Papier Mache Trays and Tole Trays

When it comes to papier mache trays, I can't ever seem to pass them up.  I've collected them for years.  In fact, I have NO idea how many I have.  They are from the Victorian era, and tend to be from England.  There are alot of tole trays out there, but they always struck me as "early american" as I would see them in Colonial Homes magazines in the 80's.

The papier mache trays obviously can have more damage, as they are not as sturdy as tole trays, but sometimes I come across a tole tray that is decorated like a papier mache tray.  Such was the case when I found my $25 treasure:

A rusting tole tray....

So, if you collect tole trays, please tell me how to deal with the rust.   I'm basically not into restoring anything I purchase, so I need a little help here.  I don't want to to wind up on my dad's farm sitting in a pile of scrap metal.

I purchased this ignoring all those people who advise you to purchase "quality, condition & content".  OK, this has quality and content at one point.  I figured I couldn't go wrong for the price.  It could also wind up very high on a wall somewhere and not be near a discerning eye  (my husband).

One of my favorite trays is this lovely coffee table.  It is papier mache:

Papier Mache tray on a stand

The tray is quite large.  It works very well as a coffee table

Of course, using antiques as a coffee table includes the risk of having your 80 year old guests place cups of coffee on it when they get up before you do.  Yikes.   This tray was lacquered at some point, but some of the lacquer is flaking off.  I don't like to dust this tray because I'm afraid some of the paint will come off.  It doesn't have a maker's mark on it, but if you're on the hunt for a quality piece of papier mache, Jennings & Bettridge did fabulous work.

Some of my other trays are:

Red papier mache, more of a chinoiserie style.

Trays are great on top of tall furniture

The tray below is the smallest one I own.  It came with a larger tray, not sure where I've got that one tucked!  I like to put trays behind items that I want to accent.  In this case, the pink creamer would have disappeared to if it didn't have the tray behind it.  That brings up another point:  a black accent in any room almost always works.

Small papier mache tray with ornate border

I have several trays with mother-of-pearl inlay.  They are really fun too.  You do see alot of trays with dogs painted on them, but many of them are old trays that got a recent "facelift" to make them highly desirable.  So be careful.  They're cute, you just need to know what you are purchasing.

Tray behind stove breaks up boring wall of granite.

 There are many other tole object that you can collect that aren't trays.  Check out the tole painting on my lovely birdcage.

I couldn't resist this box with the birds and flowers on it.  It's a great way to stash things.  I have paint chips in here.

Victorian theme tole box with birds and flowers

Enjoy the reset of the week.  Even though it is over 80 degrees in the northwest, it feels a bit like fall.  Things are starting to wind down in the garden.  Maybe I will work in the garden tomorrow.  Or maybe I'll just sit outside with my morning cup of coffee.  While I can---it's not raining yet.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you have some advice for me on how to clean up the rust on the tray!

Friday Coffee Break with Antiques and an Early Needlepoint

My love of textiles has new things showing up at the house...  New to me, that is.  This piece arrived a few weeks ago and is my new favorite treasure.   It is a wonderful needlepoint with incredible detail.

It a period piece, dating from the early 1800's.   I show it sitting in my living room, so you can see the how wonderful the colors are.  There is something about an old textile.  The colors are so vibrant even though it is covered with 200 years of grime.

It's not perfect, it has been restitched onto linen, thank heavens somebody rescued this rather than just tossing it out, or cutting it up.  Again, it's the patina that an antique has, it adds character to a room.

 Don't you love the couple in period clothing, with all sorts of animals around them.  I just love the way these old pieces stitched the background with layers of green.  It seemed to be a common technique that thankfully kept some color.  There are pieces that I find that didn't keep alot of color, the old vegetable dyes can fade terribly.  Think about a piece left across from a window for 100 years or so.  My chintz drapes are faded to nothing after 30 years.

Look at  the details.  There's a snail to the right, a bird on a branch... love that cow!

The back even has a scrap of wallpaper attached. 

I will have to check my stock of old frames.  You know you are in trouble when you have a "frame closet".  (Oh dear.   I fear one day I will be featured on "hoarders".)   I will hang it up unframed for now--it is important to keep unframed items safe from damage.   On the wall it won't fall over, get bumped into, or hit by a vacuum cleaner.

This morning my husband comes home with a Starbucks for me (isn't he nice to me!) and says we have an estate sale in the neighborhood.  We jump in the car and head over...and find a lovely sale.  Not alot of stuff, but just enough to have some fun.

Lately I seem to be fascinated with fashion prints from 1800-1820.  They tend to be Ackermann or des Modes.   I found a few at the sale today.   

Hand-colored print of two brides.  The dresses are large, but note the date is 1861.
That is too Victorian for me.  However they were in a stack of earlier ones, so they came home with me.

