Friday, September 18, 2015

Finally Beginning Happy Fall!

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Beginning Fall on the Front Porch

Good Morning, it's finally FALL!

Slowly I have been starting to do Fall as temperatures have finally gone down in Chicagoland. Yesterday was spent in the garden, pulling up done plants, 
and trying to find our pumpkins and squashes. 
Not the best year--all my pumpkins are very small,
except for two FairyTales (one in a tree) which are not even a bit orange yet.



So last June, I found this NEW great greenhouse garden frame for $4.00 at a craft store discount aisle,  I showed it in an early post here: Somethings Old….
 I thought this would be great for a REDO vignette for Fall, with the rich rust coloring on the metal.


I wanted to use different things this year on the refurbished porch, 
I thought this would be a great addition for cool Fall nights, an OLD kerosene lantern.
Here is a closeup of my Grandfather's watchman's lantern cleaned up from an early post:


I confess the garden-shed frame was tucked away behind the settee on the porch all summer. The porch was a mess, undergoing new railings and stairs---with NEW 'out of stock' materials since May---holding up the whole show for almost six months--that's a YELP story for another day.



Still not 100% done, the porch is ready to style a bit and use now.
 We bought the larger pumpkin at the local grocery store, as ours were too small. 
The gourds are from years past; dried and left natural grown in our own, GREEN, garden. 
 Everytime I walk by, I fiddle with the gourds, and occasionally 
find a walnut stored in there by one of our local squirrels.
Do they really think the corner of the stairs and my Fall vignette is a hiding place?
 I did spray the gourds with some Johnson's Wax-Pledge when they were fully dry to enhance the color and seal in the dustiness of the gourds.


Here's our Zinnia's--oops we found out they were Sunflowers in July. I picked one of the dried blossoms and used it for the 'GREEN' element in the front.
Another sprig of smaller sunflowers was put in the back. 
Adding a few pinecones and that is pretty much it. 
I'm sure this will change when my Fall bins are delivered by hubby, from upstairs in the garage.


The craft wood Scarecrow was from a painting project I taught at Michael's back in the 1990's. I taught free-hand painting without patterns---back then, which was out of the norm. 
Somewhere I have a photo  of 14 of these all painted differently by the students.
This scarecrow is a favorite of the Grandbaby as the arms move up and down. He has long since lost his "Pumpkins for Sale" wired sign. My gosh, he is OLD and vintage now.


A straw hay bale waits over in the corner with the houseplants, for a pumpkin or two or three--
they are really small!
The pensive angel tile was a NEW rescue from 'HomeGoods' two seasons back.


The one plant that was very happy outside this summer was my Rosemary--I'm wondering where on earth I am going to keep it in the house this winter. It smells so good.


Here's a  view of the entire seating area--with a lightweight throw REDO
 for those cool nights-perfect color for the porch from GoodWill-$2. 
I added smaller mums in the summer planter box.
 Granpa's OLD lantern and a stoneware candle pot from my potter days, probably from the 1980s finish off the table top. A REDO antique crate serves as a table between the chairs. 




So Finally---beginning Happy FALL

from my front porch to yours.

Sharing at these great blog parties :



And Always, Thanks for stopping by, 

Sandi





All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle










Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Junkin' Finds with a touch of *Fall*

Fall leaves sprinkled on 5 Libbey OLD Fashioned glasses-1960s 

These have gold and some GREEN sprinkled on them. Haven't seen this pattern before. 
They have the cursive L on the bottom, definitely Libbey.



GREEN Depression glass oval bowl, perfect.

I will have to research this---identifying OLD depression patterns can be tedious, but I will...or maybe make a present with these, below.

 

 GREEN, These two small wines have leavesy on the also and are unusual, marked Glen, Colorado.
 Gilding is still almost perfect, these will be a gift for a friend.  
A small pocket mirror, unmarked silverplate or sterling, will go on Grandma's dresser for the Grandbaby to look at herself in.
 Going to have to polish hard on this one, but perfect for little hands.

 Notice the tablecloth, 90" round hopsacking, rusty red, NEW never been used...$2 and a keeper for  my huge kitchen table.

The compass is unusual, almost looks to be OLD celluloid, totally unmarked will have to do an 
item search on this. The type style makes me think at least as OLD as the 1950s, perhaps much older.


 

 Two really nice NEW faux artichokes. Look to never have been used, perfect for Fall decor.


I confess to a horrible addiction to OLD tins. Any kind of tin, especially the British ones. 
This is sweet, not in perfect condition, bits of rust on the knob...I don't care, 25 cents.

