glassware

Those of you who have read my blogs know that I am a seller of antiques and collectibles and one of my favorite places to do so is the flea market! Hubby and I set up at a small, local ‘flea’ this past weekend. It was our first time selling at this one, but had been there numerous times to buy, and with some success. There were probably 50 vendors. I am reluctant to call them ‘antique dealers’ since many were very new to it and had items that were more contemporary and probably plucked from boxes in their basements.

The lady next to us introduced herself as Mabel and told me it was her 2^nd time there.  She was quite old, perhaps in her late 70s, and came with a friend who had shared the rental costs with her. Her items were few and far between – I don’t think she had more than 15 items on her table.  And they were most likely from the low-end or discounted stores, for example, a ceramic lighthouse, 2 green bowls that were not from the Depression Era, and a cow figurine that had a chip. Mabel was a nice lady and I enjoyed chatting with her, but she was a little down because she had only sold one $5 item and it was nearly time to close up shop.  I gently suggested that next time she should bring more items, giving better offerings to the shoppers.  She smiled and said she had numerous collections and had her late husband’s things to go through, but hated to drag more than a boxful to the sale. I said I could understand that. And I did, at least until I saw her grandson come in to pack her up. He was about 6 foot 3 inches tall, a solid young man, and could readily have carried in as many boxes as she wanted.  Before she left, I asked her how she did and it turns out it was only the $5 she had mentioned earlier.  She told me she had sold $15 worth the last year and hoped she would top that.  I smiled and said “maybe next year” and she agreed.  I wonder if she’ll catch on and bring a nice assortment next year!

I shopped at a booth with a young man who shared with me that he had sold on an Internet site for over 3 years.  He told me that everything he brought had been tested on the site and not sold.  Gee, why would you tell that to buyers who may have intended to sell them that way. Now they know these were ‘rejects.’ While I was in the booth, he told me of a lady who just  bought a rather nice glass vase from him. They evidently haggled a bit and she walked out with the prize for $35 instead of the $50 he had originally wanted. He relayed the story and then he exclaimed to me (and anyone else in the area) that he had found it in a dumpster so it was ALL profit! Now, we all know that the intention of sellers it to make some money on their sales, but we did not need to know that it was free and the buyer was a “sucker” in his mind!

Among the many people through the booths was a former co-worker and his wife.  Through the years she has asked me to save any “sewing items” for her. Items such as darners, needle cases, unique buttons, etc.  Well, I had found the coolest item – a combination egg darner, needle case (the handle turned off), and it even had advertising on the ‘egg’ part! I held it for a few sales, waiting for her to show up and she did!  I proudly displayed the piece and expected her to be happy and ready to buy the treasure.  I offered it to her for a little over what I paid for it. She picked it up, turned it around, and said “Uhhh, I’m just not sure.” I said that it was OK, I’d put it in the display case and see if someone else liked it.  As luck would have it, the next person through was so thrilled with it they did not even quibble over the price (quite a bit more than I had quoted the friend.)  About 10 minutes later the friend returned, and said she’d take it. I had to tell her it had just sold and she pouted.  (You snooze, you lose is a famous motto in antique buying and boy, was this appropriate.)

You may recall my nemesis “NEWMAN” from earlier blogs.  This is a red-headed lady who has tortured me in searches for my treasures.  Some of our run-ins have been written about. Well, here she was at our booth.  She was, as usual, all smiles and trying to be a charmer (it does not work.) She asked how we were doing and we embellished a bit on our profits, and smiled back sweetly. She picked up a figurine and asked what our “best price” was.  We gave her a discount but she wanted more.  We came down a tad and she bought it.  She then proceeded to tell the story of a super vase she “stole” from a young man at the sale. She knew it was an expensive vase and she was able to get him to lower the price to $35! She was so proud.  I smiled even more sweetly after that and said it sounded like a great deal.  I was glad that the lad had shared the story with me.  I knew that he had gotten one up on my Newman and that made my day.

Any stories of the road you’d like to share or collections you are proud of?  CQ would love to hear about them.

Lolita Wine Glass Display at Hallmark

Walking the mall the other day, I stopped in at the Hallmark Store (by the way, look for $5 off Hallmark Gold Crown coupons) where I spotted this display of “Love my Wine” wine glasses by Lolita®.

Like the designer’s other glasses, each hand painted wine glass features a design inspired by a delicious wine cooler recipe — a recipe which is hand painted on the bottom of the glass!

The line of fun glassware was inspired by a girls’ night out, when Lolita watched each of her friends select a different martini which reflected their distinct individual personalities and she thought the glasses they drank those individual beverages from should be equally unique and fun. Now the line includes so much more than martini glasses. There are pilsner glasses, champagne flutes, margarita glasses, shot glasses and even glasses for hot beverages. The line has expanded to include sundae bowls, decanters, cocktail shakers, flasks, bottle stoppers, bottle bags, cocktail napkins, boxed recipe cards, games, and ornaments. Many Lolita designs feature holiday, birthday, and other celebration themes, perfect for special occasions.

