Kane County Antiques Market 6/3/2012

Sharing some nifty finds from last weekend's market foray. I may be making posts like this throughout the summer as the outdoor markets are in high gear.

I wish the picture had come out better, but the glare from the glass was an issue. It’s a memorial diorama for a little girl that died in 1895. It’s rather sad that it ended up at a flea market and I wonder about the path that led it here. I talked to the dealer (who, if you’re interested, I can send you contact info for. She’s tagged $75) for a while about Victorian memorial pieces like hair jewelry, death portraits, mourning brooches, and the like. While I’m fascinated by cabinet card death portraits, I’m a bit twitchy about using those images. I don’t know why, but it feels like an uncomfortable intimacy and violation of the sacred. I also have weird quirks about rosary beads. I occasionally find broken strands that…if the beads were on a piece of jewelry…I’d repurpose them in a heartbeat. On a rosary…no.

This isn't a much better picture, but I wanted to try to get a bit of the detail.

 Always sound advice!

 Haven't you always wanted your own psychiatrist's couch? This was in fairly good shape and circa 1960s. The vendor had it marked $150, but was willing to let me have it for $75 if I took it with me this past Sunday. There is no way that I could do it though and absolutely no room in my apartment. I took her name and number, just in case anyone local does have the means of transport/space for this.

I’m just glad this little one is behind glass. He seems to be...plotting.

  (Our National Calamity of Fire, Flood, and Tornado: Thrilling Stories With Photographs and Sketches)
This was on a table of mostly vintage children’s books. The perfect gift for the kid who found Old Yeller to be too upbeat.

I started to dig through this box to find a companion for my male doll (the one in Eastern Orthodox vestments), but Matt stopped me. Apparently, he feels that one disturbing celluloid doll is enough for our domicile.

 (The aforementioned gentleman. He came from the April market at Kane County)
I’m not sure why I own him other than the fact that he somehow reminded me of my childhood and the dusty dolls that I’d see in the Eastern European-American shops in the Detroit neighborhood of Delray (I’m of Hungarian descent). He now lives with me, much to my boyfriend’s dismay. I wore him in my cleavage when I went out to dinner with friends after the market and I was highly disappointed that nobody commented on my tag along friend. Then again, if a little priestly head was popping out of someone’s blouse, wouldn’t you politely ignore it?

I really wanted this, but I’d already bought one antique poison/pharmacy bottle for the day and I was practicing restraint. I should have gotten it for $15.

The Sanitary Nipple Drinker by Porkmaster! (Sometimes I have the brain of a twelve year old boy. I keep it in a jar...wanna see?)

 This vendor had a few of these, but this is the only one that had a hand. (Yes..those are models of human fetal development in cutaway uteri in the background. Alas, I don't have a better picture of them.)

This was from the same dealer that had all of the prosthetic arms.

Love this Catrina. LOVE. HER. She’s about 9 feet tall and made of salvaged sheet metal. If I could have her come live on my apartment patio, I would (during warm months, of course. She’d reside in my living room in the colder months. I have no skeletons in my closet…she’s next to the sofa, perplexing the cats). This dealer had all sorts of gorgeous Calaveras and other Mexican art, including Catholic icons.

 What goes better with a smooth mild smoke than a female Terminator?

Marlene and Darlene had a lovely time at the dance and are now doing the Sunday morning walk of shame.

I am doll eyes
Doll mouth, doll legs
I am doll arms, big veins, dog bait
Yeah, they really want you, they really want you, they really do
Yeah, they really want you, they really want you, but I do too
I want to be the girl with the most cake 

 When life gives you scrap metal and cattle bones, make lem...er...sculpture like this.

New ring designs and a 20% off sale!

I’m running a special in my Etsy shop through Sunday, June 10th  in order to offset an unavoidable expense.  Use discount code FMC612 to take 20% off all in-stock pieces. This includes all of my recently posted brass and copper rings, charms, necklaces, chunky cocktail rings, earrings, barrettes, and more. 

Do you like my work, but would prefer a variation on an existing item? Please contact me for special pricing on custom work through the June 10th sale span.

Spellbound

 (As mentioned in Neil Gaiman's Twitter feed today!)

Boosting the signal for my friends' Kickstarter campaign for their e-zine.

**********************************
(In the words of Raechel Henderson from the Kickstarter campaign site)

Our goal was to produce the kind of magazine we would have wanted to read as children.  Each issue was centered around a fantastic creature (from shape shifters, to dragons, trolls to griffins) and featured fiction, poetry and art aimed and exploring the weird and wonderful.


We published sixteen issues between the years of 1999 to 2003.  The first six issues were produced by hand: printed off a hand-me-down HP Laserjet IIP, hand assembled and saddle-stitched with a long arm stapler.  Future issues were offset printed (a move that saved our sanity in putting together issues but increased the cost by several degrees).


Nearly a decade later, we've decided to try and relaunch the magazine, with some changes.  We're going the e-zine route: publishing Spellbound as an ePub readable on Nooks, Kindles and other e-readers.  With the increase in e-readership (sales of e-readers and children's and YA e-books are on the rise) we see an opportunity to bring awesome fiction, poetry, art and more to an even larger audience than before.


We're looking to raise enough money to fund a full year's run of Spellbound.  The money will go to paying for content and production costs.  Most new publications flounder in the first year, so if we can secure the funding we can concentrate on putting out a quality publication, expanding our readership and assuring a second year and beyond...

**********

Please click the link below to learn more about Spellbound and the Kickstarter campaign:

    

Eggplant Literary Productions is a small electronic speculative fiction press. It is run by Raechel Henderson. Art direction is provided by Sam Haney Press. Marcie Lynn Tentchoff is the poetry editor for Spellbound. Stephan Kelly rounds out the crew as the marketing director.

Each of us has been involved in creative endeavors all our lives. We're writers and poets, thespians and artists. We believe that life needs art the same way it needs food, water and oxygen.

The Professor and I

New Etsy postings to occur this week, but in the meantime, here's a photo of my partner and I goofing around outside of the steampunk wedding of friends last evening.

Special order

Sharing some hairpins that I made for a gal that found me via Etsy.

Hopefully, I'll have a bunch more items to share with you by morning!

I've been away...

Despite what was posted in my last journal entry, I did not get back on track with my jewelry and the related online presence for same. In fact, I sort of let my Etsy shop stay in vacation mode for an extra two months.

Things happened.

Distractions.

My Etsy is now back up and running. I'm also in better headspace. Medical stuff is back on track (with the exception of a recent athletic-based injury. 3 more weeks of physical therapy!). I have a ton of new items to post (working on copy right now). I'm also preparing for WisCon at the end of this month.

So, yes...back. For reals.

Back!

I have neglected this page for a few weeks with getting ready for CapriCon and other matters. To update: All is good, the convention went well, I have a few potential commissions to do and the possibility of some writing work. Tomorrow, I'm going to a small bead show. WHEEE!