I wiped away the weeds & foam. / I fetched my sea-born treasures home... Ralph Waldo Emerson







Friday, May 16, 2014

Flea Market Blues---But in a Good Way




Hi! The shopping theme this week has serendipitously been Summer Blues.
Sometimes, sigh, I just get lucky. [in a flea market-y sort of way, no snickers, please.]



Recent finds: lots of beautifully aged blue transferware.


This style is called Aesthetic Movement [1890-1910-ish?], and the designs mimic the patterns seen in late 1800s Japanese prints and also are reminiscent of crazy quilts.



This is a really nice ''chop plate''.


These crescent plates were set at the edge of one's dinner plate to hold one's gnawed-on bones! Ick! I love its crackle and brown spots. The small plates are great for holding scissors and thimbles or beads and buttons, so they tend to just accumulate on my work table.

The plate, below,  is such a sweet pale blue color. The sun was so bright I wasn't sure it it was faded blue-green or just green. Again, cracks and stains, only I love these babies, I guess. 
[I wonder if they're happy---rescued from a dark attic, dusted off, and treasured again with a new purpose? I hope so They bring me such simple joy.]


The dealer was packing up in a huff, I am not sure why because the market was busy. I'd have chosen more things if he wasn't packing faster than I could look.
A tiny ''pretty'' from the thrift shop---Maybe 1940?---love the flowers even if they are just mass produced and printed. Again, sweet holding a spool of thread, or tucked beneath a pitcher of pansies? On a bathroom vanity holding a pretty gust soap or two?



More glass baubles, including [not shown] a new to me glass thimble.



A stop at the thrift shop on the way home was also very fruitful.





Look at this graniteware bucket! The most gorgeous blueberry blue. I will fill it with a pot of tiny daisies for my back door stoop.

 
Or more lavender?
 
 


Nice vintage souvenir seashells for my etsy shop.



These big conchs make great beach house doorstops. Throw open the screen doors and let those summer sea breezes in...


And a seashell box, either for my collection or repurposed as a small sewing box. (Is the purple interior just too awful? It's growing on me...because new ones are red, so this is older.]

 



A primitive antique tiger maple rolling pin with a lovely patina. If it doesn't sell in my eBay shop I will keep it and happily use it. New modern pins just don't compare.




This was a tough decision: An old cheese box, maybe?




Already recycled once with a Christmas painting.



I am not a purist about my box collection: I have pantry boxes that are antique big bucks Shaker, others are authentic old PA primitive boxes, and some [the most treasured] my dad made for me---but is this just too junky? And too huge? Nope! [grin]. It IS huge but it came home happily with me.


 

I plant to paint it with these new chalk paints I've been reading about and am excited to try....



Here's hoping the rains stop for the flea market on Sunday. This may be the last spring / sumer flea market for me because I rarely venture out on summer beach weekends and hard as it is to imagine, next week is Memorial Day! The official first weekend of summer. Have a great weekend!





love

lizzy

gone to the beach!