Collecting Lolita glassware and designs is so much more than just ‘getting the next piece’ — it’s a way to collect memories of special occasions, special friends, and special moments.

According to the designer’s website, a listing or offering of retired designs is coming soon.

 I recently attended the 27^th Annual Harvest of Art and Crafts Show. It is held at the Trimborn Farm in Greendale, Wisconsin and is one of my favorites. I try to get there every year if possible. The setting is fantastic. This is a Milwaukee County Historical Society site, on the National Register of Historic Places as well as a State of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County Landmark. It all started when Werner Trimborn came to the area in 1847, and a few years later purchased 10 acres of land, a quarry and a lime kiln. The farm became the County’s largest producer of lime, which was used in making mortar for construction of early buildings in Milwaukee and surrounding communities. In the mid-1930s the federal government made the Trimborn Farm its base of operations in building the Villlage of Greendale as a model “Green Community.” It’s also fun to take the tour of the farmhouse and out-buildings, including a Great Stone Barn.

There is a wonderful mix at this show and while it is relatively small, compared to some of the other shows such as the Lakefront Art Show in Milwaukee (usually in July), it definitely offers something for everyone. There was a nice variety of jewelry, the fused or .lampwork glass which is quite popular, also some made of Swarski crystal, just dazzling. Other booths offered handwoven and beaded pieces. Lots of Wearable Art!

I found a marvelous birthday gift for an old friend at the booth of Barbara Stadtler – a stained glass window that had 3-dimensional wine glasses. My friend is a wine connoisseur and the colors went perfectly with her house. This was Barbara’s first time at the Fair and she seemed to be doing a super business!

 There were some lovely ceramic artists as well, a gent who did birdhouses, very creative. Custom wooden decoys, stoneware pottery, primitive stitchery, folk art and dolls…all could be found at this delightful show.

One of my personal favorites came from the booth of Toni and Paul Ansbach – they called it ’sculpture’ in the flyer and it was fabulous. They once were into rebuilding old cars “big time” and saved many of the parts. Toni decided she wanted something unique to hold her old gazing ball and voila! They came up with the idea of using a combination of these auto parts. They offered a wide variety and called the grouping “Reincarnated.” Being a lover of rust, it was hard to resist but as hubby says “we have enough yard art as it is.”

Fredrick’s Glass Creations was another must-stop. He offers a nice variety of glassware – bold colors and wonderful designs. I purchased a small plate from him, similar to the one I bought last year that got rave reviews.

Another glass artistan was Nick Bowers, who made these fabulous pieces (looks a lot like Dale Chihuli.) His email is griffinglassdesign@yahoo.com. His mother was tending the booth and said he is working on an improved website.

One of my all-time favorites is the booth of Liam Hughes of Lamplighter Studio! For those of you who are not familiar with his work, I plan to do an interview with him in time for my next article. His booth was way too busy to disrupt with a lengthy discussion, but he was gracious enough to give me his contact information and I will be in touch with him in the near future. 

These fall shows are such fun and just what you need to add to your collection of glassware, pottery, jewelry or trendy home décor.

I’m not much of a traveler. My idea of a perfect vacation involves me being alone in a quiet room. The windows are open, I’m surrounded by every art supply I could possibly want, and a nigh-endless collection of Doctor Who DVDs and Jethro Tull MP3s for atmosphere. As a result of these vacation proclivities, my travel souvenirs are limited to upstate NY paraphernalia, but my vacations are WAY cheaper than yours, buddy.

If I were to travel, Bill Bryson has already convinced me to see the US first, for all of the vast nothing and everything that it encompasses, since I happen to be a big fan of nothing. Business travel has recently placed me in such exotic locations as Atlanta and Chicago, but I’d not thought to memorialize these rare visits with a single item (aside from a plane ticket or a restaurant receipt) until a dear friend of mine asked me to bring her back a shot glass from Chicago.

PS : Chicago, and I can’t say this enough, your pizza wasn’t that great. If I wanted pizza soup, I’d have ordered a pizza and ruined it myself, and it wouldn’t have taken two and a half hours.

As someone with collecting in my blood, I wondered why I hadn’t thought of the shot glass idea sooner, though I venture that it’s because my blood also has an intense dislike for alcoholic beverages and Dr. Pepper already comes in a convenient can. Regardless, every city in every state is going to have a fair collection of touristy junk, and it’s really not going to be that hard to find. You can’t take fifteen steps in New York City without tripping over a Statuette of Liberty or the omnipresent ‘I Heart New York’ t-shirt – so there’s no doubt that every airport that you fly into (or gas station you refill at) will have a shop to memorialize their fine city in every imaginable form, from underpants to magnets to snowglobes. Of all of the options presented at these shops, shot glasses are indeed the classiest. And state underpants just imply that you’re ‘well-traveled’, in all of the wrong ways. ‘Idaho’ panties are a disservice to everyone.