Super deal of the day! 

Two frames with triple mattes around vintage prints. 

Will save these for my bedroom REDO. Oh...10cents each...honest-ta-goodness!

 

 Nice bunch of OLD silverplate, simply marked Community.

8 Soup spoons but only 2 teaspoons...12 knives, 12 forks, 8 salads, and a few serving pieces. I may use this to supplement my silver and then try to find the teaspoons.  ONLY $5.00


 Cute OLD silver tray on feet. Small with some brass showing through--or is it GOLD, lol.

 Early in the week, I bought a Vintage Barbie Horsie, all by itself.

Sunday, I found the blanket, curry comb, brushes, riding hat, spats, sponge brush, buckets, pitchfork 
and SADDLE. Also a Few clothes and accessories for Barbie/Ken. Huge bag of goodies--50cents.
I have been collecting furniture and parts for a NEW Barbie Dollhouse 
we are going to make for Christmas.
Now we have to add a stable....golly!


 Very cute Christmas bird cage---in a wall bag from Savers this week.

But will be perfect for the Barbie House! 
Barbie, of course will have excellent, OLD< NEW<GREEN< REDO taste!


I loved this, Botannical print all the way around, and some light gold here and there. 

I may REDO and antique this up a bit more...
Love the fact it is wide but not deep. 
Will end up next to my chair. (I thought when I bought it, would be a container for florals, 
but it's really just too practical and pretty).



OLD Garden Globe in Clay. 

 I love architectural details, so I will find a place for this somewhere in the yard. 
It's quite big and heavy, but needs some mold on it. 
Buttermilk sprayed on it a few times, and it will age and be GREEN in no time. 

It was fun getting out in the junkin' world, been stuck at home way too much this summer. 
And Fall garage sales are always great---sellers are motivated, 
to get their garages clean for winter here in Chicagoland.

Linking to these great parties:
Vintage Inspiration Party


And always, thanks for stopping by, 

Sandi


All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

Friday, September 11, 2015

Grannys' Bowls: Stoneware, salt-glazing and creamware identification.


First Good Morning, grab a cup, and sit for a chat.
The Chicago weather is finally starting to give us some cooler temperatures, 
but with that is Rain, rain, Rain!~~~after Heat, heat Heat!
While it was so hot, I cleaned my kitchen (even the top of the FRIDGE) and thought about 
what to share, as I was up there and it was all sparkling clean.
So here are OUR very OLD Grannys' bowls, 
both my husband's and my Granny's are represented here.


oldnewgreenredo
Normally two of these are on top of the double-oven stove, but I grouped them here for you.
I was a potter for thirty years so I'm going to chat about the origins of these bowls. 
So you may learn more than you wanted to know. 

oldnewgreenredo


Beginning on the left is probably the OLDest bowl, (1870-1890) the brown one. 
Of course this one has already wandered over to my soon-to-be Fall setting beginning 
on the white cabinet from the cookbook move.
The top of the white cabinet's occupied with ripening tomatoes, just about the last though. 
The rest of the tomatoes will become green tomato relish.

oldnewgreenredo

This is hubby's great-grandmother's from a farm in Kewaunee, County in NE Wisconsin.
The classic shape is unmarked, and I would venture to say it's early Macomb pottery,
 glazed with an Albany slip. The dark brown, Albany clay came from the Albany, NY area.
 Those mills closed in the 1990's, but I still have a 50# stash in the basement.
Many of the brown topped jugs with the gray bottoms were made in the Macomb, Illinois area. 
The bowl could also be Western, Monmouth, Buckeye or 
any one of a number of the early potteries from that area. RedWing in Minnesota
 also produced similar products with similar type clays and glaze mixtures.


oldnewgreenredo

 Unmarked, but notice the bare foot on the bottom of the bowl showing the gray stoneware clay, and the smear in the brown almost to bare on the side (the green is my reflection in the shiny brown glaze.

oldnewgreenredo
The rim shown at the bottom is a clear glaze over the gray clay body, the pinky-beige barespot is a result of fuming gases on the gray bare clay from the dark brown (Albany) slip glaze burning off some iron oxides (rust colored) in the kiln. These utilitarian wares were mass produced and never perfect, but it is nice to know why somethings happened. Kiln atmospheres do funny things to pieces, that is why the wide ranges of color and textures in every kiln load.
oldnewgreenredo
Salt-glazing occured when salts were thrown into the kiln at a high temperature which vaporized landing on the exposed clay areas of the wares, creating a clear glaze of sodium (salt) silica (clay). This was a cheap and easy method of glazing pottery,
as it could all be done in one firing and with less labor.
The brown stoneware is a perfect REDO with the fall gourds and textures in it.

