections just tend to happen. i love birds (especially parrots and parakeets) and yellow is my favorite color. last year, i picked up a yellow ceramic parakeet at a flea market. now i have half a dozen.

weird cat art

i am a sucker for anything weird and cat-related, such as this 1978 print by carol travers-lummus, entitled "meum et tuum", presumable the cats' names?

score!

i found this treasure at yesterday's flea market: a beautiful silk shirt dress, made from a foulard by bianchini-ferier, a legendary lyon-based textile house. i paid $20 for the dress... i am so excited that i took pictures before it was even sent to the dry cleaners. what appeals most to me is that the foulard pattern is not the usual preppy horsebit-stuff, but composed of butterflies, birds and feathers..... just gorgeous.