Furniture Finds

In the last couple weeks I stopped at Savers to see if they had anything exciting, and sure enough I found 2 pieces of furniture that are going to look great once I am done with them.
I found a solid wood swivel office chair, which bears a remarkable resemblance to one I have been lusting after in the Pottery Barn catalog, but couldn't justify buying with a $399 price tag. Price of the one I found; around $20. Granted, it needs a coat of paint. I am going to paint it cream color and put a nice colorful cushion on it. You be the judge on how closely they resemble each other.

I also found a 1977 Thomasville nightstand. This needs a little more work than the chair, but it is a good quality piece of furniture, with all wooden dovetailed drawers and no missing pieces. I think I am going to paint this a cream color also and maybe even add some feet. Since it is quite big, it might even function as a side table. This piece was a steal at $6.

Craft Room/ Office Furniture Progress Update

Well, it took me a while, but I have finished the base for my studio desk and as you can see in the picture, it looks pretty good. I had to paint it 3 times, since I did not put a thick enough coat of primer on it to cover the woodgrain of the drawer fronts. I found the half round cup handles at Target in a pack of 6 for $19.99, which was cheaper than at Lowes or the Home Depot.

The project went well until I tried to attach a 2X2 to horizontally to the wall as a base for the 8 foot by 2 foot desk top I want to install. It just so happens that the electrical wires run horizontally at EXACTLY the height that I need to attach the 2x2, so now I can't drill into that area, because the wall studs have metal protectors on them, plus even if they did not, I do not want to chance drilling into the electrical wire.
So now it is back to the drawing board and coming up with a still good looking alternative on how to attach those supports. I can think of a few, but none of them are really that attractive. 

Recent Thrift Store Finds

So I went thrifting again, or "treasure hunting" as I like to call it. I came across a multitude of beautiful items and really had to control myself not to purchase every single one of them, since the inside of our house is starting to look like a rummage sale. My husband says I am a borderline horder, which of course is an exaggeration, but I have to admit, it is not exactly normal to have vintage cups all over the bedroom floor. Granted, normal is in the eye of the beholder, and the cups are just on one side of the room and there is still plenty of space, but I have to start listing, organizing and boxing these items before it really gets out of hand. So here is a long list of the most recent finds. I do not have pictures of all of them, but will keep posting pictures as I take them. They will be listed for sale in my Etsy store soon, unless of course I become attached to them, which I won't deny, has happened in the past.
3 Prill, Sheffield, England, porcelain handled knives
2 Otagiri seagull mugs
1 aqua and white striped tea set (2 cups, sugar and creamer) made in Japan
4 Kutahya, turkish coffee cups and saucers
a very heavy Art Noveau silver plated vanity set (mirror and brush)
1 Royal Halsey tea cup and saucer, very pretty

3 oval gold leaved botanical pictures, hand made in Italy (actually my daughter bought these for her Etsy store )
4 Floralp Tyrol, pressed flower pictures, made in Austria, also in my daughter's Etsy Store.
She should be listing them soon, but she is an architecture student, and as such does not have a life, respectively time to do anything but school work.

Any way, here are pictures of some of the items.

Vintage Dresser

this is the dresser I dragged home a couple days ago. It is vintage and made by the B.P.John Furniture Corporation. In one of the 9 drawers I found the original label which stated that the company was located on the west shore of the Willamette river in Portland, Orgegon. After some research, I found out that the company went out of business in 1978. The dresser is a very nice piece and since I also found out that some of the B.P.John furniture has become a collectible, I don't know if I will repaint it or not. There is also a mirror that comes with this dresser and I will add more pictures later.

Back Blogging

I realize I have not updated my blog in months, so here is what I have been up to.
I have been working on building a desk in our pool house, so I have something to work on other than the makeshift table I have been using. I am combining a metal two-drawer file cabinet with 3 drawers from an old youth bed and then I am topping the entire creation with an 8 feet long by 24 inches deep piece of plywood. So far I have managed to build the sides and make the drawer fronts out of leftover wood from an old cabinet. I also used left over plywood from a mosaic project for the top and back of the cabinet. The area the desk will go in is clearly visible in the picture below. The cabinet will be situated as shown in the picture and then when the desk top is installed I will have a nice area where I can put the desk chair.