oldnewgreenredo
Next the Blue rimmed creamware bowl at the top of the picture. 
This is a standard 8 ovenware bowl, from the Ohio Valley according to the clay color. Potteries such as McCoy, Roseville, Brush and Watt potteries all used yellow/tan Ohio Valley clays. The upper Ohio Valley had over three hundred potteries during the 1800's and the lower Ohio Valley perhaps more. Utilitarian wares were clear glazed over colored slip (clay) decorations such as these blue and white stripes.

oldnewgreenredo

The bottom of my great grandmother's bowl says Ovenware 8 Made in U.S.A. 
Probably pre-1930, and maybe very early McCoy.


oldnewgreenredo


The large mixing bowl on the right is my grandmother's mixing bowl and is most often attributed to McCoy pottery. It's about 12" across and is from the 1930's. The body is creamware, although I believe some lighter clay has been added to the Ohio yellow clay body. 
It is definitely from the 1930s from the coloring on the stripes of pink and robin's-egg-blue.



oldnewgreenredo

 Nice large size perfect for mixing huge batters or kneading breads.

oldnewgreenredo

You can see the script letters in 'Oven Ware' dating it later, and the 12 designating the size, also says Made in U.S.A.  The color in this picture is a bit off, shows more gray than creme-yellow.
 I remember my Gramma mixing up three poundcakes or
 loaves of buttery bread at a time in this bowl.
Sadly it has the beginnings of a crack now---It's 80 some years old, so I only use it for display.

oldnewgreenredo
Back to this bowl in the front, not sure who this belonged to. My mom picked up early American stoneware pottery: bowl, crocks, pitchers, salters, and jugs. This one is unglazed on the outside with molded impressions on the sides and bottom, and glazed on the inside with a white/cream glaze. 
This bowl is about 6" across and a bit of a mystery.

oldnewgreenredo


Despite all the molded information on the bottom of this bowl, 'Trade Mark Registered US Patent Office', I was unable to narrow down the maker. Potteries were allowed to trademark their wares by registering with the US Patent Office after 1842. From the flourish script style of this piece, I would place this late 19th century or early 20th.

oldnewgreenredo

 However the name is not clear, possibly Savillo or either ...avillo or ...aville, ...avitto,  or ...avitte with a script first letter that is nearly bare, could be an H, S, G, D ??? the figure above could be an eagle or a top of a squash/pumpkin. A worker was simply too enthusiastic 
sponging the bottom and hid its source forever, unless someone can spot this.
Potteries came and went fast before the largest factories took over, as our country grew.

oldnewgreenredo

On unmarked stoneware and creamware utility pieces, the most important step to finding out the maker is the clay color and texture. The type of glaze, shape and design will help to determine age. For instance gray and brown stoneware fell out of favor early in the 20th century, 
when lighter bodied clays began to be used.

A source for basic identification is this link: American Pottery.

I hope you learned a little something NEW.
But, our OLD Grannys' bowls are simply, priceless. 

Always, thanks for stopping by,

Sandi


I will party at the following Links: 


  

 
All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle










Saturday, September 5, 2015

Welcoming Autumn!

Some of my personal Fall photos.



Kewaunee County Wisconsin, Hwy42 

Brilliant smiles!

Our backyard garden produce

I smile~~while cleaning our garden's bounty.


Chicago Botanical Gardens, Glencoe, Illinois


Crabapple trees loaded with fruit,
 critter food for the long Chicago Winter.

Walking the forest preserves and parks. 
Birch trees beckoning from the end of a path.

Lakewood-Lake County Forest Preserve-Illinois
'
Leaves falling and thinning
 the growth at the edge of the marsh.


Chippewa River, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Sunlight kissing gold and lipstick red leaves.

Lakewood-Lake County Forest Preserve-Illinois

Nature's seeds ready to take wing on the next breeze.

Building a natural centerpiece from our yard.


Pumpkin and naturals for a centerpiece.


Vintage coffe pot and porcelain cup/saucer
Ready for a pumpkin latte.


Lakewood-Lake County Forest Preserve-Illinois

Geese resting on sleek waters, waiting for their long migration.


Lakewood-Lake County Forest Preserve-Illinois

Dusk seeping into the lake from cinnamon clouds.

Enjoy Welcoming Autumn.

Always, thanks for stopping by, 

Sandi

Linking with these great parties:

Finding Fall


Sandi@BarberryLane


All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle