Vintage Hair Accessories

How many hairclips, or hair accessories, do you have that are truly vintage?? Are you a 'hairclip person'??

I see lots of repros around, lots of 'vintage-style' bits and pieces, but the real thing seems quite hard to find.

I haven't been able to offer any 50s/60s hairclips for sale for over 18 months now, so I was well pleased to snap this lot up.

Bows and flowers always seem to dominate. They must have been popular at the time!

The only question now is, which ones will I keep?

Continuing with the hair theme, I'll be announcing a major hairstyling challenge soon. Joy! Open to any bloggers who wish to participate, it'll be a real challenge, so girls here's your warning, start letting you hair get dirty NOW!!!

Fair Finds

Most disappointingly, not much. But that's often how it goes; when you don't have time to look you find heaps, and vice versa.

I did snap up this fabulous maxi for the bargain price of $10.

I also got a plain black belt and scarf to wear with my new 40s dress. I'll show them when I do an outfit post with the dress.

These 3 vintage plastic bangles cost a total of $10. One of the bonuses of being a seller is that one always gets a sizeable discount on everything without asking.

And that's it. That's all I bought. Ah well, you'll just have to wait until later in the week when I get another small tonne of vintage dresses. Le sigh!

Want a Fashion Bargain?

Well of course you do.

I do too.

That's why I'm going to be at Genie's Fashion Fair tomorrow. And trust me I'll be buying as well as selling. Oh yes I will.

On offer will be some fabulous vintage, retro and newish designer fashion, lots of accessories... basically anything fashionable and girly. It's held in a big hall and it'll be crammed FULL.

This time I've enlisted some helpers to mind my stall so I can SERIOUSLY SHOP!!!

If you're local, YOU HAVE TO BE THERE! This fair is still an undiscovered treasure, and we all know thats a hard thing to find these days.

The shopping is fantastic. Last time I bought a fabulous crinoline for $20, some awesome vintage plastic bangles for $5 each, designer perfumes for $8...and I hardly had any time to look around.

I'm going to be offering some fabulous bargains too- I'll have a $2 table, a $5 table, and a bargain-licious rack of vintage dresses plus heaps of vintage accessories, all new in stock.

Held tomorrow Saturday 28th August at the Downey Park Table Tennis Hall, Green St, Windsor, from 10am til 4pm.

I can't wait til Sunday, when I can show you what I've found!

Postage Shmostage

You know what I mean. You know the score. And you know the scam.

Because we've all been done, haven't we?

I buy and sell with people overseas quite a lot, so I've learnt through (occasionally harsh) experience what this postage deal really is, both to and from Australia.

Now, I can look at an item and I'll pretty much know what the packed weight will be and so how much the postage will be. And all that stuff about delivery times and flat rates and sea mail. Blah blah.

So I'll send the seller a cheeky message, both asking for a postage quote and telling them how much it'll be. (This actually works a treat, believe it or not, and has saved me heaps).

But I was looking at this little lovely earlier tonight, and got really annoyed.

A signed Czech glass dress clip. Shocking photos, but then you don't need good photos to tell you that this is a beautiful piece.

 

And the postage? A mere 9 POUNDS from France to Australia. Hello!

How would you approach this one?

If there's something you really want to buy and you just know the postage is overpriced, would you query it? Or just not buy?

And if you queried it, how would you phrase it?

Whereas this fabulous 50s table - this particular style is one I've always wanted - can be sent to Australia from the UK for 50 pounds. Expensive postage, yes, but hey, it's a table.

Personally I think the seller deserves to charge a bit more on postage if they're willing to pack something like that for international travel.

Do you agree?

A Vintage Motherlode

...is what I found at the sales today! I can't believe my luck!! I don't usually do this, but today I'm giving you the lowdown because I'm so excited about what I found.

To put it all in context, doing the sales here is hard work. To take it seriously, which I have to, it requires a year-round 4am start, (in the dark, obviously) and no advance notice of what sales are on. Unless I drive over to the other side of town at midnight on a Friday night to get an advance copy of the newspaper (which I never do because I think it's bad enough getting VB out of bed at 4am without doing it at midnight as well), I have to wait at the local shop until they get delivered.

Then it's a mad scramble to see how many sales I can be first through the door at. How quickly can I scan the ads, pick the 'right' ones to go to first, not miss any really good ones, deal with VB, navigate and drive at the same time. Don't read any negativity into my words here, I totally love doing this.