The prints below are a bit more what interest me.  The skirts are slimmer.   These two below are more ornate than the Ackermann prints, but are a very nice size and color.

The print below looks more like a regency fashion print.  Did you know that these would be printed up, and then there was a cottage industry of women who hand colored these at home.  You sometimes see variation of colors from the same magazine issue.  Quality control was a bit of an issue.

Doesn't this have more of a Jane Austen (1775-1819) feel to it,  it is dated 1794.  Charming.  I love the lemon gold color frame.

To think, I wasn't expecting a single estate sale because it is a holiday weekend.

Have a great weekend.  Go antiquing for a few hours.

Who can resist an old book?  I can't.

Forget about your problems and go rummaging.  You never know what you'll find.  It will give you something to wonder about.  Research your new find.   Have fun!

Summer Antique Finds

This summer I've not done much blogging.  Reading or writing....  That sounds like heresy to write on a blog, but my life has been so hectic, that  I feel my days are not my own.  I'm trying to take back control, so here I am!

Last week I decided to wax my porches.    They are travertine, and I wrote about how we installed them ourselves here.

My favorite stone sealer with wax is by Bellinzoni, Deep Color Enhancer.   After I put it on, I buff it with the car polisher. (One of these days I need to buy a floor polisher.)

Here you can see the life that the enhancer adds.

The back patio - all done!  Waiting for furniture.   I'm not sure what I am going to do back here.

The front porch is where I like to hang out in the morning.  

The fountain is in the center of the courtyard, surrounded by Molineaux roses.  This is my view when I drink my coffee, and sit out here with the laptop.

 There are times when you can't see the leaves for all the roses, but this is a nice bloom for August 28.

I love the color of the roses when they first open.  They are so bright, and then fade to a softer yellow as they age.

This summer I have gone to an antique show, a few antique shops, and shopped on-line.    There's no rhyme or reason to what I purchase, but thought I'd share the little finds, the life of a collector.

It's never to early to think about christmas decorations.

This little Napoleon will look great on a christmas tree!

 The objects below were random purchases.  I don't have a collection of miniature portraits, but I loved the girl in this one.  The faience lamp is for a bathroom counter, my pink bathroom.

I think she's my favorite.  I know the frame is beat up, but you can't pass up the lovely girl.
 You can always find another frame for her.

I ventured out to an estate sale, and came home with a pair of lovely early 1800's sheraton chairs.  I love the morning glory vines painted on them.   I think they will become "looking chairs", not "sitting chairs", as one of my 1820's italian chairs broke last weekend when a very nice young man, who weighs a bit more than he should, sat in it.  At least all his friends teased him when it broke.  I will put a stack of books on the chair,it discourages use if I think it's too fragile.

Lovely sheraton chair.  I love the rush seat.

Sometimes you can protect a chair by giving it an occupant.  This little guy is
wearing lederhosen my brother used to wear. Imagine getting picked on
at school because you wore lederhosen....

 The next two items are handpainted terra cotta plaques from England.  One has some sheep on it, so my family understands why they came home with me.

 Well done, I love these little paintings.

The plaques look nice in the living room.   I have needlework and embroidery mixed in with the paintings, but it all seems to work.   The regency silk embroideries are some of my favorites to collect, and have more of an impact grouped together. So my rooms get layered with whatever was purchased most recently.  It's not a strategy I would advise, but I have to find things a home right away, so the family won't notice my acquisitions, hahah. (On a winter rainy day, I will probably take them all down and put them in a different order...)

My next chore is to replace some lavender that died in my new lavender bed.

I raised the lavender up a bit, they don't like wet feet.  I thought this might help them survive...

I'm off to my next task, working on my daughter's wedding.  What a lot of work for a few hours!  So far I've finished the "save the date" cards, a 1781 trade card, worked on their wedding website, and have begun lining up vendors.

Isn't this the prettiest walk a bride could have?   I love the gated garden!

We came to measure and walk the venue, Villa Montalvo, last week.   What a romantic setting!   Wish me luck, I'm off to spend an insane amount of money (for me) on a couple of hours.  I tried to get the couple to elope, but they want a wedding!

Antique Teapot Flower Arrangements at a Wedding

This project has been a long time in the making.  My niece came up with the idea of using antique teapots for her flower arrangements at her wedding reception.  This of course had to involve me because who else would she go to but her obsessive antique-collecting aunt?    We didn't use antiques entirely (although we probably could have), because she was panicked at the value of some of the teapots.   So we had alot of fun last spring keeping an eye out on eBay for things that would go with her wedding colors.  That was after hitting up my collection for teapots that went with pink.   The head table used silver pots, creamers and individual pots, along with some demitasse.    She also wanted to use some antique linen underneath the teapots, but given the white tablecloths, we decided to use antique print hankies that matched the teapots.

