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Sunday, September 21

kindred spirits

I will always love a good tag sale, but sometimes you have to go where the kindred spirits are.  If you are lucky like me, you have such places close to home.  Loot has long been one of my favorite shops, and I was lucky enough to sneak in after a long morning at housing court last Friday.  But I truly cannot believe that I just today, for the first time, discovered Studio second Canal at the beautiful Paper City Studios along the canal in downtown Holyoke.  A friend alerted me to the Craigslist posting and I was intrigued.  I got there and I was astounded.  I ogled.  Then I bought, and chatted with fellow collector, reclaimer and repurposer Barb Hahn.  It's such a nice feeling when you can buy an entire box of test tubes without a sideways glance, and your vintage suitcase collection looks tiny in comparison to what's in front of you.

For your viewing pleasure, here's what I scored from 1 old and 1 new favorite shop.  

golf ball basket upside down
providing a hint about its reuse
right side up
this...
...came with this
putting those test tubes to immediate use
According to IMDB, Marvin Digs is an animated short
about 
Marvin, a teenage ball of fur, who gets the idea to paint the entire city in groovy, psychedelic colors.  You will
not be surprised to know it was released in 1967.


coolest lazy susan ever?
it's hard to say what's cooler - the film reel
or the MGM engraved box it came in
Do you see inkwells?
Because I see shammes.
these are apparently textile bobbins, but they
look like clown accoutrements
yes, crutch tips
Holyoke produced a lot more than paper
back in the day.

crutch molds

Wednesday, September 17

barn wood

I have a barn guy.  I love that I have a barn guy.  And this amazing barn guy, also know as Shaun Garvey, the owner of Berkshire Barns, brought me some barn wood.  I've never seen planks this wide - some of them 18"! - and they are going to make the most amazing studio flooring.  Ever.  The wide ones are hemlock from a Huntington barn from 1750 and the narrow ones are from an 1800's Hatfield tobacco barn.  They are even locally sourced!

Tomorrow's "day off" will include some power washing.


helper #1

helper #2, also tasked with sweeping (see below)








hinges, latches, true love

This is the hardware for the new studio.  It was all sourced by my husband.  He got excited.  About hinges and latches.  If that's not true love, I don't know what is.