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Sunday, June 01, 2008
 It was a fine weekend for kitsch-hunting. Yesterday morning I went out and hit some garage sales; in addition to some useful things (pyrex!) and some pretty things, like a pair of Spanish canisters for the kitchen, I brought home...this object that someone was willing to let go for $1.
That's a gen-u-ine Statue of Liberty lamp, with a clock and, uh, a big Christmas tree bulb. It's huge. I suspect it doesn't work; I'm not willing to plug it in to see, since it has very questionable wiring. Eh, who cares. When you look this good, baby, you don't have to work.
Today I went to the Alameda Flea Market with Ryan and Leigh. I didn't find anything quite as wonderful as Isaac's piano this time, but I came home with one piece of vintage awesome:
Who are Helen and Frank? I have no idea, but they seem like a fun couple. This is a Duncan Ceramics ashtray; the copyright is 1949 and I believe it's the sort of thing you'd make in a ceramics class. The paint job is pretty good, though. I wonder what the backstory is; it's not signed, so I don't know if it was made by Helen for Frank or by a third party as a gift to Helen and Frank, those fun-loving kooks who'd just love a personalized nudie ashtray.
I also found an adorable small-scale bookcase for Isaac's room (photos after it gets a makeover), a vintage Dansk paella pan that is a perfect match for the new paint in the kitchen and two mod-ish plates in the right colors to put on the wall.
I love the flea market. It's such high-quality entertainment; it's the show that dares to ask, "Why does this even exist in the first place, and why do you think I'd give you $80 for it?" We're getting better and better at gearing up; today we had sunscreen, a tape measure, tote bags and paint swatches. I also brought a pen but neglected to bring anything to write on. Baby steps. My camera phone is the essential piece of flea market gear. I take a picture of where we parked relative to nearby buildings and note the row number, get pictures of whatever we buy and need to go back for later (noting the booth number in the photo description), and snap odd sights like this set of mirror-posed toys:
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