My third and final post of our USA trips treasures! We brought back 15 suitcases with also personal items and still things that I'm going to use to make other things.

These table lamp bases had no shades, I spent about 60 hours creating the lampshades out of soldered limpet shells, you can see how I did that on Instagram and they are available here.

This vintage frame had a broken mirror and the roses were the same color, I painted them to make them pop and it got a new mirror. Floral Wall Mirror, Vintage Rose and Leaves Mirror, Tole Mirror, 1980's

Vintage Violets Print, For Mother, Floral Illustration, Botanical Flora Home Decor Mother's day Gift

Vintage Brass and Cloisonné Enamel Tissue Box Holder Cover, Chinoiserie Birds and Flowers.

Nautical Sea Urchin Light, Palmtree Sea Urchin Lamp, Beach Cottage, Coastal Lighting, Table Lamp, Hollywood Regency, Mermaid light

This was a regular lamp which I turned into a sea urchin lamp.

Nautical Sea Urchin Light, Rustic Sea Urchin Lamp, Beach Cottage, Coastal Lighting, Table Lamp, Hollywood Regency, Mermaid light

This was a candle holder which I turned into a sea urchin lamp.

Vintage Gourd Lamp, Floral Table Lamp, Handmade Lamp, Bohemian Lighting, Vintage Hand painted Gourd Decor, Vintage 1960's

We brought the gourd and turned it into a lampshade.

Vintage Japanese Woodblock Print, Ukiyo-e 43 Kuwana from The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido - Utagawa Hiroshige, Vintage reproduction

Vintage Handmade Collage of Dried Leaves, Peppers, Plants and Flowers, Framed little whimsical Art signed made in Grenada

The bird was also bought during our trip but is for our own collection :)

The boat was a fleamarket find, and attached to a locally found fishnet.

Ghost Net Art Installation, Fishing Net, Abstract Art, Beach Finds Installation - Fish Net, Rust - Wall Hanging

Vintage Needlepoint Embroidery, Framed Textile Art American Landscape Embroidery Home Decor 1970s

Bronze Candle holder Sconce, Solid Bronze 1960s Colonial Sconce, Wall Candle Holder

Vintage Chinese Shou Xing Gong God of Longevity Figurine and Bamboo Patterned Trinket Box, Far East Porcelain, fine bone China 1990s

Vintage Japanese Figurine Pots, Goldammer flower girl vase, Porcelain Set of 2, Floral Vase with Birds, Home decor, Planters 1950s

The hooks are from our trip, and the wood is from a local boat wharf.

Flower Towel Rack, Jewelry Organizer Rack, Towel Holder, Shabby Chic Coat Rack, Boatwood, Driftwood, Vintage Metal Hooks - Floral Home Decor

Vintage Floral Set, Mini Porcelain Teapot Trinket Box, Porcelain Creamer, Hand Painted, fine bone china Japan 1910s

Vintage Bird Drawing, Chinese Framed Art Works 1980s

Vintage Japanese Fish Figurine, Porcelain and Seashell Set of 2, Made in Japan and the Philippines, Nautical Home decor, 1970s

Vintage French Wire Flower Baskets, Jardiniere, Farmhouse Basket, Rustic Shabby Kitchen Home Decor 1950s

Venetian Style Mirrored Picture Frames, Wedding Gift, Vintage Table Frame, Etched Mirrored Frame, 1980's

Original Water color by Paula Woody Tennessee Landscape Painting Abstract Forest Painting, American Art, Signed Artwork, Framed

Vintage Ashibi Shozan Hisabe Flower of the Month Plates Set of 6, Japanese Floral Plates

Vintage Pottery duo, Frankoma Snail Bud Vase, Japanese Raku Pot, Plant pots, Vases, Handmade Pottery, Set of Two, Made in the USA and Japan

Vintage Japanese Geisha Figurine, Hand made Art Japan, Japanese Art, Silk Kimono Art Work Vintage 1930s

Art Nouveau Style Candle holder Sconces, Bronze 1960s Colonial Sconces, Wall Candle Holders

Vintage Japanese Figurine Pots, Porcelain Set of 3, Doll Head, Flower Basket, Lenox Swan, Home decor, Air plant pots

Vintage Nude Lady Vase, Japanese Vase, Flower Vase, Pottery, Home decor, Vintage 1970s

Vintage Peasant style Plate, Swiss plate with goats and cows, 1960s Maurachern Pottery Martha Moser-Waber, made in Switzerland

Vintage Japanese Paper mobile, Paper Art, Origami, Vintage 1970s

Vintage Russian Fairytale Series Legend of the Snow Maiden Plate Snegurochka 1989

Thursday, 22 October 2015

Our Creative Space; Boatwood Project

For most people beaches are a place to swim and sunbath. We funnily enough hardly swim when we are near the sea and never sunbath, or we do get sun baked but not intentionally. During the Summer months the beaches are usually occupied by other people, and although most of them do not appreciate the beauty of the things we find, they do walk all over the shells causing them to break, or they use the driftwood for barbecues (arrrggg the frustration).

In any case in the warm months there are no storms so the amount of treasures are less anyway, now that Fall has come treasures will also appear in a larger amount, and the local fishermen and boat owners will start working on their boats to prepare for next Season.
The later gave us a while back another kind of treasure; discarded boat wood. A rare find actually as people in villages still heat with fires in Winter time so the wood gets burned. We found a pile of them at a wharf and took the pretty parts home.

For ages I wanted to make mirror frames out of some of them, and last Sunday I finally got that project going. I borrowed an electric saw of a friend and first made the wood pieces equally wide and at length. Then I made 45 degrees corners out of them.

I then had to take them to a local framer as normal staples do not work for frames. He also cut the mirrors in size for me and tadaaaa!

Some very cool rustic mirrors came out of them, only the glass and the hanging wires are new all other materials have history, making them unique and eco friendly, a win-win :)