(Inside A Black Apple)

Supplies and Fairy Stories

While I was putting away all of our trip-stuff, I thought I'd snap a photo of my crafty scores and the books I mentioned in my last post!

Yarn, fabric and Japanese craft books:

Vintage fairytale books (I collect editions of the Alice stories, and I found 3 versions I didn't have...including the one illustrated by Arthur Rackham, who is a favorite illustrator of mine):

I also found the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen collections with Rackham illustrations.
So happy.

Here are some selections from flipping through each book briefly to show to you guys (the new Alice editions are on the top row). You can click to make them larger!

Happy Weekend, my dears!

A Little Wall I Like A lot

Ever since the whitening of the studio walls, I've been trying to keep it a little more "minimal" than it used to be. I'm not a minimal person, but I need for the studio to not overwhelm me.

This is one particular mini-wall I like quite a lot (it's in between two doors, hence, "mini" status). The shelf is vintage, and spray-painted a beautiful gloss cherry red...it holds lots of my favorite little things.
A Henry Darger image in a beat-up frame, a felt tree I made a few years back, those two gorgeous vintage-style (but new) plush chickies,  Jenn's Frozen Charlottes, treasured vintage tchotckes, and one of my two beautiful Babette dolls.

Down on the right, you'll see a tiny framed sticker, which is my favorite sticker in the world (it came with that blonde Babette!) and I have known a lot of stickers in my day.

The wall also holds tiny embroideries from two of my favorite girls.

I have an  irrational attachment to these wooden initials and old spools of thread.

And there's my little wall o' wonders!

We're winding down the weekend at the Black Apple flat, and I thought I'd share one hilarious photo from the proceedings. People always email and ask how I stay productive...but it's really "helpers" like this that make it all possible:

Nice one, Miette.
You've commenced to attempting to just bite the things that take my attention away!

xoxo

Who's got the button(s)?

Buttons have to be some of my most favorite objects in the world. Hands down.

I noticed that my stash/collection of vintage buttons was wearing pretty thin, so I've been seeking out some new-to-me batches to help with my plight! Yesterday a bunch came in that I recently ebay'ed, and so this morning I sorted through and cleaned them. It's kind of a sad truth when it comes to button-collecting that with a lot of 5 lbs of buttons, I'll end up keeping usually around 1/3rd or 1/4th.

You have to be a choosy sorter! No reason to have dud-buttons hanging around (unless they're useful, basic duds that you know will come in handy).

I just wash them with a colander in the sink, gently swishing them around with a tiny drop of dish soap:

Then I dry them off by shaking them off into a dry towel, and pressing down gently.

This particular batch had some really beautiful red buttons, which is fortunate for me because (as you might've guessed) it is my favorite color.

You know I am crazy for that peppermint-y swirl one!

There were of course some non-red ones that are really knockouts, too. I think these might have to go in the shadowbox of don't-use-just-admire buttons:

They are such little jewels...my own version of treasure.

Monkeying Around

I procured this cool little lamp last week, and I really love it. I'm really having the good luck with vintage lamps lately, aren't I?

Thank you so much for all the knitting-book/site recommendations...I feel like I will be kept super busy exploring all of them over the next few weeks. I'm very excited! I also thought it was neat that so many people recommended the same books, which will give me great confidence in ordering some from Amazon in the near future. Thank you again for that!

We painted the studio yesterday (4-5 coats of paint all told to eradicate the tomato-y color) and it is now bright, fresh, white. It took the whole day to move all of the stuff out, paint, and move it back in, and I have the soreness in my legs to prove it. It was so worth it, though...it feels much bigger and airier and I'm so grateful for that. Even though we don't plan on being in this apartment for more than another 5-6 months, I felt like I might not get any work done in those months if we didn't overhaul it a little. I'm sure I'll have some photos soon to share, once it's all just right.

We're heading out of town for the weekend (going up into the mountains! hooray!) so I'll be back on Monday, hopefully clear-headed and bright from the brief change in altitude, and happy to get back to my newly clean and bright studio.

To my Squirrel on Wheels...

I found this sweet pull-toy drummer at my favorite old-things store a few days ago:

You might think he was made in Japan in the 60's, but according to the sticker on his underside, he is actually from  Belarus originally! I really love pull toys...I've been looking for the perfect dog-on-wheels for a while now (maybe ever since I heard the Belle & Sebastian song).

Happy Weekend!

Thriftscore

I'm back from antique-ing, and I scored big time! I had to share right away...

I found a big stack of great fairy tale books, and a 1920's yearbook.

On top of that is a silver, nut-crackin' squirrel:

I think his face looks hilarious with the "cracker" part down. He really might sit on our sink and hold our sponge, but I like to think that a walnut or two might come his way.

