Found It: Oklahoma City

So...I had a great time at the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts last week!  The week flew by (with the exception of the first day of the festival--Tuesday--when the high was 41 degrees and dropped throughout the day...let's forget about that one). 

I'm always interested in the architecture and visual evolution of the cities I visit, and OKC is no exception.  The dichotomy of new and old, shiny and weather-worn, was very prevalent there.  I really want to go back when I can take my bike and have time to pedal around town.  It's funny, since I use discarded vinyl in my work, that I'm so drawn to hand-painted signs that vinyl technology has nearly obliterated.  Conveniently, NPR's Talk of the Nation had a segment on this very topic today.

Here are a few shots from my way out of town the day after the show...

I drove by this everyday on my way to the show, on Robinson.

Love the wrench used as the I here.

I just noticed the dollar sign used for the dot in "bargain"...I should do that more.

South of downtown.

West of downtown.



On Park Place, north of downtown...abandoned.

 

Looking north.  Basically sums up the downtown area.  Old vs. new.

Found It: Old School Shirt

This little gem was hiding somewhere at mom and dad's house.  I don't think it's ever been worn--what a shame, to let that 100% nylon sit idle all these years.  Straight from the 1960s (mom and dad graduated in '69), I can proudly proclaim my Wellsvillian roots to the world in a hip new-old fashion.

Fashion show!



Look at that proud Eagle, struttin' his stuff like only a sweater-wearing avian can.

I wore this running all over the Johnson County side of the KC metro area doing errands because I'M GOING TO OKLAHOMA CITY ON MONDAY!!! I got called up from the waitlist and will be spending six days at the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts.  It's a great event, with 5,000 volunteers and delicious food.  So my house is in chaos...like my studio leaked out into the rest of the rooms.  Can't wait to tell y'all about it.  (I fall into an Okie twang immediately when I'm down there, so I thought I'd just go ahead and start early.)

Here's a pretty good depiction of my brain right now:

Have to do ALL THE THINGS.

Found It: Garden Decor

I've found lots of cool planters and outdoorsy decoration on my picking adventures. 

Let me share.

For plants or a nice flower vase/centerpiece.



Hang it!  For birds or plants or pixies or gnomes.



Someone in Texas purchased this before Easter...
perhaps for an Easter basket to collect eggs?  I hope.

It's incredible how well some of this stuff cleans up after decades in the dirt.

This has sold, but I love the old oil pitcher.  I hope it's donning someone's window sill with wild flowers.

You can see all the cool home decor items I've listed so far in The Retro Ranch's Etsy shop.

Made It: Dot Clocks

One of the easiest ways to use up my multitude of vinyl scraps is to make dot clocks.  It's not the easiest thing on my scissors callus, but that's the cost of your craft, I guess. 

I began by putting them in one of my original designs, the dino clock.  They added a nice rocky flavor and some much needed extra color.

4 x 4 mini dino clock

And then I thought, well, let's just throw these guys all over the place!


12 x 12 Yellow Super Dots clock

 Why not double those dots up and make a giant clock?


30" round...I added the color after the silver-only dots didn't sell after a year.

 And I do like a less random pattern once in a while.


8 x 8 Blue Dots Pattern

 Did you say TRIPLE up those dots?  Will do.

Bright and cheery 6 x 18 clock

And this is the before...if I'm organized, which I'm getting better about:

Like candy.

Dots: making people happy since the beginning of time.  (Not a pun!)

See more on my Etsy page or website!

Found It: Christmas Box

Inside an old envelope, that was in an old locker full of tools, that was in a falling-down shed, that is on a farm, sometimes you can find the most unusual things.  Sometimes they're just funny or sweet.  It never ceases to amaze me that the papers I find aren't just completely rotten or worm-eaten. 

So, in this envelope,

Mid-sized manila envelope.

there was a box


Cheerio cards by Cassino Studios in Salem, Mass.

And in the box was a Christmas card to my great grandparents from December 1942.

Their last name is misspelled.

I don't know who these people are, nor can I make out that last name, but they must have met them in California the summer they left to pick fruit.  Luckily, they didn't sell their farm and came back to Kansas when it became obvious that line of work wasn't profitable.

Wow, look how dressed up they got for their Xmas card picture!

I didn't know people had not-perfect handwriting back then. 
Makes me feel better about my lack of penmanship.



Both my great aunts worked for the telephone company, hence the Ma Bell swag everywhere.  Inside this envelope are some naughty jokes and cartoons that must have gone around during the Christmas party.  Too risque to share.  Honesty.


And for fun, a bunch of Christmas tags were in here, too.  Because, why not?  "The Friendship Book" is a collection of poems by various artists, maybe given as a gift at the party (my own narrative here), and there are some other poems copied into it, too, in pencil.  Kinda sweet.  Copywrite 1934 by the Cassino Co. with a pencil-written note dated 1936.

It's all jumbled together, and that's ok.  The thrill of the hunt! I'm not sure if I'll put the tags on my Etsy page or not, but I have time to think about it. 



Making It: Big Clock

So I worked on a big clock today.  Twenty-four by twenty-four inches.  The aluminum signs came with some weird discoloration on the surface, so I couldn't use my normal sanded technique on all of them this time.  That forced me to find large enough pieces of vinyl scrap to cover the blank for a background and not screw it up in process, which can be hard with only two hands and no tail.  (Monkeys use their tails for this kind of thing, I'm pretty sure.  It's like an extra hand, right?)
I decided to go with a shimmery navy blue with white Orzos.  Maybe it will match someone's curtains.



 

Cut and weeded out...ready for placement.

Pretty far into the process...took me as long to do this much as the last three inches.

Action shot...yes, that is Elliot and E.T. helping me out.



That shelf o' vinyl up there is about a third of my stock.

Sorry about the blurriness...but this is the finished face. 
Hopefully next week I can get some decent photos of the completed giant clocks.

Clocks in Progress

In preparation for a call off the waitlist for a six-day show in a couple weeks, I've been working on padding my inventory.  Last week I got my 24 x 24 inch aluminum blanks and some 6 x 18s, so I dove into cutting...So.Much.Cutting. 



This is as organized as I get.

With the biggies I get to play around with proportion, which is fun, but it's hard to decide on colors sometimes.  A giant rainbow clock is a big commitment for a person...doesn't necessarily match the curtains.  But all I can do is make something I like and hope someone else likes it, too.



Cut too many hot colors and got to use the leftovers on a smaller clock.



Playing around with a simple shape is one of my favorite things.

Keeping my fingers crossed for this show!  If I don't make the trek to the Oklahoma City Festival of the Arts, I will at least have a bunch of stuff for my scheduled shows this summer.  Better to be prepared and disappointed than unprepared and stressed out.  I'll be stressed out either way, though, don't worry.