Monday, September 30, 2013

The EHAG Emporium Is Open!

"The Delicata Dancing Slipper"


Click on this link to go to my Etsy shop to purchase the "Delicata Dancing Slipper" and while you are there have a look at the other items. Thank-you so much and have fun browsing through the Emporium. 

EHAG Emporium Sneak Peak

 The EHAG Emporium opens its doors today, September 30, at 9 PM EST, 6 PM PST. Don't miss it!


Here is a sneak peek of my item for sale, see you there.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Annual Summer Flea Market in Rorschach, Switzerland.

In my last post I mentioned the annual flea market in Rorschach, Switzerland. We arrived there in the early afternoon. Rorschach is a lakeside town. It shares the Bodensee, see means lake, with Austria, Germany, and obviously the rest of Switzerland that rests on its shoreline.


The market is part garage sale and part antique/vintage market. I was in heaven.


This dealer had lots of patio furniture. It looked to be fairly new but he did have vintage pieces as well. Germany is in the background.


Here is another look at his booth. I love that yellow van.


I think this may be the fellow that owned the yellow van, but I am not certain. He was very friendly and was interested to know that I was from Canada.


There were lots of vintage toys to be had.

On the other side of the restaurant in the background was an ice cream stand. I bought 2 scoops of the most amazing ice cream in a waffle cone. One was chestnut and meringue, the other I think was mocha. The scoops were about 3" across. The cone cost me 8 Swiss francs, which is about $8.75 Canadian. Ice cream in Switzerland is not inexpensive but it is better than anything that I have had in Canada!


I had to photograph this snow globe. It is so silly. I have seen life size fibreglass cows around Switzerland, each with a unique paint job.


By now I had totally lost everyone else and just decided to not worry about it and just nose about on my own.


There was lots to look at. Most of the stuff I wasn't interested in. I did have my luggage to think about though when deciding to purchase anything.


Like I mentioned before it was a mix of vintage and antique dealers and garage sale merchandise.


And now we are at the end. It doesn't look to be that big but it took several hours to walk the length of the market. There were many areas that were adjacent to the walkway that had a dozen or more dealers in a group. I did have to take into account the price of items I was interested in, the cost would have been too high once taking in the exchange rate.

Well, I had better get on to listing more merchandise for my Etsy shop. I have more pictures of our Swiss trip to share with you, there was inspiration all around us.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Goodies From Switzerland

I was on the lookout for interesting items that I could use in my work once we came back home. I also collect interesting bits and pieces just because they are... interesting. That isn't a great sentence but that sort of sums it up.


The brass knob and the iron pull were going to be tossed out into the recycling at our son's house. They updated the brass knobs to a much nicer contemporary handle. I figured that I could alter it and use it as a curtain tie-back or something similar. The iron drawer pull has great possibilities but they haven't come to the surface yet!


I tore this logo from the side of a cardboard box, I liked the design; it also reminded me of Josephine Baker, an American singer, dancer, and actress who lived in Paris and later became a French citizen.


This is a beer coaster promoting an open air concert in St. Gallen, another Swiss town about 20 minutes away. The graphic is interesting but the back side of the coaster advertising Shutzengarten beer, the concert's sponsor, is fun. Have a look at the photo of beer cap on the grass.


I picked up this hammered copper pot at a Salvation Army store in Rorschach, at least that is where I think it was. If my son reads this he'll correct me! It stands 2 3/4" high and measures 2 3/4" across the top, a nice small size to be used in a sculpture.


I will be doing a post about the annual Rorschach flea market but in the mean time here is what I came away with. Unfortunately weight, space, fragility, and price curtailed many purchases. This trim was only 5 Swiss francs; that works out to around $5.65 in Canadian dollars. It is 1" wide and about 5 feet long, a very good buy indeed.


I love vintage graphics and when I saw this matchbox my heart leapt, it really did! It was close to the end of the market day and everyone was packing up. I asked the woman how much it was and she just said to take it. I was ecstatic!

I follow a blog called Agence ereuka from France. Occasionally she posts vintage match boxes and this particular box was in a group that she had posted during our stay in Switzerland.


I know, a wooden splint basket... I liked it. This had small white potatoes in it. Other vegetables and fruit would also come in cardboard baskets but did not have the same personality. Sabine, (pronounced Sahbeenaye) Rob's wife, bought these but when I go grocery shopping I will buy for packaging sometimes or get fruit and veggies that are the most interesting to look at. Trish loves to draw them as well.


I bought these playing cards at a Coop store. Coop is pronounced kope NOT co-op.


The cards are from Belgium and are used in some sort of card game.


There are only 9 of each suit, 36 cards in total. I have two sets of these cards.


I have 2 very ornate gold lamps from Spain and have been considering using the cards in place of fabric on the lamp shade.

Well, there are the treasures that I brought back with me, nothing earth shattering but each special in its own unique way.

Don't forget to check out my Etsy shop, I have just added some new items.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Baby Aaron's finished mobile.

I have not been around in "The Land of Blog" for quite a while. I had done a post about that chaise lounge that was not looking the way it should. The last post was showing the mobile that I was making for our new Swiss grandson, Aaron.


The one thing that I did not mention was that the mobile was not going to be mailed but taken over to Switzerland in our luggage. I was on a deadline to get it finished as well as do last minute chores around the house before we left. Other work in the studio came to a grinding halt.

The mobile was finished just in time to quickly photograph it and then pack it carefully in a box to go in my suitcase. The photos aren't the best and the backgrounds are a little tatty but at least I can show it to you. 


Each of the stars vary from 1 3/4" to 2 1/4" high from the two bottom points to its top point. This star represents the nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". He is holding the constellation Ursa Major also called The Big Dipper.


Here we have the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle".


The candelabra this little guy is holding is for "Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick".


This little star is holding his Teddy bear. I didn't know of a nursery rhyme for a bear but Trish, having taught kindergarten for quite a few years came up with a poem she used in her class called "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear". The appropriate action goes with each line of the poem.

Teddy bear, Teddy bear, touch the ground.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear, turn around.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear, show your shoe.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear, that will do.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear, run upstairs.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear, say your prayers.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear, blow out the light.
Teddy bear, Teddy bear, say good night.
This little star has been to the market. There are two nursery rhymes that can be used with this one, "To Market, To Market to Buy a Fat Pig" or "This Little Piggy Went to Market".


Here is another two for one! "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is one possibility or your could use 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 I caught a fish alive. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 I let it go again.


"Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been? I've been to London to see the Queen."


That umbrella took far to long to make, but it does look quite nice. This nursery rhyme could only be "Rain, Rain Go Away".

That is all of the stars that were made for the mobile.


The Man-in-the-Moon is at the top of the mobile and is holding the cord that the stars are hanging from. 


This is the finished mobile from little Aaron's view point.

Each of the stars hang flat when you are looking up at them. It took a bit of time to find the centre point of each star so that when he was looking at them they were looking down at him.  It took even longer counter balancing each of the stars on the rods and then on their various levels. I am very pleased with the finished mobile.



When we were in Switzerland we took LOTS of photos that I have been going through and sorting for blog posts. There is so much inspiration over there... and amazing cheese... the best chocolate... bread is so tasty, it would be considered artisan bread over here but is everyday bread in Switzerland... ice cream, so expensive, but oh so good... enough, more posts to come.

I almost forgot tp mention; check out my Etsy shop, I have been adding new items in the last week or so. I did mention on Facebook that I would have stuff added in the last week of August... well that didn't happen! Three weeks in Switzerland is the culprit. When we arrived in Switzerland the jet lag lasted maybe a day and a half max. When we came home it took over a week to get back to normal.