February Finds

Its still freezing cold outside and the snow is piled up high, but for the past few days its been sunny– and that’s at least something to be positive about!  I took my day off and went on a marathon of thrifting, but still only had a few finds.  You guessed it– more cameras!

I find these folding Polaroid cameras pretty frequently, and yet I never seem to find the same model twice.  This one is a red model 220.  They always sell very well on my Etsy site, so I’m sure this one will have a new home very soon!

I’ve actually found one of these cameras before, and I toyed with the idea of selling it, but I ended up taking some photos with it instead.  Well, I spotted another one yesterday, so I had to pick it up for the Etsy shop, of course! The Ansco Readyflash really is a fun (and very simple!) camera– though I’ve yet to see one with a flash unit in-tact!

My favorite find is this 8mm movie camera from the 30s– the Cine Kodak Model 20!  Its such a utilitarian design, plain and practical.  But something about the design is unlike any of the other movie cameras I’ve found.  Turning the crank and hearing the motor of a 70 year old camera still work is really one of the best feelings!

All three are up on my Etsy shop.  Check them out!

2 in a million

One of the best parts of thrifting is finding something completely unique– or something that’s completely new to you; something that you’ve never seen before.  Remember a few months back I found this Spanish dancer doll?  Well, a few weeks back I came across its mini-sized twin:

I think once you’ve seen something once, your eyes are able to spot that something familiar amongst all the junk in a thrift store.  Complete with the same frightening eye makeup, I just had to bring the two together.  Where do these strange dolls come from?

Cold!

Its almost 2010 and its cold here in Minnesota!  I haven’t been out to my usual thrifting places in a few weeks, but I still had some good camera finds recently:

Polaroid Land Camera Model 210 — I really love finding these!  I just wish I could still get film for one to take some photos!

And the movie camera trend continues with this great 8mm camera by Tower, a model T-185 triple lens.  Love the cyan/red combination on this one!

Both are up in my Etsy shop.  And a BIG thank you to all of my customers in 2009.  I’ve met some really fun people, and have found loving homes for some of the coolest finds ever!

Etsy SALE

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note to say that I’ve put 20 of my summer finds on super-duper sale in my Etsy shop! In addition, if you purchase a non-sale item, I’ll ship a sale item along with it for free!

See my new sale section here!

November Cameras

So, I’ve had amazing luck with finding cameras this fall.  Here’s a rundown:

The Argus V-100, a great little rangefinder camera!  Easier to advance than the C3 and makes such a delightfully pleasing “click” when the shutter fires, but very difficult to determine proper focus and shutter speed.  I’m still working on scanning in the results, but when they’re up, I’ll post them here.

This 8mm camera is so amazing!  Its a Bell & Howell 319.  Great color & visual appeal, and in near-perfect condition.  If my memory serves me, I think kate funk might have one just like it.  Its up on my Ebay shop here.

This one is in equally pristine condition, but is somewhat of a noteworthy camera since its the model that Abraham Zapruder used to film the Kennedy assassination.  Neat!  Its also up for sale.

Those are definitely my neatest finds lately.  I’m still out there all the time, so hopefully there’ll be more soon!

FAIL Roundup.

To be honest, I’ve been very choosy lately about what I decide to collect.  I wouldn’t consider myself a hoarder, but I certainly don’t want to be storing tons of collectibles in my apartment!  So I pass up items sometimes just because they’re just a hassle.

That being said, the selection at the thrifts has definitely been in a bit of a lull lately.  Less people cleaning out their homes this time of year, I suppose!  Some days I’ll hit a thrift or two and really not find anything but garbage.  But even that garbage is sometimes laugh-inducing.  I really enjoy taking a covert photo with my phone of anything just too weird.  Here’s a selection of the oddities over the last few weeks.

