WiseArts

We had so much fun thrifting yesterday, that we decided to get in a little more today. We went to a few more out-of-the-way stores, that my husband and I had never been to before. I found waaaay too much stuff.

Here’s the lowdown!

Books: “Every Man A King; or Might In Mind Mastery” by Orison Swett Marden, 1st ed. 1906 - purchased for  $4.25
“Our Animal Friends” by Virginia Hunter - a Rand McNally Elf Book, 1956 - purchased for $1.75
“Walt Disney’s Bambi” - A Mickey Mouse Club Book, 1948 - purchased for $2.75
“Lassie and the Kittens” - Tell a Tale Books 1956 - purchased for $2.00

“Shirley Temple Tells the Enchanting Story of Walt Disney’s Bambi” - mini storybook and 2 (yellow!) records - RCA Victor, 1949 - purchased for $4.25
“Music From the Original Motion Picture Sound Track of Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; Someday My Prince Will Come” - Walt Disney Little Gem Record - Purchased for $1.25

Japanese tea towel - $3.25

Vintage linens - $4.25, $3.00, 50 cents

Strawberry fabric - 25 cents
Sheer dots fabric - $2.00
Vintage floral hankie - $1.00

Latch Hook Cats - 50 cents each

Care Bear Cousins and Popple stuffie fabrics! Great additions to my collection! $1.50 each. We have: Lotsa Heart Elephant, Light Heart Raccoon, Treat Heart Pig, and Cozy Heart Penguin. The Popple is unnamed. The Care Bears all have their fronts and backs stitched together already (thus are inside-out).

Wooden Miniature Birds - 25 cents. These have some paint coming off, but I think they’re sort of charming that way. Not sure what I’ll do with them yet.

Van Brode International Dancer Figures - These are cereal premiums from the 1950s. $2.00 for the lot. Left to right they are labeled: Hungarian, China, Italy, West Indies.

Doll Heads! 50 - 25 cents. Someone PLEEEEASE cut me off. I have a whole friggin’ crate full of doll heads and parts. I have made zero dolls. Why am I so intrigued by these?

Along with the doll heads, I found these great books about dolls and stuffies you can make with doll heads!! Novel concept! Maybe I’ll do that sometime. “Darice Darlings” - 50 cents. “Loveable Stuffables” and “Stuffable Playmates” - 1.50 each.

You know you’re obsessed with Care Bears when you buy Care Bears Baby stuff and you don’t even have a baby. This little hat and booties was only $1.50. I’ll have someone to put it on eventually. Just not planning on that quite yet! Gimme a few years folks.

So last month, I bought three of these old mason jars at a antique boutique for only $2.50 with the intention of putting my buttons in them… I quickly discovered that I did not have nearly enough to contain all the buttons! It was serendipitous that a friend at work had six more jars that needed a good home and I was the lucky recipient! (Thanks!) A few days later, I found the three sweet little pint-size jars a the thrift store on half-off day, and they were only 60 cents each! No lids, unfortunately, but I still love them. The blue glass is so appealing to me.

The huge amount of white buttons was purchased from a thrift store in three old crusty tupperware containers, and they were the start of this collection. “Look at all the white buttons!!” I shrieked to my husband as I snatched up the containers. He rolled his eyes. Visions immediately popped into my head of a collage of buttons in every shade of white stitched onto linen. I can imagine them bound together for charming necklaces and bracelets. They would be cute sewn onto handmade purses and accessories. So many buttons, so little time! haha

After the white buttons, I later encountered a gallon-sized Ziploc bag full of mixed vintage buttons at an antique fair for $5.00! I sorted those out by color. There were many black and white buttons in there, lots of colored ones, and some neat leather and wooden buttons too. And THEN, after that find, I found ANOTHER huge bag of mixed buttons at the thrift store for $2.50! I better start making things with buttons…

If you enjoy making soldered pendants from glass slides, or want to add another dimension to stained glass art, try adding shapes cut from copper sheet and copper mesh!

I made this pendant using recycled watch crystals, prints of antique photo postcards, tinned copper wire, copper sheet, and copper mesh. I used regular copper tape around the watch crystals (the images sandwiched inside), and fluxed and soldered normally. I added a jump ring for hanging too. Then I first added the copper mesh layer. Cut this stuff with metal cutters, don’t wreck your scissors. Flux only needs to be added to the mesh pieces right where they will join the ornament. Wherever flux is added, that’s where solder will flow. Too much flux makes a mess of it!

After I added the mesh pieces, then I did the same steps to add the cut copper pieces. Then I added squiggles of tinned copper wire that I shaped with jewelry pliers. Added on a string to hang it, and it was ready to go! If you take care not to add too much flux, the back will end up looking nice too!

The wire mesh comes in a flat package like this. I usually find it near the clay/sculpting supplies, but it might be near scrapbooking goods too. The copper sheet comes rolled in a tube, and it won’t be far away. It is usually used for metal embossing. The tinned copper wire was purchased from a stained-glass supply shop. You can find it online too.

It would be fun to use photos of your favorite kids and pets for this project. I love to use antique photo postcard images for these sort of projects too. I’ve been acquiring them inexpensively at antique shops and flea markets. If you don’t have any images handy, you can use this one for your project!

If you haven’t attempted soldering yet, you may want to check out this tutorial at StarLitStudio. Cindy goes through the steps and tools you need to complete a basic soldered pendant. You’ll also want to look at the Art-E-Zine Collage Pendants page. Lots of inspiration and instruction there too!