After finding out about the opening of Vintage Revivals, as I mentioned in
part one, my wife and I drove down to have a look see. What a wonderful place. It's full of... well... it's full of all kinds of quirky originality. As I said last time, it's full of found art.
Some of it makes my fingers itch to make it my own.
But most of it just makes me think, "Cool!"
And, "I want that!"
The above piece is called "Merlin's Muse," and it's pretty cool. And here is another view of my favorite piece, "Nightwatch":
But it's not all birds:
Wait, no! No, really, it's not all birds:
No, stop looking at the bird. Look at the green liquid. Not to mention this stuff:
And the earrings! Last time, I showed you the earring that I bought my wife, but this is the pair I almost bought:
They had a whole wall of earrings made from old typewriter keys, which is just a cool idea. I would have bought them if the keys had been on the dangly end. I was, however, ambivalent, because I wasn't 100% sure my wife would agree with me (I was probably 87% sure), but she did, so, at some point (as soon as I get a chance to go back), we going to custom order a pair with the keys at the bottom, because, yes, they do requests. And, really, how cool is that?
Local places like this are really cool. I encourage all of you to go out and find some local artists and shops to support. I mean, what chain store can you walk into and request custom-made earrings? Or custom-made anything? Wal-Mart? Target? Macy's? Not a single one of them. In fact, the only thing you'll find at a chain store is the same thing that someone on the other side of the country will find. Something... homogeneous. If you want cool and unique, you have to go to cool and unique. And these kinds of places always have cool and unique people, too. People with great stories about what they're doing and why.
And, well, in a lot of ways it's like being an independent author. It's making something that's not quite like everything else already out there and having the courage to stand behind it. I respect that. I hope you do, too.
(And those birds are just too cool!)
Since it is Halloween I feel drawn to tell you to buy the raven/pumpkin combination... what did you crazy kids take home?
ReplyDeleteUnique art is hard to find. And rows and rows of paintings on saw blades doesn't cut it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any place to find this stuff locally BUT this is why my wife is a big fan of Etsy. We got our cake topper and all of our wedding decorations from artists just advertising their work on Etsy. As you mentioned, we were able to customize all of our stuff, which just made it all that much better.
ReplyDeleteAt least someone is making use of those old typewriters.
ReplyDeleteI really love that second bird sculpture. Those are terrific.
ReplyDeleteThat place looks awesome.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I couldn't help but think of Portlandia's "Put A Bird On It" sketch.
I stopped at an antique dealer/junk store recently on the way home from a hearing; I stopped only to get pictures of an old airplane -- yep! -- that they had on the grounds but then wandered around for about 45 minutes. I bought two plastic baseball helmets that were like the ones I had as a kid. But I'd have bought a lot more if I'd had more than six bucks on me.
I agree. Birds are cool!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are some interesting places to buy things around where I live, but I'm trying to get rid of stuff and not buy more new stuff. My wife's already been talking about moving to a smaller place someday. We'd have to do a whole lot of downsizing!
Lee
Tossing It Out
Jean: Just the pair of earrings from the last post, so far, but Christmas is coming up.
ReplyDeleteAlex: heh You made a punny!
Yeah, those saw blade paintings quit being unique a long time ago.
ABftS: Yeah, etsy seems to be a good place for people with unique items.
GP: True!
S.L.: There's another white one on a crystal ball, but my picture was a little blurry. :(
Briane: It's pretty awesome.
Lee: yeah, I can understand that. I have a lot of stuff I'd love to sell off, right now.
Oh, I love that idea of using typewriter keys for jewelry.
ReplyDeleteAnd I saw these really cool dragonfly ornaments at a local store here a week or two ago whose wings were made of the handles of old silverware. Very creative and quirky. I still may go back and get one.
It's amazing some of the crazy cool stuff you can find. Living in Florida, I love hitting Caribbean cruises and seeing all the different things people sell in their markets. That's the ONLY time I shop when it's not 100% required. Is that sad?
ReplyDeleteL.G.: Those sound cool. I want to see!
ReplyDeleteCrystal: I don't shop unless it's required. Of course, what's required for one person is not required for someone else. I mean, for people who shop for fun, it's required. That's just not me.
Some of those birds are cool, some are creepy, and some are creepy-cool. The painted pumpkin is my favorite. I think it's much better than a carving.
ReplyDeleteSome of those are really cool! I recently discovered a little shop built in an old house nearby. Every room houses different cool crafty things, and the garden is the perfect setting for their little coffee shop. I have to stop myself from spending too much money there!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great place. Most of that sort of stuff here comes from our local Farmer's Market, which isn't really a Farmer's Market at all, but instead a place for people to see their stuff. Since one of the rules of participating is that anything being sold has to be either grown, or made, by the folks selling, then it tends to be a crafts fair as well. Pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've been away some. I did read your review of Killbot from last week, I've been reading about how much it's in poor taste to comment on a review of your own work lately (I found one a few weeks ago where the author popped in, said a few relatively nice things, and then was flogged mercilessly by legions of angry etiquette police after. Seriously, it got extremely ugly).
So, I guess I didn't comment, but I am now, but I guess it's cool, because THIS isn't the review post. So anyway, thanks.
Jeanne: I think those are much better than carvings, too, and they last longer. But, still, that kind of thing is only temporary.
ReplyDeleteRachel: I know how that is!
Rusty: Hey, on my blog, you can always comment. Screw Internet etiquette. That's just dumb anyway, because good etiquette says you should say "thank you," so what does the Internet know? Not a lot.
I really do love places like that. If you tell me not to look at the birds, I WILL LOOK AT THE BIRDS. Human nature, dude!
ReplyDeleteLove the earrings, and the idea of old typewriter key earrings. I want me some of those.
We have several places like this in town and in Boulder (the town is kinda an indie author if you know what I mean). Now just give me some money and some time and I'll go shopping!
Tina @ Life is Good
Tina: Did I say not to look at the birds? Look at the birds!
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you really do want some of those earrings. I'm sure something can be arranged.