But today, after a couple of pretty crappy weeks, IT WAS MY TIME. I had one of those 'meant to be' experiences which are just so gratifying.

So, to start at the beginning, by 5am, I knew my competitors were out in force. Fair enough. There was a sale near my house which was the first to start and it sounded good; vintage clothing, antiques, retro glassware, blah blah. These were some of those people who only put the street name, and not the house number, in their ad, so you can't go and wake them up (which I never do and think is disgusting, but a lot of other dealers do it).

By 5am, there were 6 other cars that I recognised, cruising up and down, up and down this long street. Finally, after about 4 or 5 laps of the street, my friend in her car just ahead of me spotted some movement and located the right house. Turns out the selling guy had slept in- by the time he opened the garage door there were at least 8 of us in his driveway waiting for him. Unfortunately it wasn't worth waiting for, I bought one thing, a silky oak tea trolley, so I was pleased enough, but the clothes were crap and there was nothing else of note.

I then went to another couple of sales a few suburbs away which was a waste of time. I then hit a great sale, managing to pull up just as the guy was coming down his front stairs. Perfect! Turns out he and his wife were selling off their folks' stuff, so it was basically an unadvertised deceased estate. They had 'heaps of silky oak furniture' in their ad, and it was lovely too, but way too expensive. I soon gave up when, after offering double what I'd normally pay for a small wardrobe, the woman nearly slapped me. But then her starting price was $900. Hello! Hubby downstairs was way more reasonable. He gave me a good price on a few little retro bits and pieces, as well as this Kartell-style table and colour-matched 70s lamp. Please excuse my under-the-house background!

I also bought this awesome old sewing basket, which I LOVE

and am going to keep. Unfortunately the wife dictated the price for this one-$15- a hideous amount I say, but I just really liked it.

Next stop, I encountered more ridiculous prices.

A tin canister set for $160!?  BIG PASS. Then just around the corner I found a small tonne of jewellery, yay!

Then after another couple of busts, I HIT PAYDIRT. A sale that advertised 'a huge amount of vintage clothing and collectables', which started at 8am.

Even though 8am is considered a really late start here, the dealers still usually go through first thing, and most of the average punters are out by then too. It was 8.30 when I got there, and I thought for sure I'd missed out, cursing myself for not reading the ads more closely (I'd somehow missed this one). As mentioned above, I'd already run into heaps of other dealers and thought for sure they'd have beaten me to the best stuff. BUT NO! Coz look what I found!

60 vintage dresses!!!! Madness! Here they all are in my laundry, I've just spread a few out to show you.

 I'm still in shock, this is the most vintage I've ever found at a sale. I largely have private sources for vintage clothing, but it's such a nice bonus finding so much extra.

I also bought this Kartell-style trolley table

and a genuine Kartell white side table just like this but covered in (which didn't fit in the car so no photo)

And this set of Kartell nesting tables

A matching freestanding mirror

This late Art Deco chrome side table with acid-etched 'stag' on the mirrored top. As you can see, VB loves this one

a very kitsch 50s lamp with original ribbon shade. This one is rapdly growing on me...I may have to keep it

A fab atomic lighter, 50s post-war Japanese. No way am I selling this!

What I'd now like to know is; if you saw all these things for sale, which one/s would you have bought?

70s Fashion Fiascos

I picked up this lovely little book on ebay here a while ago and wondered if anyone else has seen it. You can tell by my stickers on the front, I sometimes take this to a fair for my buyers to read while they're browsing. But they are strictly NOT allowed to buy it.

It's not exactly heavy on text, but there's enough info to allow readers to identify the main trends and looks pretty quickly.

There's quite a bit of men's fashion too. About which I completely do NOT care.

I've always loved pantsuits, but even at my thinnest, I simply did not have the right shape and height.

Of course there's lots of maxis, which are becoming something of a saving grace these days :)

Big on the braids, aren't they?

Of course no self-respecting 70s fashion tome could be complete without a reference to platform shoes. I love the title they've used here, but the shoes shown leave a bit to be desired.

Ah, yes. 'There is Nobility in Fashion'. Nothing more to be said really, is there?

What is My tag

I've been tagged for the first time ever! The lovely Vix has tagged me to answer a few of those very deep and meaningful bloggy-type nosey questions that we see here and there.

Vix  is a serious fahion inspiration and has such a fabulous attitude to life, you should check out her blog. Even if you're not much into fashion, I tell ya, her fresh sunny outlook and fearlessness will turn you.

