Love, Love, Love : Vintage Game Pieces

Everyone has a junk drawer, box, or (ehem) entire home filled with all the odds & ends that they just can’t get rid of. Ever since I was little, I would save anything and everything small and colorful in special place. For years, I have been gathering loose game pieces. My collecting started years ago with Bakelite and vintage plastic dice. Each happy die and dot was a mini piece of art to me. I finally capped off my collection when I found the perfect gumball machine to display them in and filled it to the top.

It took a lot of quarters to fill this machine!

I also love pawns – plastic, metal, and wood in every shape size and color. They remind me of being sprawled across the floor with my friend Kim after school and engaged in a friendly game of Parcheesi, Monopoly, or Boggle. At the end of every school year, I have the students in my 2nd grade class pull out the loose pieces from games that have seen better days and save them before retiring the boards. I also keep an eye out for vintage games at tag sales and people are always passing bags of “treasures” to me. When there's a plastic pawn or wooden die, it's a welcome surprise.

Pawnacopia

There’s nothing more exciting and inspiring to me than spreading out, sorting, and playing with colorful pieces of anything. Whenever I hit a creative roadblock or feel the urge to organize, I will break out my cafeteria trays, spill out my materials, and sort the day away. This usually leads to new inspiration and ideas. It also makes me hungry because the colors look very “candy shop” to me!

Tray o' Play

Most recently, one of these spill & sort sessions inspired my “Fun 'n' Games” rings made from wooden nickels and a collage of game pieces.  I sold them for the first time at the Prospect Heights Fair. The school fund raising event was attended by lots of kids which meant lots of little fingers kept picking up and playing with the rings. I find that my materials, being upcycled and vintage, bring out a lot of nostalgia and people have a tendency to pick up and play with the jewelry or share stories about the items. As a designer, that's a big perk - I always love hearing these personal connections. 

wooden pawns & wooden nickels

wooden letter dice and wooden nickels

Clusters of pawns remind me of mushrooms or little people.

Once I attach the adjustable ring backings, I will have a whole new batch of rings to share at my upcoming shows:

Saturday, April 23^rd – New Beginnings Trunk Show with Folk Couture by Grace Napolean – Bethel, CT

Friday and Saturday, May 6th and 7th – Twist – Northampton, MA

Saturday, May 21 – Shop the Archway – DUMBO – Brooklyn, NY

Swing by and play!

On the Road - Heirloom Flea Market

There's no place like home, or several blocks from home when doing a show. The second show I participated in during the weekend of the 9th was the Heirloom Flea Market at the Heirloom Arts Theater, just blocks from my home in downtown Danbury. Organized by local photographer Mandee Potter, this show brought together local artists, flea market vendors, and a few acoustic performers.

I was thrilled to be sandwiched between and across from many craftanistas extraordinaire. To my right was the multi-talented, always inspiring Lys Guillorn of Little Cowgirl. Lys offered an impressive variety of photographs, cards, jewelry, purses, and other what-nots. I love her new vintage button bracelets and always find her photography striking.  Perhaps it would be easier to list what she doesn't do! And on top of it all, she finds time to write and perform her own music. I recently saw her perform her lovely ditties during Record Store Day at Gerosa Records. Her lyrics made me melt. Lys's superpowers are far-reaching and endless!

Suburban Citizens by Lys Guillorn

The table directly to my left belonged to another busy bee - the jewelry designer and girl with go-go spirit Lydia Mandell of Rubystreet. Her playful use of color, vintage flare, and chunky plastic pieces are reminiscent of the hard candies in grandma's candy dish. She assembles kitschy necklaces, hair accessories, and bracelets, but my favorite pieces of her have to be her "UnDead Ringers." Every time I don one, a fifth grade girl will stop me at my school and compliment me on my cool ring. You know you're cool if a 5th grade girl takes the time to compliment any part of your wardrobe! In addition to creating a color frenzy, you can find her doing the pony in All Systems Go Go.

UnDead Ringer by Rubystreet

 The Hat City Scissor Squad, our local Tuesday night craft group, represented well at the event. One of the founding members, Michelle Barney-Saucier had a terrific table filled with all sorts of goodies including fanciful handmade journals, head wraps, and other fun accessories. She made a clever display/holder out of Legos that made me smile. The other members of the Squad showed up to show their support. You could feel the crafty love!

In Squad We Trust

Only Lauren could make a decapitated head thimbilism necklace look that good!