Chicago’s airport had a fine selection of local shot glasses, but unfortunately, the brief layover in Atlanta did not give me enough time to properly hunt down a companion shot glass. Both airports did, however, yield the requisite local fridge magnets. Magnets, I’d like to add, are far cheaper and simpler to snag and pack away as you vault through the airport. Unfortunately, like most cheap and simple people and things, magnets are far less sexy. Unless you’re some kind of science nerdo with a fetish for vector fields and dipoles.

The origin of the shot glass has been lost to time, and even the time when shot glasses were originally used is an ambiguous thing, with some sources citing ‘the Old West’, and others citing the Prohibition Era, while others cite Italian taverns from over 200 years ago. I’d venture that your average shot glass user is concerned less with the historical origins of their drinking vessels than what’s in them, shortly before they’re more concerned with which direction is the ceiling and which direction is the floor. Shotglass.org informs us that only Utah has passed a law to regulate the size of a ’shot’ within a shot glass to 1.5 ounces, though a ’shot’ remains a non-standard unit of measurement.

It’s said that shot glass value rests comfortably around what the average shot glass cost is, in the $3 to $5 range. An aspiring shot glass collector should begin by collecting shot glasses of things that they like. In my case, that would be shot glasses featuring images of Drinky Crow, Star Trek insignia and Batman. As your collection becomes more serious and you want to start adding items of monetary value, scour tag sales for shot glasses that are either old (as determined by clear labeling) or unusual. Shot glasses made from nontraditional materials or decorated by antiquated techniques tend to be worth more than their plain ol’ clear glass counterparts. Shot glasses with limited runs, to promote small business instead of national sports teams, also tend to be worth a bit more. More detailed information can be obtained from Mark Pickvet’s extensive writing about shot glass collecting, as well as Shotglass.org, which includes a message board, and an ever-expanding searchable database, which has many descriptions but few images.

As far as collecting state shot glasses goes, it was nice to step outside of my own collecting tendencies and assist someone else in their own endeavours. Sure, you can order them online from countless websites, but collecting them from the location that they describe seems more genuine, and requires a healthy amount of effort. Usually I’m just hunting for a GI Joe BAT for my toy collecting friends. Shot glasses, somehow, involved far less shame.

I have been blessed with two daughters, just 18 months apart and inseparable through their childhood. They are both now ‘all growed up’ and are as much alike as “two peas in a Porche’.” These young ladies now have totally different tastes.
First, the oldest. Dee loves a lot of our antiques and collectibles. She enjoys the unusual items we place around, and in the house. She appreciates my ‘nudies’ while the younger one, Jay, avoids them like the plague. She has no desire to be in the same room with these gorgeous ladies who chose to display their attributes to all who would enjoy them.

Dee likes feathers, leopard skin and fancy ladies. Her home is decorated in an eclectic style – you never know what you’ll find when you enter a room. (Her somewhat shy father-in-law will attest to that.)

Jay prefers a tasteful water color or painted scene rather than deal with the ‘fantasy figures’ in these old prints. She would wrinkle her cute nose and say “butterfly wings, on a girl? That does not make any sense. And what man wears a jester’s suit anyway?”

Jay loves quality glassware! She proudly presents her lovely items in well-lit curios and prominently displays and uses her finery! She appreciates my glass items, especially anything with Waterford in its name. She hints about leaving her name taped to the bottom of a vase or cut-glass bowl. She need not worry – to Dee, these are just objects to clean. They’re OK to serve in, but if they can’t be popped in her dishwasher, who needs them.

I love ‘whimsy’ in the house and my ‘pig-butt picture’ is known far and wide. This was purchased with our granddaughter when she was about 6. I can remember that she picked it up at the yard sale and asked ‘how many pig butts are there?” We counted them and came up with 11, plus one proud farmer. I HAD to have this picture and it hangs in the back hallway, near the ‘farm-primitives.’ Dee is wild about it; even found bars of soap with pig butts on them so I could keep the theme going. Jay scoots past it on the way in the house, obviously not a favorite of hers.

Jay loves elegance! Fine china, top quality pottery and the classics. Her home is filled with beauty, almost all new, and in such good taste. Friends and family alike are impressed with the way she decorates her home.

Dee loves to shop at thrift stores and proudly boasts of great finds such as plaster cherubs and velvet paintings. She calls to tell about a funky picture she found for their unique bathroom or funny piece of yard-art. And she uses everything, many times having to get creative. She has used broken china to make a new top on a miserable-looking table. It now looks wonderful!
And jewelry-now we are really world’s apart. I like long, dangling earrings, the sparklier the better. And long ropes of crystal or rhinestones. Dee asks if I was born to gypsies, but admires them just the same. Jay love top-quality pieces. Real gold, gemstones, pearls; once again, the classics. I think my jangling unnerves her a little, but her attempts to make me more conservative have not worked.

Loving them both is easy! They are delightful ladies and I am proud of them! So, Dee wants the ‘basement stock’, and Jay wants the ‘corporate stock’, it’s just what makes my ’small world’ go ’round. Now, can you guess which one is which? Dee & Jay or Jay & Dee