Found It: Medicine Cabinet

I found an old medicine cabinet with the perfect amount of peeling (lead) paint.  It's metal and kind of small, and it's been hanging in the shed for my entire life, and likely since Grandpa bought the farm in the 1960s.*

So...here it is in it's temporary home at the Antique Mall:

Rustic/cottage/shabby chic.

And here's where I found it:

Waaaay back in the corner.  I found another cabinet below it, too.

 In the daylight:

Hmmm...farm fresh.

Only one small bug dwelling.  Pretty good.

 And these are the treasures that were inside:


Ok, so this was on top, but...JULY 1966 PEOPLE!  Most of the paper was in
good shape so I kept it and will do something with it.

Because everyone needs two empty rolls of TP, a knife, and insulation their
bathroom cabinet that isn't in a bathroom.

So fancy!  There's still powder in this, with the puff, and it's for sale now at the Mall.

I debated whether or not to put these very well preserved bottles up for sale,
but I can't open them to dump out the POISON, and even closed they
smelled up my whole truck for a week.  So...probably not.

I used my air hose and blew the gross out of the cabinet.  A fair amount of paint chips got blasted off, too, and I'm amazed the mirror is intact and the metal's not in terrible shape.  I know it will complete someone's bathroom, either as is (maybe a little more elbow grease would help) or completely overhauled with a nice sprayed finish and sophisticated colors.  Sadly, that's what I won't ever know about my finds...how they spend their lives after I say goodbye.

Fly away, little birdies!  Be free!

*Unless he kept the calendar from 1966 and placed it on top later (not completely out of the question, truthfully), the cabinet was definitely there since at least the '60s. 

Moved In: River Market Antique Mall

I find lots of great things at the farm.  LOTS.  Etsy has been a great thing for me, but I needed another outlet to move some of these treasures out into the world...I'm not going to list a product that costs five times as much to ship as the purchase price, so a brick-and-mortar space just made sense for these items. 

Luckily, Kansas City has many antique outlets, but the largest is the River Market Antique Mall in the City Market area of downtown.  Three floors (and a basement) stuffed with great finds from the disco days on back to the 1700s.  My rusty and chippy finds would fit right in!  I was able to snag a spot on the second floor.

It was a whirlwind week of picking, gathering, cleaning, repairing, prepping, sorting, labeling, researching, scanning, and moving stuff around, but I got it done.  And, as of last weekend, I'm moved in and hoping all this stuff finds "forever homes."

So...I did some pickin'.

And some repairin'.

 And some paintin'.

The space before I moved in.

The paint color was supposed to be a dark grey, but whatever.

And some movin' in.

First load sort of put together.

After second load in...I had to leave because the mall was closing so I just walked away.

The next morning I went in to "fluff" and make sure everything was labeled
and moved some stuff around a little bit.



Notice the corner hutch all pretty and white now.
Gas cans/oil cans/coffee cans/tobacco cans/pulleys.





I'm happy with how this came out, but it's held together
with paint primarily.  Not for sale!  (Yet...)

Just some of my grandma's extensive romance novel collection from the 1940s.



And then a lot of sleepin'.
If you're in the City Market area picking up delicious veggies, pies, fruits, and whatnot, walk a couple blocks west to River Market Antiques at 5th and Wyandotte.  I'm near the south west corner on the second floor, vendor #414. 

The Retro Ranch welcomes you!



Found It: Eyeballs and Trampolines

So, my great aunts had some funny habits, and one of them was throwing money away at "natural healing" and door-to-door solicitors.  This little gem was mail order, I think.

Behold:

Okay!

Looks sciency.

He is so happy!  Work those eyes!
Yes, that's a cassette tape and an eye patch.

Looks like a dart board.

Don't be surprised if some of these images show up on a clock in the future.
I've been looking for a good goat outline.

Dominoes for the eyes.

"....do it to it!"  !!!

Overall this is just a funny thing.  I haven't really delved into the history of this, but here's a bio of the Rebound guy, Albert E. Carter. 