I was thrilled to get a visit from the Abby and Brian, the soon-to-be newlyweds from New Haven. It was great to finally meet Brian after hearing so many wonderful stories about him and seeing their great 50's style engagement photo shoot. Abby was wearing my "Bam! Pow! Zap!" Batman necklace from the Indie Craft Extravaganza and she wore it like a superhero! I am currently upcycling some of Abby's family heirlooms to make her a necklace to wear on her wedding day in October. She's such a creative bride and I know her DIY wedding, complete with local food trucks, is going to be quite the event. Stay tuned...I will be blogging about her necklace soon.

  

Dynamic Duo

It was a great day to hang out with friends in my hood and share my wares. In the end I said farewell to another one of my favorite necklaces (That-a-Way) and a few other goodies that went to loving homes. What's not to love?

That-a-Way went that-a-way.

All day laugh track provided by Lys and Lydia. I spell my name "Mei- LYng" whenever I'm around these gals to fit into their "LY" club.

On the Road - Propect Heights Craft Fair

Last Saturday and Sunday I was out and about at two fun shows. The weekend extravaganza started with the Prospect Heights Craft Fair.  I headed off early to Brooklyn with my new set up and a few new items:

 

Fun 'n' Games Rings - The tops are created out of old wooden nickels and vintage game pieces.

I left bright and early, and made good time to the school. I was welcomed by a warm, friendly parents, fresh baked goods, and coffee. Who could beat that? This was the third year of the event, which was organized to raise funds for an amazing variety of arts programs at PS 9. In addition to vendors, there were student-created crafts, kid events, a raffle with items donated from vendors, and great local food.

I was excited to try out my new display created out of a vintage pink plastic suitcase and some cork boards.

Pink suitcase display

Final Display - Tada!

There was an upbeat crowd of parents, kids from the school, and lots of locals. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite vendors, Katie of Lily Rain. You know how everyone has a certain something that they wear, that always gets compliments? Well, that always happens when I wear my handmade, free trade bracelets from Katie!

Speaking of bracelets, I got a lot of love for my REcap bracelets (made from Crayola Marker caps). Here is one of my biggest fans. He discovered that my bracelets also make great building materials.

Both fashionable and stackable!

One of my favorite parts of doing a show is meeting new people. To each side of me were fabulously creative and kind gals who made the day fly by. My inner Edie Beale squealed when I saw Deborah Julian's cat photographs. Taking inspiration from the felines in her own life, she incorporates photos of her kitties into classic art compositions. Julie Peng of Bugsella creates a onesie-wonderland with whimsical clothes and accessories for little ones. She hand sews and screen prints her book and nursery rhyme themed wares for many worthy charities. Dana, of DanaMade was one of the first vendors I met in the morning. One look at her rings and I knew she was my kinda crafter! She too makes jewelry out of cool vintage finds. I added her to my Etsy "favorites" list as soon as I got home. 

Ring by DanaMade

Being a teacher, I always get excited when I meet an author. At the show they had a variety of events planned throughout the day for kids, including a visit from local author Ellen Bari. She wrote a book called "Jumping Jenny" about a girl with tons of energy and no place to direct it, until she thinks of having a jumpathon to raise funds for a sister school in Africa. This year the second graders at my school raised over $2,000 for Guiding Eyes for the Blind through a hoopathon. I was so excited to see that there is finally a great picture book out there about kids making a difference through outreach (and believe me...I've been looking!). I was so thankful to meet Ellen, get a signed copy of her book, and hear all about her publishing process. Hopefully my kiddos will be able to Skype with her soon!

Jumping into Action!

The Prospect Heights Craft Fair was the perfect show to start off my spring/summer season. I felt right at home at the school and met many wonderful folks there. Can't wait for the show next year!

Twitch and Whiskers Craft Show Schedule - NY, CT, MA - Spring 2011

Come visit me and my creations in person this spring. I have many colorful and exciting things to share with you!

Here's a list of my spring 2011 shows:

Saturday, April 9 - Prospect Heights Craft Fair - Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, NY

Sunday, April 10 - Heirloom Flea Market - Danbury, CT

April 23 -Trunk Show at A New Beginning Salon in Bethel, CT 
with Folk Couture by Grace Napoleon

May 6 & 7 - Twist - Northampton, MA

May 21 (my birthday!) - Shop the Archway - DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY

Summer 2011 - Dates TBD - Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY

Will I see you there?

