End of an Era; the Watnot closes :(

Here's another blog entry that has nothing to do with my vintage clothing shop, but I spent so much time on it (for my myspace blog) that I decided to duplicate it here. The pictures all get side-cropped on eblogger; but you can see them full view -or bigger- on my flickr page if you're inclined (just click on them)--.....

More of my obsessions....

I drove up to the old Watnot Shop Auction Barns yesterday to a)make sure they were still there, and b) get a pic for the big blog I've been working on this week.


I was too late for the magic-hour light, but I decided to get out of the car and snoop around a bit; you know... peek into windows...look for stories....


'Til I realized my life was in danger:



Woops -- oh right---this was not to be one of my trespassing blogs....so like a good little scout I got the hell out of there.






At least 95% of what's in these pictures was acquired at the Watnot Shop.
Richard and Lois Tanner, who owned and ran the shop for over 25 years, cleaned out houses in Hudson, and old farmhouses for miles around.


What wasn't sold at the auction barn got put into storage or brought over to the shop on Warren street.

(I did manage to refrain from buying this vintage pudding.)

I've been shopping there for about 13 years, rarely going a whole week without at least dropping in to say Hello.

You just never knew when fresh old musty dusty merch was going to get churned up from the nooks and crannies. Mostly it would be same old stuff, but sometimes there would be a new cigar box of treasures on the counter, or a heap of old aprons, jar of buttons, or funky vintage $20 amateur masterpiece to pounce on...


...Or maybe a flyswatter for my collection...


But right after Christmas these signs appeared on the shop doors:
....


This is one of many piles of booty I got last week when the flotsam and jetsam was really getting churned up good for the big closing day. I have to admit, the blow of losing the Watnot was softened significantly by the final days of treasure hunting.


The ritual is to bring the stuff home, fondle it, sometimes research it on ebay, and then file it into my big trinket chest.






Just a few of the categories:
Dice and Jax:

Old Gumball Charms

Not to be confused with old celluloid gumball charms:



Marbles...



..Not to be confused with toy balls:




Old Cuff buttons:

Thimbles and sewing tools:


Rings...

(note the Chex Cereal Secret Agent Decoder ring and the Kool-Aid Treasure Hunt Ring.....)


Teeny tiny tintypes (these make great dollhouse portraits)

Tokens, Dog Licenses, Play Money, etc

Charm Bracelets

Religious Medals


Rosaries...

and Pocket Saints





and of course loads and loads of Hudson Memorabilia ---Hudsoniana?--- which will someday be bequeathed to Historic Hudson or the DAR museum.

The hula swizzle stick and
girlie sandwich stake are two of my most-favorite-ever finds. Both from "Joe's Hawaiian Paradise Lounge, Hudson, NY".
.... What I would give to travel back in time to visit a tiki lounge in Hudson.....hmmm

I wish Lois and Richard the best in their retirement, but I'm going to seriously miss the Watnot Shop.

I am Not an Animal!

I'm behind in my blogging.
I've been working on my New Year's resolution of cleaning up my clutter and getting my shit organized. Hardly worth blogging about but here I am...

The upstairs of my shop (where the public isn't allowed), has been a pretty scary Collyer-Brothers-Syndrome type of place for a couple of years now. That is, until this week, when I finally decided to tackle it.

Some would've looked at the mess and considered me at least borderline-disposophobic (google it), but really I'm quite sure I'm neither that messy nor compulsive.
I just hate waste is all, Is that so wrong?

Today I filled an entire contractor's bag with fabric remnants from my massive collection of extra "stuff". Just a baby step really---but this is indeed challenging, because (if you've read any of my previous blogs), you know I really can make use of some of the most obscure castoffs---eventually. It's kind of beautiful thing when you want to create something and all the materials are just lying around your house (if you can find them...).

Another recent baby step I took was throwing away the bag of hems I'd been collecting from when I hem people's pants in the shop. I had had this fantasy of someday making a big humble quilt made entirely out of Hudsonians' pants' hems. Long dark strips stitched together log-cabin style...it was gonna be so cool ...Then one day a little voice inside me just said "Oh Jesus Get Real, Lisa", and I threw them out. (The fantasy lingers, however).

It is a vicious cycle, though. For every successful purge there is always some sort of counterbalancing event that keeps the boxes piling up. An estate cleanout, or A gluttonous acquisition of cheap, justifiable goods --like recently, with the closing of the Watnot shop (more on this later) .