This is a children’s picture book entitled “My Dad, John McCain.”  Because, why hit the ground running and start introducing partisan politics to your kids before they can even read.  Seriously, it wouldn’t have mattered if this had been an Obama book (and I’ve seen lots of kids books about Obama!), can we just cool it with the elementary school age political books?  On to the next find…

So, its a can cozy with the lyrics to The Beatles’ hit “Revolution.”  Fine.  But then the URL of a Mortgage Company is printed underneath.  I’m sure John Lennon is rolling in his grave knowing his song has been co-opted by mortgage brokers.  We, as in HUMANITY, are doomed.  Next!

Words cannot describe how large this Mountain Dew mug was.  I mean, it made some of the cookie jars look small by comparison.  Bigger than the biggest BIG GULP, this mug is probably double your daily 2000 calorie diet, all wrapped up a high fructose beverage delight.  And people wonder why Americans are so fat?  True, you wouldn’t HAVE to fill it with Mountain Dew, but its certainly implied…

Oh my god these were so weird.  When you love denim so much that you need a jeans-motif lemonade serving set.  Terrifying.  But not more terrifying than this:

Eew.  The lighting is so soft in that photo– its like someone smeared Vaseline on the lens.  I can only imagine what the inside was like, but it was still sealed.  But the outside picture still haunts me.

This is the kind of stuff I have to dig through to find the vintage treasures.  Jealous?

Updates Today!

To my loyal readers– Updates are coming today!  I’ve been busy and its been COLD here in Minnesota, so I haven’t gone out as much as I’d have liked.

Thrifting during the cold winter months really tests your endurance of bad Christmas music.  If I hear “Do They Know Its Christmas?” one more time over the tinny thrift-store P.A. system I might go crazy.

But that being said, I wanted to send a few shout-outs!

First, Remember that groovy tray I found?  Well, a very fun customer from Virginia bought it.  (Thanks Lucy!) And she’s got a fun Etsy store of her own!  This caught my eye:

I’m from Wisconsin as well, and when I saw these mitten clips in makins Etsy shop, I couldn’t help but smile.  I think we all had these clips on our mittens back in Elementary shool.  Though, my era would have been the 1980s, not the 1950s!  Funny how you’d never remember such a little detail but then you see a picture and it all comes back to you!

Second, this pitcher was featured on the super-cool deedee9:14 blog twice (here and here).  Check out this photo of the pitcher’s new surroundings:

If you’re an Etsy buyer or seller, I definitely recommend Dee’s blog as well as her Etsy favorites list.

Thanks to all my customers on Etsy– it really helps me keep going!

More updates later today!  Cheers!

Red Wing

I found this Red Wing pottery dish at a thrift last week.  When I saw it on the shelf, I quickly scanned for chips or cracks.  When I found none, I literally looked around the store– as if it was all some sort of trick!

Here in Minnesota, you do come across Red Wing pottery pretty often.  Mostly at garage sales, flea markets, and antiques stores.  Thrift store?  Not so much.  If you are lucky enough to come across a nice piece of Red Wing at a thrift, there’s a pretty good chance its chipped or broken in some way.  That’s why I was so surprised to find this!  Such a nice console bowl!

Friday FAIL

A subtle one, but a good one:

One could do a whole blog about beer-can cozies, I’m sure.  But I liked this one because its something that no one on Earth could possibly find funny anymore, right?

The phrase is, of course, the catch-phrase of Regis Philbin on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”  That show and that phrase made millions for everyone involved in the show, I’m sure.  Since at the time, in the late 1990s, this phrase was the punchline to jokes just about everywhere you looked– I’d imagine this can cozy is about 10 years old now.

But in 2009– where’s the context?  Society has collectively moved on from the prime-time-game-show phenomenon.  One thing you see a lot of in thrift stores in very “timely” objects.  As in– objects made to commemorate a certain date or event or trend that is so brief that they’re almost immediately thrown away.  I usually find these things a little tragic as they lay dusty on a thrift store shelf– but in the case of Regis and his “final answer”– good riddance.

Rattlesnakes

First: I’m keeping it.

Second (and more importantly)– where on earth is it necessary to have a framed snake warning under glass?  Certainly not anywhere in Minnesota, I hope (which is where I found this sign!).

I don’t know if C was happy about seeing this one come into the apartment… but I think its quirky enough to work somewhere. Don’t you think?