 I think I'm going to put this on my Etsy site once I get through it, but I just snagged a spot in the River Market Antique Mall in the River Market area of Kansas City, and I'm running around like a crazy person trying to put shelving together and accumulate enough stuff from the farm to make a good showing.  So far I haven't had to buy a single thing for display...I'll post about that later.  But I'm trying to decide what to take to my space and what to keep online.  Turns out it takes a lot of product to make an 8 x 8 foot space not look empty.  Fingers crossed I can make it all work.

Art Unleashed

I'm excited to announce that I will be participating in Art Unleashed, a fundraiser for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.  I've had this event on my radar for several years and finally, with the urging of my talented artist friend Andrew Johnson (the stitch maestro!), I was able to get myself together and donate a clock to be auctioned off.  I'm looking forward to seeing what Kansas City's artists have to offer in the way of animal art.

This is my contribution to the benefit:

Siamese Star Clock, 9 x 12 inches

Although it looks like just raw aluminum as the background, I actually put a piece of shimmery transparent vinyl over the sign blank to add a bit of glitteriness.  The stars made their way into the design because, well, I thought maybe more people could read it that way.  This is, after all, something I want as many people to bid on and fight over to raise as much money as possible for the little puppies and kittens.  When I stepped back and took a look I thought it kind of had a tattoo look to it, which I quite like.
Tickets can be purchased before the event for $35.  All proceeds from the auction and ticket sales go to HSGKC.  I'll be dressed up and enjoying the camaraderie on Friday, August 23rd from 7-10pm at Hale Arena in the West Bottoms area of KCMO.  See you there! 

Made It: State Pride

Growing up in Kansas means you get the full gamut of state history from day one.  Kansas Day, January 29th, is a big deal--dressing up in prairie garb, making your own soap, taking a bite out of the upper right corner of a Graham cracker (the inventor is a native Kansan) and smearing honey (made by the Kansas state insect!) on the Kansas-shaped treat.  The older you get, the more you delve into the rich and sometimes bloody history of the Sunflower State.  John Brown! Bison! The Wizard of Oz! Brown v. Board of Education!

One of the most important things we learned was the state motto:
Ad Astra Per Aspera -- To the Stars Through Difficulty

As it turns out, only Kansans understand this, and it is quite perplexing to outsiders why we even care.  I'm not sure why it's so precious to us, but it is, SO LAY OFF.

 Vinyl on reproduced found fabric.

So...if Kansans love their state, Missourians probably do, too?  Well, most other states don't require intense state history in their public school curriculum, but natives still get the warms and the fuzzies when they see their state elevated to art!  (Not everyone's motto is as awesome as ours.)

Vinyl on reproduced apron fabric. 

 Often, I have sold these pieces as gifts for people who have relocated.  An artist friend told me once that everyone wants to be homesick, and there might be something to that.

Hey, there, Iowa!

Iowans don't just live in the state that has MIMAL's* nose, but they also love a good, super long party that involves biking across the whole damn state.  Ragbrai just ended in Iowa and the addition of cycling to state pride is not only a great thing to learn about, but it lends itself to some fun visuals as well.

I'm not hardcore enough to be an Iowa cyclist.

Tomorrow I travel to Minnesota for the first time ever (!), and I took the opportunity to make some Minn-centric frameables.  This uff da business will be fun to hear from a native, unless my northern friends have all lied to me and this is a big joke. 

Vinyl on reproduced found upholstery fabric.

Today is the first day for marriage equality in Minnesota, and I'm pretty happy about it.  (Shout out to Rhode Island, too!)  At first I didn't know if making some celebratory pieces was pandering, or if it would be appreciated.  Survey says: do it.  So I did it.

Hand cut vinyl scraps on a book page, 4 x 5 inches.
Minnesota in all its rainbow glory!

I love being able to learn about the new places I visit and pass on knowledge to my browsers about other states in their region (I've had to explain Ad Astra Per Aspera a dozen times at least).  I'm looking forward to hitting the road for The Star of the North (Minnesota) and learning even more!

Just incase you were wondering, see me at Booth 71 in Loring Park, across the from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Saturday and Sunday.

*MIMAL: Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Lousiana
Our social studies teacher gave us this trick for learning the states bordering the west side of the Mississippi River...he's the dude who helps us learn!