I will post pictures of my progress.

I also dragged home a beautiful vintage dresser that I will have to refinish and 4 solid wood Drexel Heritage dining room chairs. I will post pictures of those items in the next few days.
Now I will have to go work on my future desk and also make a new batch of soap. I have decided to make a new kind: Spearmint shampoo body and facial soap.

Hand Painted Cup with Gnomes and Mushrooms

Yesterday I finally got around to painting a coffee cup with gnomes, mushrooms and flowers. I had been thinking about doing this for quite a while, but have never sat down and actually done it. So here it is. I am planning on selling it as part of a shaving kit, along with my cold process shaving soap and a red shaving brush, which might have white polka dots. I still have to test the cup, respectively the durability of the paint before I list it in my etsy store, because I do not want to sell any inferior products. The paint I purchased said that once cured, it would be dishwasher safe, but I find that hard to believe. I think the best way to handle the cup is to handwash it.
I am currently obsessed with gnomes, so if this paint meets my expectations, there will be many more cups featuring gnomes and other fairy folk.

New Thrifting Find, A beautiful Noritake Tea Set

I am quite excited to have found this beautiful Noritake tea set. It was made in Japan and the pattern is just called #5455. This pattern was discontinued in 1955 and seems to be hard to find. I was almost tempted to keep it for myself, but the box in which I store the items I want to keep is getting quite full and I have made the resolution that once it is full and I want to keep something else, an item from the box has to go to make space for a new one. (I think I have been watching too many episodes of "Hoarders" and it has scared me. Plus I am really more of a coffee person anyway.
So if you are interested in the set, it is for sale in my Etsy store

Resin Shaving Brush Handles Part Two

I did another casting of the shaving brush handle and it did not turn out either. This time I added more catalyst. The casting turned out hard, but very bumpy and unveven. It could be the mold release I put on the mold. So now on to part III of adventures in resin casting. Maybe three really is a charm?!
It better, because I am getting quite frustrated and the entire house reeks from the resin.

Resin Shaving Brush Handles

After a few failures, I finally succeeded in making a flexible mold for my shaving brush handles. The mold turned out nicely, showing all the fine details. So yesterday, I went and purchased casting resin, and cast my very first shaving brush handle. I followed the instructions closely, making sure that I used the recommended ratio of resin and catalyst. unfortunately, when I unmolded it this morning, after 18 hours of curing, the surface of the cast was so sticky, that it pulled resin strings. I don't understand what happened, and I am quite discouraged by the results and not just a little disappointed, especially since I can see the details cast very nicely. I guess I could try and clean out the now sticky, coated with uncured resin, mold and cast another piece, this time with more than the recommended amount of catalyst. It would have been such a nice piece! On the more positive side, I tried to achieve the look of ivory and succeeded and all the details are beautiful, so all I need to figure out is how to cast it without it being sticky.
In the photo you can see how sticky it is. With a little imagination, one can see the similarity to ivory. I had planned on applying a patina with a dark brown glaze to highlight the flowers and give it a more authentic ivory look. Well, hopefully the second time around will work.

New women's shaving items

A few weeks ago, I was semi-ranting about women not having enough choice in shaving products. Well, I have been working diligently to remedy this. Below you will see pictures of 2 new shaving kits, specifically for women. I hade made 3, but already sold one with a pink shaving brush. One of them (the silver one) is available for purchase in my Etsy store. The other one will be listed for sale soon. I am also making a gold, a baby pink and a medium blue brush. They are almost done and will also be for sale soon. The third picture is a cup I adorned with polymer clay flowers, to give it that feel of the expensive antique ornate porcelain cups. The fimo is triple sealed and securely adhered to the cup.
I have also made a prototype for a resin handle I want to cast and tried to make a mold out of plaster, but miserably failed. Back to the drafting table!