A Work in Progress

So much has happened since my last post. I've been a busy bee and am so thankful that I have the time, energy, and endless support from others to keep doing what I'm doing! There have been new projects and exciting new opportunities to participate in shows. Between starting up my small business, working my day job, and creating, I feel like I'm constantly on the move. I have to remind myself every once in a while to stop, jot things down, and share. So where to begin? Well, let's start with the here and now. Today I went to Salvation Army with Thom. 

He was on a top secret mission that involved a cool sound coming from a meter in the basement of the store. To his great disappointment, there was tape across the entrance to the basement and from what we could see, all the housewares in the lower level were all emptied out. After some investigation and casual conversation with the staff, we discovered the disturbing reasoning behind the closing of the basement: someone had been using the housewares department as a private bathroom. Depending on who you asked, the evidence was found in coffee mugs and/or Tupperware containers. All the remaining uncontaminated items were relocated to the upper level, where the furniture is kept. Since the folks at Sal's cannot afford to keep a worker in the basement at all times, it looks like everyone will have to go upstairs for housewares from now on. 

We headed upstairs to check out the new setup and to be honest, it just wasn't the same. There were fewer items and the juxtaposition of the housewares and furniture felt "off". After years of exploring all 3 levels of the store, it was a little disappointing to be pared down to 2. At any rate, we poked around and Thom found just the piece of furniture I needed to organize my jewelry supplies. It was a two-shelved backless bookcase. There were lots of dings and funny stains on it, but we knew the dimensions were just right. It didn't have a price tag on it so we asked how much it was. The guy said they almost didn't put the shelf out on the floor because it was in such rough shape. He said, "ten bucks" and we said, "sold!"


We brought the case home, gave it a good scrub down, and I spent a good part of the afternoon stocking it with my supplies. All things are not in place yet, but I am very happy with the bookcase so far!  During the process, I even got over my disappointment about the changes to one of my favorite thrift stores and started two new pieces. 

Moments ago,I disassembled an old broken tin car (undercarriage and wheels removed) and fastened it to a vintage rhinestone belt. Then, I remembered acquiring a bag of pink plastic figurines and felt inspired to do something with them. While poking through the bag of toys, one of the pink girls reminded of the work of Henry Darger. I attached her to a vintage brass drawer pull and surrounded her with leaves from an old plastic floral candle arrangement. I hope to turn both into necklaces soon.

Though my life is currently filled with lots of loose ends, and nothing is 100% done, I am find comfort in constantly being surrounded by possibility! Back to work...

Hands On Haiku - E6000 Glue

Feeling little punchy after a snowday inside, I decided to start a new feature on this blog: Hands On Haiku.

When the mood strikes, I will share a short poem on whatever I have my hands on. That's it. 

I challenge you to share one too.

E6000 Glue

Unventilated

Affixes two to make one

But I see double

Hoard, Sort, Play, Create, Repeat - Step Two: Sorting

Out with the old. Rethink the new. That's how I started 2011. I just came back from a Goodwill and consignment store drop off and feel like I've both literally and figuratively shed some 2010 baggage. It's funny how much can build up around you when you're not paying attention.

Letting go can be difficult, especially for folks like me who love the thrill of the hunt and can fondly remember the circumstances and stories behind every found object. Since I make jewelry from old/used junk, I can always find an excuse to go out and get more. I'm quickly learning that less can mean more.

"Lucky You" upcycled necklace made from vintage child's magnet and old pendant.

Being a teacher, I had a good 10 day stretch off. Toward the end of my break, I went on a purge and organize mode. This doesn't happen very often. I said goodbye to many things, including:

• old clothes and housewares
• untouched craft supplies that I was keeping around "just in case".
• a teeth collection (medical models, dentures, plaster casts, etc.) - I am officially not creepy anymore.
• piles of old programs, maps, brochures, ticket stubs, and other vacation ephemera.

The last remaining pair of teeth from my dental collection.

Fear not - not much went in the trash. Most found a good new home or was consigned. The biggest relief for me was weeding out and organizing my jewelry supply collection. I think I touched every bead, little plastic bag, and component. I never thought in a million years that I would get rid of jewelry making supplies, but it happened!

I went to my local craft store and purchase a few more plastic organizing boxes. Items were sorted by material or purpose and labeled with masking tape. Everything was stacked up in crates on a table in my living room and TADA! Organization!

The biggest thing that came out of this process was inspiration and many "oh ya, I totally forgot I had that" moments. I feel like I've rediscovered my collection and can plan new pieces with a clearer head. For the year ahead, I must remember to stop and sort every once in a while. From this past purge and shuffle, I've learned:

There's a fine line between gathering inspiration from objects and gathering dust from objects.

What is your favorite tip for staying organized?