PAY DAY

Hunting down cool stuff is one of the things I enjoy most in life. I travel to dank sections of IL to find it: weird church and odd yard sales in towns where the buildings are never over two stories tall.

I supposedly make my living on Ebay and Etsy. It's not a good living because I don't work at it. I spend a lot of time involved with many other projects: volunteer projects that are critical to my political theory. Consequently, I'm always broke. Always.

I don't have a savings account or a retirement fund. But that's OK, I do get to stay at home with Beau and garden in better weather.

Here's a view of a small part of my garden last summer:

Since I don't work as much as I should, things pile up in the basement:

The very basement that was supposed to have housed my painting studio.

But hunting down the stuff is exciting, especially when I find something (like I haven't found enough?) that I know will sell on Ebay. I feel obliged to search and rescue.

This is how I've been making a 'living' for the last 13 years. I have a talent for it, an ability to recognize an Eva Zeisel dish, Victorian Vulcanite, Papageno pottery, Miriam Haskell jewelry, Marimekko fabric, Dorothy Thorpe glass, Jens Quistgaard Rosewood or a George Nelson slat table.



I've a reverence for vintage textiles! Coats made of wool that were woven on upright looms:

Vintage handmade quilts (just sold this on ebay for 100.00)

Vintage early 70's patch leather coat worn by Shaft's girlfriend:

Vintage 50's Smoking jacket:

And this rare find, a vintage 40's acetate Reyn Hawaiian bowling shirt:


I get to admire this stuff while it's in my possession. I rarely get attached to any of it - it's stuff. But it's the stuff of historical significance. Of a time when design was a consideration, the construction was a point of pride and the quality unrivaled today. Wool was actually woven on looms in this country from the sheep that were raised here!

Here's a little lesson, kiddens. A man's shirt from the 50's had ample facing; so much in fact that the button holes were horizontal. Look at the shirt you are wearing right now. The button holes are vertical, right? That's due to corporate greed.

But that's a post for another day.

I'll be doing a basement sale in a month or two and will post it here.