There was also this amazing Red Riding Hood/Big Bad Wolf two sided doll, which isn't vintage, but is amazing nonetheless (the wolf side, especially!)

Also, this sweet spotted teapot:

I also got a pretty tablecloth (which is in the wash right now), a few embroidered napkins, this great oval-framed print (which is waiting to have a bandit mask applied to the Mister who resides in it), some oval embroidery hoops, a beautiful vintage photo of a boy...and...

The BEST score of all:

This beautiful wooden Cinderella lamp! It's in immaculate shape, and works perfectly (even the week night light in the back). I love that it has a narrative...see the little shoe in the prince's hand? Notice she's missing one on her little stockinged foot!

I have to admit...this is my favorite part:

*Sigh*

I really this this is maybe my best thrifting find ever...or it might be tied with the wee piano. At any rate, it's one of the best, for sure.

Okay, I'm off to stare at my lamp some more.

Toy Piano

We stopped into an amazing "Flea Mall" just outside of Birmingham. I was fully expecting this Flea Mall to be equally as depressing as the Flea Markets in my area tend to be, but it was actually kind of amazing. Very few packages of socks and wierd discount hair dye and lots of legitimately old stuff...dishes and vintage hats (which I'll show off sometime soon) and books and records. Lots of crap, too, but too much good stuff to really mind. When we were about to check out, I heard a really wonderful sound coming from the corner of the large, warehouse-y building.

My ears perked up, and I scampered over, following the sound...and this is what I found:

I'm pretty flippin' excited about my tiny piano. All of the keys work, and it reminds me so much of the Amelie soundtrack (I've already tried my hand at recreating some of those familiar little songs!). We're also hoping that we can train Miette to stand on his hind legs and bang on the keys.

I've got some ho-hum boringish catching up to do today, but I just finished up a really great run and then had a perfect fall lunch. I made a big pot of chicken and vegetable (carrots, parsnips, celery & onions) soup yesterday, for us to have this week. Today I enjoyed it with a little glass of wine, a few gingersnaps, and I'm feeling so, so cozy right now. It'll make the boring-work fly by!

Happy Tuesday!

Found frames, and the girls who came to live in them...

I found some really cool thrifted frames/surfaces recently, and they were just right for mutating to my own purposes (that is, to paint them/paint IN them).

Coney Island Baby   9"x11"x1.5"    Acrylic on board
(dimensions included permanent vintage frame, which is hand-painted and distressed)

and...

Miss Littlehat     7"x10"x1"   Acrylic on wood panel/permanently affixed frame

I've had a longstanding, irrational hatred of women in top-hats (it crushed me whenever some artist would plop one on Death from The Sandman Series). Recently, I've decided that as much as I despise regularly-sized top-hats on ladies, proportionately to the opposite degree, I love a lady in a tiny top-hat.

PS: The only exception to the no-ladies-in-top-hats rule is Joanie Stubbs from Deadwood.

Happy Sunday everyone! I'll be back with dollies (hopefully) tomorrow.

I only want to wear things that were ruined in the war...

In addition to the treasures I've got to show you today (scavenged in my trip to the country yesterday) I also bought a blouse that seems to date from around the 1920's. It is made of that beautiful, translucent creamy-white cotton in which the woven fibers are individually apparent, and so soft. I slipped it on, last night, and it immediately started to disintegrate before my eyes. The lace and the binding threads started to un-attach themselves and the blouse unravels. I am used to this, it happens often when attempting to wear this sort of tissue-thin vintage cotton. I have several slips made of the stuff that are in shambles at this point, but I cannot give them up!

So. The rest of the treasure:

The incredible chair I mentioned yesterday. It only seemed right that when I checked my mailbox that evening, the Spring catalog for Brocade Home was in my mailbox! It reminds me of their tufted chairs, and cost about 1/4 of theirs (not that I think that theirs are unreasonable, I'm just happy for my good fortune!). It is in very good shape, sturdy, etc. I love it.

Other pretty things:

(Beautiful sewing notions)

(Lovely linens)
Don't you love those crudely stitched teacups with their pretty red striped edges? And who do you think that pirate ship tea-towel (beautifully embroidered on both ends!) reminds me of?

(Hilarious blue glass plate featuring the visage of President Martin Van Buren)

(Pretty, pretty ceramic tray and lovely family portrait)

AND, not scavenged yesterday, but these came in the mail today from the sweetest Applet, Michelle:

Oh, AND I finished up the little curtains last night (to match the tablecloth):

Wow, is it hard to take a decent photo of curtains with the pretty light streaming in. I need to figure out the ins and outs of my digital camera...it was my major, after all.

My goodness, that was lots of photos! I need to get back to work, but I hope that my treasure makes for a happy Tuesday visit.