Thursday, August 25, 2011

Vintage Chic: Old French Wire, Nordic Flair

















Reproduction mercury glass candlestick, $24 at The Sheep's Nest




So it’s today, and in the chokecherry this year:
the first leaves turn to ochre, there, by the open gate.

I grab the sweater you left on a chair, wrap it
around my shoulders, and – as I did for days last year

until I couldn’t keep up with the season – I pick
every single rusting leaf, each fading flower

and hide them in my apron pocket: their crush
clandestine against my belly.  It’s a simple gift

for you – for us – such an easy thing to do
for a few more days of summer.

from Fall by Laure-Anne Bosselaar




I purchased this heavenly wire basket from Stine Johnsen (Vintage Chic), who was paring down before her move to a new apartment in Oslo.  It’s old, from France, and has the loveliest rusty patina.  It was only about $40 USD after shipping, too, and she takes PayPal. 



Photo: Stine Johnsen, Vintage Chic
Enviable caddy.  Love the contrast between hard patinated wire and fragile old glass.




Photo: Stine Johnsen, Vintage Chic
Stine's work-in-progress Oslo apartment.  
She and her boyfriend are doing the renovation themselves:
I'm thrilled with every post.



Photo: Living



Stine’s in charge of social media at Living, a Norwegian furniture retailer.  Check out her Living Blog and Facebook page.  It’s her first job as a young interior design/journalism graduate and she shares “the latest news, trends, and inspirational pictures” and does it well.  
(Pages translate automatically if you use Google Chrome as your browser).



I visit her blog Vintage Chic regularly…not only is her home’s renovation fascinating to watch, but she divulges all the European magazine photos that drive me crazy and inspire me to no end.  
May Stine do so for you as well.



Until next time, stay shabby!



Sharing with:

White Wednesday at Faded Charm
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop at Katherine's Corner

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Jazz Up A White Flower Windowbox



Palest lilac verbena and white violas in a cloud 
of euphorbia graminea “White Frost”



I am always drawn to the daintiest flowers, even though they peter out in August from the heat. Cutting back and extra water will reward you with lovely fall blooms, or a few 6” pots of white mums can take their place.






This year I thought I’d add textural interest to my white flowered windowbox with foliage plants.   Purple and silver are so nice with white.   I used purple ‘color echoes’ for interest.   The purple ipomea batatas ‘Blackie’ (Sweet Potato Vine) is so dark it appears black, and the contrast with white is heaven.






Sedum (sedum cauticola lidakense), with its lovely blue leaves, can go in the ground in the fall and resurrect itself next year.  Its flowers unfortunately are red: pinch off when in bud so only the foliage continues to grace your windowbox.  The oxalis (the white flowering four leaved clover “Shamrock” plants in the markets before St. Patrick’s Day) leaf has a lovely burgundy reverse, a subtle purple color echo.





Violas are my favorite windowbox flower; this year these cuties are also a purple color echo. 
Silver helichrysum petiolare (Silver or White Licorice Plant) softens the edges.







Few flowers are charming as alyssum in a windowbox.  It does what a bit of old lace does for a surface in the home.





I’m thrilled to share this sweet little watercolor of my studio (including my windowbox) painted by Jeanne Long.   She wrote:

“I'm sending it to you so you know how much your work has brought yet another person enjoyment.”

Jeanne belongs to the Minnesota Artists group, and her blog In A Fresh Foursquare depicts her charmed life in a sweet early 20th century home and its environs.   Her ability to capture it all in watercolor sets it apart.

Thank you, Jeanne, for the gift of art.



Until next time, stay shabby!


Sharing with:



White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Cottage Flora Thursdays at Fishtail Cottage









Saturday, August 6, 2011

Making Your Own Church Candleabra: Some Practical Advice







I do not know which to prefer,
the beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after

-from
Thirteen Ways
of Looking at a Blackbird by Wallace Stevens



I’d be lying if I said the first time I saw an antique church candelabra in Jeanne d’Arc Living I loved it and wanted one.  They’re dark…blackened brass or bronze, no…crystals...or anything pretty on them.

