There is tin I save and tin I cut up. The problem is, in looking for tin to cut up I find tin to save.
Thermos' offer nice sheets of tin for cutting up, but who could stand to cut this one up? It even has it's original cork that is stamped with the Thermos Brand stamp. $2 at Good will.
Here are some more tins that are to be saved. Looking at them gives me a thrill. Rearranging them is fun too.The green one with polka-dots on the middle shelf is one from Kerry H.
Some Pink Flowers introduced me to Rochambeau via her blog and although we have never met look at the sweet box of tin that Constance of Rochambeau has sent. This is the second time she has done this. In this box there's a small red tea tin, an old hand wax tin, a flowery candy tin and a tin that has parrots on it and some Mexican Folk Art tin decorations. Marvelous booty for my latest obsession.
Constance has a marvelous blog and makes the most wonderful handbags and dolls. They are wonderful little creatures with magical spirits, much like their creator.Thank you, dear Constance.
Yesterday was amazing. Like something in a dream. I spent the day with Kerrie H. and she showed me her favorite places to find the good stuff. Look at all the tin I scored. I am out of my mind with glee.
So many wonderful patterns and images.
And this little guy is something that crossed my path on the way to pick Kerrie H. up.
The studio is beginning to really pile up with tin. It's so delicious!
Okay, so this seems like an odd collection. In a way, it started when my mother was dying. She was in the hospital and my father took her dentures to the bathroom to wash them. When he came out he had the upper half in his mouth and was doing his best impression of Charlie Chan. It was my mother's last great laugh. Tears were streaming down our faces. At the funeral home they gave my father her dentures in a plastic container and he put them in a cupboard in the guest bath where I found them and kept them. The other set I "found" at a flea market in the Mother Lode of California last summer when my sister and I were back for a family reunion in Mariposa.They were $2. The dentist model was at Value Village yesterday for $3.99. It has the word crest on top.
Mom died 29 years ago this week and I still think of her every day.
At what point does a collection begin? Is it in the first moment of seeing that one item that something is triggered in the brain to gather up as much of that one item as possible? Or is it over time as the items cross your path? Kind of an accident? If you have one shell box and like it, why not have two or twenty?
The champagne bucket filled with Christmas tree toppers was an intentional collection. Someone in a magazine had stuck some on candlesticks. I was using my candlesticks, so a bucket seemed to be just the thing. I don't believe I ever paid more than a dollar or two for each one. I have since given them and the Mexican Folk Art Tree of Life collection to my sister. Her collection is quite nice now. She had her own collection of 5 or 6 going which had been the catalyst for me to start my collection.What do you collect?