So, to the questions;

1. What is your dream job? I'm doing it!
2. What is your favourite item of clothing? My hats.
3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years' time? Business-wise, where I am now but more established and bigger. Personal-wise, I don't like to plan too much, as you never know what's just around the corner.
4. Who is your celebrity crush? John Corbett. Not even close.
5. If you could go on holiday anywhere in the world, where would you go? I'd travel around Europe doing all the big car boots, auctions and flea markets. Who wants to carry my bags? Ha ha
6. What made you start blogging? I was sick of talking to myself. Plus, I like to share my excitement.
7. If you had unlimited funds and could splurge on one item, what would it be? A house.
8. What never fails to make you smile? VB.

Are You Nautical Enough??

Looking to garner your opinions here, folks. What do you think of this brooch? Would you wear it? And how old do you think it looks?

Sometimes, an age description of 'vintage' just isn't informative enough! I find it's better to ask people.

Would you say it's 60s, early 50s, late 50s, or even earlier?

Saturday is Project Day

I didn't have much of a project day this weekend as I've been ill, so I thought I'd show you the best, easiest way to clean silver that I've found so far.

 It's quick, easy, relatively clean, requires almost no elbow grease and is kind to your silver too!

This method is suitable for both sterling silver and all types of silver plate, but is particularly good for electro plated items. Why? Because electro plated silver has only a very very thin layer of silver on it, and this is removed by commercial silver cleaners like Silvo.

I'll use a couple of my Lewbury silver plate pieces to demonstrate. Another advantage of this method is that it is safe to use with bakelite and doesn't leave tell tale residue in crevices like silver cleaners do.

And as you can see it needs a clean. I'd have preferred to have some filthy pieces to show a more drastic result, but for once this is the dirtiest silver I have.

Firstly, line a bucket with some alfoil, shiny side up.

 

Next, fill it up with very hot tap water and throw in a small handful of bicarbonate of soda.

Place the items to be cleaned in the bucket. It is important to ensure that each item is touching the alfoil.

If your items are too big to be completely submerged, that's ok, you'll just need to turn them around after about 15 minutes so all areas are cleaned.

The result after 20 minutes. If you look at the salt and pepper shakers on top, you can see quite a difference.

There's no set amount of time for this, but I've found through experience that 20-30 minutes is good.

When you take your items out of the bucket, rinse them under clean water. I then place them on a clean cotton tea towel or rag. And this is what your foil will look like- feral!

You'll usually find a whitish film on your silver. This will simply wipe off with your rag. Wipe all items thoroughly now. If there are some dirty spots remaining, give those areas a firm rub. They'll often come off, but if they don't, just repeat this process again.

Naturally, silver that hasn't been cleaned for a long time or is black will take a bit more work than my Lewbury; the worst silver piece I've ever had was an Art Deco teapot that was green and black-  I had to do this 3 times, then I used Silvo in a just a couple of spots to make the finish absolutely perfect.

Et Voila! My Lewbury babies back in situ, and looking one hell of a lot better.

Off with a Warning!

 

Chris, your goodies are on their way - with a special warning to all the postal workers who handle it! Because I know your luck with things getting broken :(

Not to worry anyway, for I am UBER-PACKER, ha ha ha

I hope everyone has a great weekend - I'm sick yet again so may have to lay low for a bit. Oh well!

And The Winner Is.....

Let me see....

Who will it be?

I hope these people don't expect me to let go of my chocolate bullets while I'm doing this. Because that's just not an option, ok?

Ah, here we go!

Vintage Christine, you're it!

Thanks so much to all those who entered.

Would You Wear These??

 

Reason I'm asking is, they're lizard skin. They're vintage, of course, and hail from the days when matchy-matchy was the only way to dress.

At the time of their manufacture, they'd have been the height of fashion and only a small step down price-wise from crocodile and alligator skin shoes.

I'd like to be able to compare them to a modern equivalent to highlight the prestige they'd have had, but, umm, as I never look at new stuff and rarely visit shops, I wouldn't have a clue.

 

I like these, and, yep, I'd wear them. But would you?

What is your take on vintage or modern furs and skins, and things made out of them??

Do you hate them? Or do you only allow yourself to buy them if they are vintage?

What are your principles when it comes to (as Sue and I call it) 'dead stuff'??

 

AND DON'T FORGET MY GIVEAWAY!! YOU ONLY HAVE ANOTHER 2 DAYS TO ENTER!!