Sometimes a relapse comes in the discovery a new thing worth hoarding.
A few years ago someone dumped a huge buttload of old ceremonial Oddfellows' costumes on my doorstep. Mostly boring plain muslin robes --but I just couldn't throw them out . I decided to dye them all kinds of RIT dye colors, in hopes of making them more sellable ((and BTW I'm still selling them to this day)). At the time, though, I had no place to put them, and they sat stored in garbage bags in my basement for ages. To make matters worse, I became obsessed with all the fun colored lint that I was harvesting out of my dryer, and I became a lint collector.

Not long into the accumulation of lint I was vindicated, however, when someone was curating a local art exhibit about things that people SAVED.
My big jar of lint sat on a white pedestal in the middle of that gallery and was a huge hit.

more trash into treasure

Princess Mitzy, the Five and Diamond shop cat,
became very attached to the snowman costume last week.
Yesterday I had to choose between making a bed for her, or having her return to sleeping and shedding all over the merchandise again, once I put Frosty back into storage.




Meanwhile, back at home, I have a pile of non-biodegradable items always hanging in limbo, waiting for a second life; an old polyfill mattress cover, and some corrugated plastic political lawn signs (I'd been feeling especially pissy about what to do with these, and wondering how many were already in the landfill...).



Long story short, the princess was pleased.

The Gingerbread Boy Costume

When you're out strolling this Saturday at Hudsons Annual Holiday Winter Walk, don't forget to say hello to the Gingerbread Boy.


This is a costume I made here at Five and Diamond two years ago ---especially for the Winter Walk event.

Of course I can't say I designed the basic pattern--a cookie cutter did that-- but the construction details were all my own idea, and -if I do say so myself- my Gingerbread Boy costume is better than anything I can find anywhere in the google universe.

(for example, hmmm):

And --all for about $40 (try and rent one for that!).

First, I drew my pattern onto two layers of interfacing (I had a big roll of it lying around, but it probably would have only cost about 5-6 bucks). Then I got 3 yards of Brown felt (ack! Wal-Mart again!), and 3 yards of 1-inch-thick polyester batting from a local upholsterer. The interfaced cut-out became the pattern for the felt and batting cut-outs, and became the lining that keeps the itchy batting off the wearers skin.



Then I sewed all three layers together on the sewing machine, leaving about 1+ inch seam allowance. When the brown seam allowance is trimmed away, the batting becomes the edge icing!. (This part was a real bitch, however, because you need a lot of space to move a big costume like that through a sewing machine - I did it on the floor).

Then I sewed the front to the back at the head only. The rest of the costume gets attached together with plastic pricing-gun bullets. After that, it's just decorating; stuffed buttons and eyes made out of felt, attached with a glue gun...and of course an opening at the mouth so the wearer can see and breathe.

This costume turned out to be very flexible, warm and cozy.
Last year, I made a snowman costume in the same manner. Look for him too.





Dec 2 update. Me and my boys:
Special Thanks to Alex and Evan for doing such a great job in the costumes. I hear the gingerbread boy got chased all night...

Darn it!

The basic darning kit:



First, Don't let your holes get this big, as I did.


Circle hole with running stitches and place parallel stitches across hole. Stay loose; no knots, and don't attempt to close the hole up by bunching it together. This will only create bulk and thus Blisters!
Weave back through perpendicularly, alternating over and under, just like when you made those cheezy potholders in summer camp.

(In this case I was going for the red/grey sock monkey look.)


Fin.

inspiration

I collect old photos, especially if they include fabulous vintage fashion. One day I was in the Whatnot Shop here in Hudson and saw these girls peeking out from a big box full of old photos.
I was struck by the wild, asymmetrical deco polka dot pattern on the blouse of the girl in front.



As it turned out, the photo had been splattered with coffee. Hmph.

I bought the photo anyway, and used the idea for this pencil skirt I made last year.


The polka dots are reverse-appliqued and are added only when the skirt is worn and a friend commissions a new dot for it (thus making the skirt something of an ongoing work of communal art). So far the skirt has 2 on front and 2 on back.

Madonna Head to Toe

I would have preferred to be the "Blonde Ambition" Madonna for Halloween this year, but this costume was still fun and relatively easy to assemble. The combat boots I borrowed from my shop Five and Diamond Vintage, in Hudson NY ( keywords for you search engines out there--). The jacket, which I had to butcher somewhat, was $3 from Sals. I made the collar and cuffs from a remnant in one of my many rag bags--it was a pretty lucky near-match to the original "Desperatly Seeking Susan" Pyramid Jacket trim.



I did have to spend about 2 bucks in the craft department at (*gasp*) Wal-Mart to create the back of the jacket, and, had to hit the dollar store for jelly bracelets. Everything else (including about a dozen rosaries) I had lying around the house.
Oh wait aminute, that's not true. I also drove 25 miles to a special junk store across the river to buy exactly the right pair of shitty plastic 80s sunglasses for $1. But hey, it was a beautiful autumn day.