More goodness

Sooooo, if your saw my post below you know I stumbled on a couple dress forms at a sale last weekend. I managed to repair the one (her neck was torn and the block, and batting gone from her neck) and let Terri have her, she was picked up Tuesday. I have to say I did a great job (Terri could not tell wear I had done the repairs, and I foolishly did not take any photos, duh!)

On Monday the lady I bought them from called me (I had given her my number when I wasn't sure I was going to buy the other dress form, which of course I finally did). She had another one!! Oh yeah with the cage. She was not in great shape but was I interested in her? Of course, so we arranged to meet and after hemming and hawing I decided to take her. She was in bad shape, her cage was bent and needed attention (Stevens friend welds and is repairing it for me,Thanks John!), and she had no neck, well she had most of the base but the material was gone and someone had mercilessly duct taped her neck and arms up. Have you ever tried to get duct tape sticky gooey gunk off? No fun.

I spent quite a lot of time online checking and calling trying to find replacement parts (she needs a new cap and finial), but she is old and most are not made in the U.S. anymore. I talked to a real nice guy named Joe at "Manne-King" and he explained how they come assembled. How the cages and arm covers are made to specifics for that model. Yeah you can possibly get someone to make theses pieces for me but the cost would be dear and to be honest you would be better off buying a new one. I suggested to him there may be a market for parts and he said he will definitely consider doing that. He did carry some neck blocks and finials though. However he did not have my size. I thanked him and continued looking.

So I was surprised to get a call from him Wednesday saying while cleaning in the back storage they found a cap and finial that had been damaged. They replaced it but if I wanted the damaged one (and if it fit) he would sell it to me at a discount. So I measured, and it looks like a fit! He is sending it to me. It should arrive this week (along with her repaired cage). I cannot wait to put her together.

Again I didn't take any before photos (duh, what's wrong with me?) to focused I guess to think about it. Anyway I cleaned her up as best I could fixed and recovered her neck. Even after staining the cloth, it was a bit too bright next to the older tape stained fabric, so I played with inks and stains. You really can't tell, well maybe if you studied her up close for a bit, but overall not bad.

Not too shabby a repair job. the hardest part was finding the right weight of muslin and matching the color. You can still see the tape on the cap. But that will be gone soon!

I was chatting with my friend yesterday and we are seriously thinking about doing a material collage, smash/vintage journal exchange. We had both bought the book "Layered, Tattered, and Stitches" (okay she says I am a bad influence. I bought the book and another and showed them to her. So she ordered them too) and were so admiring all the lovely collage pieces in it, and were getting inspired and fired up about trying some of the ideas, but with our own spin.

Today Steve and I decided to check out a couple garage sales and a local collector/flea market sale near our home. I found a very cool reproduction radio/stereo. It is very 40's and works, not bad for $4.00. Then I saw these below in a bag. They were all separately tagged, so I was looking through the bag when the vendor looked at me and said "you want the bag, take it all for $10.00". Well, hello, and yeah! They are great pieces and these buckles are sizable. I keep thinking how cool one would be, say on a vintage collage journal? Hmmmmmmm......

I will be hard pressed to use the others. I will have to put them aside for my own projects (my journal cover), but what a great find. It made my day!

***Guess what arrived today? Yep, the cap and finial, and they fit!!!! (4:55pm)