Issue after issue, Scandinavian blog after Scandinavian blog, I quickly appreciated what they did in a space.   Strong, graceful, dark ‘notes’ in white environments, and, tell me one can’t use more places to burn candles.  


Jeanne d’Arc Living, March 2011 
"Belle Blanc: A Love Affair With White", 
text and photos by Bianca Aurich for Jeanne d’Arc Living









I wanted one.  Desperately.  So, I learned the Danish word 'kirkenstagel' and went to the web shops and dealers that advertise in Jeanne d’Arc Living.


And immediately learned a tiny one with one lily, for example, was $500 USD.   And they didn’t take PayPal (some never have heard of it), and demanded a bank wire with a service fee of $40 on my end alone.  The PayPal issue was no longer of consequence:  I wanted one with 5 – 7 arms, but that was coming up on various sites for prices like, oh, $15,000 USD. 

Making one was the only alternative.

Now, this is isn’t an ‘exact’ tutorial.   Think of it as a roadmap.   I’ll share stuff that worked, stuff that didn’t, and hope you, gentle reader, will do the same if you tackle a project like this.

It helps if you’re the sort of person that doesn’t mind a reproduction or somewhat awkward, homemade 'edges' to objects in your home.  The saving grace of course is you made it yourself.   And that’s always nice.

Raw Materials:

A ‘base’: existing candelabra that can be converted into a church candelabra.
Old tin ceiling tin without paint, or sheet metal for fabricating leaf and lily shapes.
Parts of second-hand store candle holders in shapes of leaves, wheat, grapes, lilies (these are Judaeo-Christian symbols).

Work Materials:
(If you don’t have heavy wire cutters (they cost $15, a lot of money for one project if you’re never going to use it again) ask the hardware store if they can cut your metal rod to length.) 

22 gauge wire
Jewelry maker’s wire cutters
Jax Pewter Black metal tarnishing solution ($12.25, but the Hazmat delivery fee is $50)
Flat black spray paint
Clear Strip spray-on paint stripper (if paint or lacquer is on your base piece)
Tin cutting scissors
Heavy wire cutters
10 gauge wire, bailing wire, or coat hangers
3/16” weldable steel rounds (available at your local hardware store)
Metal drill bit – about $2
Drill
Dowel or rolling pin for rolling clay
Knife for cutting clay
Lily flower template

Craft Store Materials:
Air-dry clay such as Creative Paperclay



Look for existing candelabra with the right ‘bones’.
  1. Study pictures of old church candelabras to get a feel for what they include.
  2. Stretch, re-bend, or add metal to your base and wrap tightly with wire.
  3. Cut and wire metal lilies, leaves, wheat, grapes.
  4. Tarnish and add black paint (if necessary).
  5. Create and wire white lilies.







  6. A fifty cent 'thing' I found at a yard sale became the bobeches.
    I combined a pair of candelabras I purchased for $14 total from Saver’s, a Goodwill-type store, with a $2 length of 3/16” weldable steel from the hardware store.
    Lilies are easy to make:



    Like anything, you get out of it what you put into it.  This is not a weekend craft, but if you're up to the 
    challenge I think you'll be happy with what you create.
    Uninterested in making anything yourself?  Find an artist at Betterfly.

    My gentle readers, thank you for all your comments on my church candlesticks -- I’m glad if I gave you hope if you want to make them yourself.  But if I didn’t, here’s a link Tonje Gronvik of Norway generously shared with me.
    Landstil carries excellent House Doctor "Kirkestake” (church candelabra) reproductions that retail for around $300 USD.
    Until next time, stay shabby!

    Sharing with:
    Get Your Craft On Tuesdays at Today’s Creative Blog 
    White Wednesday at Faded Charm