Piles and Piles

I photographed a stockpile of things yesterday, all of which I found this weekend when I went thrift shopping in Helena. I took a snapshot of everything to document what I purchased, so I figured why not post the photos here to share?

Vintage Moccasins and red Justin granny lace ups

both of the above are made in brazil. To the left is a pair of Quali Craft heels, leather with wood soles

To the right are some tall campus equestrian boots leather tops and a stacked leather heel

Here's some designer finds. Tony Lama boots and a Coach bag

An antique pharmaceutical crate, and a cropped mini wool coat with a large sheepskin/ shearling collar

Gold Lame peep toe heels, and a bunch of crocheted gloves

a cover for a triangular stool, bought because the tooling is really neat and unique

Well that's most of it, but not even everything. I also bought a mint condition hudson blanket, a handful of tooled leather belts(including a Tony Lama one) a 70's sears bathing suit, a leather ammo case from the 50s, and a 40's woven basket purse.

Wow looks like the majority of the things I bought are shoes. Really though I didn't plan that, shoes aren't my favorites or anything. When I go into 2nd hand stores I look for anything wood, leather, wool, or silk. These materials are dollar signs because they aren't synthetic and usually mean they're well made, high quality, and old.  Apparently this time around, most of the wood/leather found was in the form of footwear!

Some Recent Findings

Yesterday was the tweed ride, it was quite smashing, but I will first get access to photos before I write a post about it.

In the meantime I thought I'd share some recent thrift store treasures, and sources of motivation.

Above is a beautiful vintage camera bag that I have quickly become inseparable from.

It's gorgeuos honey colored cowhide leather, about 11 inches long, 7.5 tall, and 4 wide.  You can find out a lot about these cases just by googling them. This one is a 503 model Sportsman- Buckskin "Perrin".

I'm unsure how old it is, so if anyone want's to shoot out an estimate that'd be great.

I know I could sell it for a good sum, but I'm too attached at this point. Right now I wear it as a purse, but wouldn't it be a perfect bike pannier?

This purse is made in Argentina from thick saddle leather. Black and brown, in great condition, only a small scuff on the bottom left. My favorite part is the brass link. It reminds me of a bridle bit. 

Again and again I return to the "Steal like an Artist" blog post on Austin Kleon's website, and this talk he gave was great, so I thought I'd share

here's another favorite, A speech on being a creative genius by the author of one of my favorite books, "Eat, Pray, Love"; Elizabeth Gilbert

and finally, a great quote on my mind, from one of last weeks featured sellers on Etsy:

"I’ve always admired how beautiful art can be when made from bare bones. I’m talking about what comes out of times of turmoil, and how invention is spurred by limitations. Look what pioneer women and men did in the Americas, or any indigenous art, or consider how war-torn Europe rebuilt its beautiful cities. Any kind of primitive art, folk art, even the art of the early 20th century — it’s all an inspiration to me."

-Dawn Dodson

for the full interview click here

The Tweed Project

A section of our set up for "Sunday Streets"

Lately I've been working pretty hard on the Missoula Tweed Ride, which has kept me quite busy the last month and a half. To sum it up, it's a bike ride for which we dress up in tweed, or old fashioned english clothes. We ride leisurely through town on our cruisers, stopping at Bernice's Bakery for free for tea, and end at the community bike shop; Free cycles, for music, dancing, food, drinks, a fashion show of tweed, and prizes.

I've been very involved this year because my aunt; Judy, is a teacher at Spirit at Play which is the non- profit that the tweed ride raises money for. She's had me get involved with all sorts of things from PR to photo shoots. It just so happens that my mother, Judy, and myself all share an affinity for tweed which we hadn't realized until tweed rides came into our lives. My mom is in New York right now, mailing packages of tweed accessories every week, and sewing spats for prizes. We've had fun together collecting tweed this past year from Goodwills, Ebay, and churchsales, and we now have quite a stock dispersed between all our homes. I'm trying to create a rental service called I Need Tweed for our accumulated stuff but due a late start, and lack of marketing skills, it's kind of slow going. The main goal is to have it be well known by next year. In the mean time, we're in need of storage space, an inventory list, and right now we're in the negatives regarding cash flow.

Hats for rent!

So I'm constantly getting calls from judy asking for tweed related favors, which is sometimes exhausting but at the end of the day, an invaluable experience that gives me insight to the cogs and weels of managing a creative business. Right now I'm helping her decorate doors with twine making cobweb patterns. we've got around 15 doors to be lined up against the fence at Free Cycles to hide the bike pit for our party. I'm also expected to set up the party area all day on thursday, and then run some weird last minute errands I committed to, like going to the theater and asking for a bullhorn.

I know once this week is over, we're all going to collapse, but it's been so much fun. I really want to get Judy and my mom to team up and have a shop. Their style is so focused and consistent that it would work really well, unlike my own style which is all over the place. I even struggle with starting an Etsy store because I want to combine handmade, with artwork, and vintage items. It's impossible for me to have a narrow focus when it comes to my market and products. Frustrating!!

Well enjoy the photos I'm posting related to Tweed. My mom, Judy, and friend Janyssa are the models in them and they look supa fine. Why aren't people renting these awesome outfits?!

Also check out the Homecoming Parade photos of bikes. These 3 pictures are of people in the parade representing our Tweed Ride, and I dressed some of them!

First ever BLOG POST!

Since I’ve dropped out of college, with only a part time job, people keep asking me; “what are you DOING with all your free time?” I often times have to take a minute to recall what I’ve been filling my days with; although they’re packed, it’s challenging to describe how I’m spending them. Usually it’s a combination of drinking lots of coffee, being inspired, fabricating earrings, collecting antiques, photographing said antiques, researching said antiques, and studying blogs and Etsy forums until I’m dizzy.

So instead of boring people with that awful lengthy list which barely scratches the surface of my day to day life, I figured a I’d start a blog. Hopefully this will show the world what I do, as well as document it for myself. I plan to center it on my “studio” which doubles as my living space. It's covered with my projects, inspiration, motivational quotes, and notes; and happens to overlook the Missoula mountains you see in my banner.

I’ll try being more visual than wordy here. I’m an artist and therefore a visual thinker, and believe that ideas can often be expressed better through pictures, sketches, or videos.

Also I'd love feedback in any form from those who take time to check up on me through this site, so please comment and discuss what I post.

A brief synopsis of my latest Finds and Creations:

 

A Foraged vintage World Classic Replogle Globe

                Hand Made Vintage Button Earrings 

Retro books copyright of 1962 

        Part of my Bicycle Bit collection. They're made with used bike parts, and I sell them at Upcycled

A bracelet I made out of vintage buttons