Salvation Army treasures.

I  go to Salvation Army regularly and have been a fan of thrift shops since my teens. I didn't ever look at this as recycling but as a source for interesting art supplies that no one else was using. I realized several years ago that I recycle when I am creating a sculpture. I have a good selection of vintage and antique textiles, trims, and props that I can select from.

In the last few months I have found some great props and textiles for future sculptures. I have some ideas for stage magicians using my veggie guys that I am excited about creating. I was wanting a carpet to go on a stage underneath a levitating lady. It was a momentary thought, then not considered again. Two months ago there were these 4 carpets hanging in the textile section for $6.00.

FOUR CARPETS!

$6.00!

I am quite picky when it comes to scale. I don't work in 1:12 scale or anything like that but the thickness of a cups wall should look right, the curve and bowl of a spoon should look and feel correct. I suppose some of what I am referring to is intuitive; I just don't want anything to be a distraction when someone is looking at a piece of my work. These carpets look like a real carpet on a small scale. They are tufted, the edges look the same as a large carpet, and the fringe ends are from the actual carpet when it was made not sewn on.

A few of the props that I have picked up lately. The circular stand with the lion feet will possibly be used to create the base of a large Victorian/Edwardian stage illusion.

I have several frames and trays with fancy pierced metal edges. These are cut apart and used for proscenium edges on stages. The necklace with the bangles hanging from it may be used as edging for curtains or as part of an "oriental" costume. The other necklaces and green buckle will be used for costuming.

Here is a sample of the fabrics that I have picked up. I buy silk vintage scarves whenever I find them. The silk has a nice drape to it and as I mentioned before the visual weight, I hope that makes sense, looks correct. I suppose what I am trying say is that if a piece of fabric was made into a costume and shrunk down to the correct size the thickness of the fabric would change as well. I think that I am being a little obsessive aren't I; not only with the fabric but the description as well! HAHAHA!!!!

I buy silk saris whenever I find them. They can be very colourful with some beautiful patterns. This red and gold sari reminded me of theatre curtains so we shall see how it gets used.

Have you noticed that I enjoy the exotic? At the turn of the last century and earlier for that matter Orientalism was very popular. The world is so much smaller now with easy communication that exotic is taken for granted. I am not trying to recreate exact countries and costumes but a theatrical idea of the exotic.

I picked up this lamp shade on Friday. It is a very unusual shape. I almost passed it by but decided to get it. My decision of possibly not buying it was based on storage space not actual use, fortunately practicality did not win out! It was in perfect shape but as you can see I have already started stripping it of the fabric.

I forgot to mention that one of the carpets that the lamp shade is resting on will be turned into a flying carpet. In the upper left hand corner of the photograph you can see a brown ceramic urn holding a silver salt cellar standing in front of a fancy turned wooden salt cellar, these will be turned into exotic oriental treasures that will be on the back of the flying carpet.

The lamp shade stripped and ready for use. I definitely like it better with the fabric taken off, so many possibilities.

I will keep in touch with the progress of the sculptures.

I'm back

I am back in the land of blog! I have been doing a MAJOR clean-up in my studio. You have no idea what a sorry state it was in. It is now much tidier, thank goodness.

That interspersed with figuring out what to do about a website and sales kept me busy. Last year my website crashed at my host including all of their backup files so I haven't had a website for quite a while now. I decided to consolidate various blogs and the website and anything else that seemed to be floating around into one area. My blog is now the home base for Happy Holidays; Etsy is my sales area.

I have been adding work to my Etsy shop and will continue to do so over the next month or so. Click this link or click the link underneath the blog header to visit my shop.

giant portrait rattle - "Lovey of Lovey's Tearoom"

This is a close-up a giant portrait rattle - "Lovey of Lovey's Tearoom". She is waiting to take her famous sweet potato pumpkin pie and hedgerow berry pie to a very discerning home!

"Edna came as a Paris runway model"

Edna loves Haute Couture and decided to go trick or treating as a Paris runway model. She created the hat herself; she is delightfully eccentric as well as a lot of fun.

The red and yellow "Victoria shoe" candy container

If you love shoes there are several shoe candy containers to select from. There are more that I will be posting in the near future.

I have been frequenting Salvation Army quite regularly so I will show you a few of my treasures in a few days, in the mean time enjoy looking around the shop.

Happy Easter!

We have made these hot cross buns for a very long time now and I thought that I would pass the recipe on. It comes from an old cookbook published by the Vancouver Sun called "Edith Adams Bread Book". Good ol' Edith Adams was a ficticious character. I hope you enjoy them.

This image is from a Victorian book called"Children's Songs With Music". The inscription on the inside reads "Dear Irene, with Grannies best love. Xmas 96.

Spicy Hot Cross Buns

Sift together 4 cups all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon allspice, and ½ teaspoon cloves.

Add ¾ cup washed raisins, 1/3 –1/2 cup of mixed peel, ½ cup chopped cherries (opt.)

Dissolve a teaspoon of sugar in ¼ cup warm water; sprinkle with 1 package yeast. Proof for 10 minutes and then stir well.

Heat 1-cup water; add 1-teaspoon salt, ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons soft shortening, and 1 beaten egg. Mix well. When lukewarm add yeast.

Pour into well in flour, stirring until liquid disappears. Form into a ball and knead for 2 minutes. Brush top with melted butter, cover with damp then dry towels. Let rise double. Punch down. Put ball of dough on lightly floured board; cover; rest 10 minutes. Cut in two; form into cylinders. Cut each cylinder in to 9 parts. Form into slightly flat balls. Put in 2 greased 9” square pans or 2” apart on baking sheets. Cover and let rise. Cut crosses in tops. 

Bake. After 15 minutes brush with glaze of 2 tablespoons sugar and two tablespoons of hot milk or hot water. Finish baking. Reglaze. Cool on racks. Frost in creases if desired. Makes 18 buns. BAKE: 375 deg. F for 20 – 25 minutes.

My adaptation to the recipe

I use whole-wheat flour. It does make them denser but they are very tasty. Add 1 tablespoon off fresh lemon juice for every 4 cups of wholewheat flour and it will make your wholewheat bread less dense.

Any time it mentions sifting I put the flour and /or spices into a large bowl and incorporate them with a French whisk. Using a whisk to fluff up the flour is so much faster and tidier.

I use ½ a cup not 1/3 of peel, plus I use candied citron. I make a quadruple batch of buns so when I measure out the mixed peel I measure 1 cup candied citron and 1 cup mixed peel. The raisins must be washed, it helps to plump them up when baking so that they are soft otherwise they tend to be hard. I do a mix of 1 cup golden raisins, 1 cup dark raisins, 1 cup sultanas, and 1 cup currants.

I don’t like to use shortening so I substitute it with butter. We try to use honey in place of sugar. The hot cross buns are baked in two large pans. One pan is left unglazed and the other I glaze with the sugar/milk solution. I like the sugar for glazing. Have fun baking.

Happy Valentine's Day!

  HAPPY  VALENTINE'S  DAY!  

Here are

a few

1920's Valentine's to wish everyone

a very happy and love filled day.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Three Feather Trees

Just a tad late for Christmas but here are three feather trees that are decorated with vintage and antique ornaments. I have them on display on the buffet. We have usually put the village there but it is taking a rest this year.

This 2' tall feather tree I picked up for $2.00 at a Saint Vincent de Paul thrift shop years ago. I almost didn't buy it for not recognizing how old it was. Its branches were loosely crushed up against the trunk, then wrapped with cheap decorations. After paying for it, removing all of the cheap decorations, and straightening the branches I realized that I had a 1920's feather tree.

It has been decorated with vintage and antique cotton batting ornaments for the most part. The green Santa was given to me by Robin, our oldest boy, when he was very young.

The little girl and the metal ball are Victorian. I'm not certain how old the chenille roping is.

I saw this Victorian wooden ornament that was made in Germany in a book about Christmas decorations and fell in love with it. A few years later I came across one at a flea market in Victoria. I bought it immediately!

This is the snowman Santa that was behind the wooden ornament above.

Here is one of the feather trees that I made years ago. Most of the ornaments on the tree and below it are celluloid.

The large red curved item is a hunting horn/party horn. Both this horn and the pink, white, and green horn still work. The large swan is a celluloid bath toy.

The clown head at the top is not made of celluloid, neither is the little girl in the snow suit. The clown is Italian.

The garland is very tatty isn't it, I love it though. It is made of metal tinsel and finely cut cellophane. I have not come across it since purchasing these two garlands. It is less than 1/2" wide.

The little girl in the red coat was bought at the same time as the girl in the snow suit. I think that they may be from the early 1960's. There are lots of celluloid animals on the tree. The angel, or if you are British, the Christmas Fairy, is made of hard plastic dressed in tarletan.

 Tarletan is similar to cheesecloth in the weave but is stiffened and came in a variety of colours. I have some folds of it from 1910, one with a beautiful chromolithograph on it of a costume that could be made using the tarletan and inexpensive fabric or crepe papier.

The other feather tree that I made several years ago is decorated with a selection of chenille ornaments.

Lots of chenille Santas, candy canes, and animals decorate this tree.

The Santa at the bottom is about 8" long with bells on his feet. There is another one close to the top of the tree beside the trunk. The tree topper is made of two flower shapes made of silk bump chenille that are tipped with glass beads I put them together to create one large full star-like tree topper.

I hope everyone is still enjoying the holidays such as they are after Christmas. It is on to New Year's Eve.