I was so busy with the project, that I didn't take alot of photos, but thought I would share with you what I did take along the way.

I had done some trial arrangements and found that loose flower arrangements wouldn't hold their shape or transport (130 miles) well, so I had to use frogs or oasis.  We used hot glue to secure the oasis into the pots, although it was difficult on some because of their size or shape.  In those cases I tried to wedge the oasis in by cutting a piece larger than the opening, cramming it in, and cutting a v-groove so I could be able to put water in the pot.

Teapots filled with Oasis a week before the wedding.

I picked up the roses 2 days before the wedding in order to let them open up beforehand.  There's nothing worse than flower arrangements that just have tight buds.   This worked well for all the roses except one bunch, which were blown by the wedding morning.

The colors on this rose was absolutely perfect.  Unfortunately They didn't hold up.  I kept them in the refrigerator til the wedding.   I was hoping....

My niece wanted old-fashioned flowers and requested that I used baby carnations.   I do love the spicy fragrance they have.  Other flowers were used included: stocks, sweet peas, sweetheart roses, spray roses, David Austin roses, snapdragon, echinops, and lavender.

Oh my!  So many flowers, so little time!

Overall, everything held up well.  A few problems were --
 - The dark fuchsia stocks did not hold up well and were wilting hours after I brought them home.  I was 40 miles from my supplier and couldn't run and replace them.  I cut the bunches off very short in order to let them perk up while using.
 - I should have picked up the carnations 2 days before too, they were a bit to tight for me.
 - The sweet pea stems were pretty fragile.  I would put them in first just so I could carefully maneuver them into the arrangements.  I had purchased them in selected bunches of color.  I would not recommend using them unless you literally grow them yourselves.  Half were blown by today, they were the only thing that drooped in some of the arrangements.
 - The lavender wasn't the standard augustafolia variety.  I don't know what kind they were, but I literally didn't have time to run out to my garden and harvest some for use.  As it was, all the David Austins came from my yard.  Make that yards.  I flew to California on Thursday and had carried flowers from the Washington house on the plane.

Oddly, the Cecil Brunner roses turned white in the fridge, but The Fairy, and the Geoff Hamilton roses held up well.  I needed miniature roses for the cake.

A cell phone progress picture.... Are those photo-bombers in the background?

These were many varieties of roses in a teacup my niece would love.
I made this thinking I might wind up needing "extras" somewhere.

This was a 250 year old bat-printed teapot. The tape on the handle corresponds to a number on a hanky that gets placed under the teapot.

You can see my reflection in this chased silver teapot that is designated for the head table.

The head table is 4 feet longer than I had originally planned.  I didn't have enough silver teapots, so I used these Royal Worcester demitasse in between each silver item.   The roses for my garden were used here.

I used plastic stacking bins to transport the 31 arrangements in a minivan.  That was great because I didn't have to worry about water spilling.   I used bubble wrap between the teapots, most bins had 2 or 3 teapots based on the size  of the teapots.  London shape teapots could fit 3 to a bin.

A set table, teapot, vintage hanky, and all the "stuff".

I don't like the table numbers poked in the arrangements.  If I'd had time, I would have taken them out and just tented them next to the teapots.

Where the bride & groom sat.  I wanted low arrangements in front of them to not block their view.

The entire long table.  The flowers really added color and made it festive.  We added some swags to the front of the table from pew decorations.  I didn't like the stage.  The brown curtains were ugly, other than that the room was nice. The bridal party was completely unapproachable.  I would have put them on a round table down on the floor, but maybe they didn't want to be disturbed.

A bullion cup was used at the top of the cake.  It was really cute!

I had brought about 80 roses for rose petal use.  I did not do this table.   When I turned around, the cake table was done, the bag of roses disappeared, and there was just a few skimpy petals on the table.    Note to self:   If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. This looks like an accident on the table.

The setup time was weird.  We had one hour before the wedding to do everything, from the tablecloths to finish.  It was supposed to be an hour and a half.  I was supposed to put certain antiques on certain tables, but there were only tea names on the tables, and I was supposed to put number on the table.  The diagram I was given didn't have any numbers on it.   I am not a fan of weird table names.  Really, you are making it hard on your setup team doing something like this.  A few minutes before the wedding my sister came in with a box of stuff for setup.  I wound up missing the wedding.   I was working so hard I didn't even know where the church was in the complex.  I'm not happy that I missed her walking down the aisle.  Not only did I miss it once, I missed it twice.  The bride's sister is ill and was admitted to the hospital wednesday before the wedding.  Apparently the legal wedding took place at the hospital and because I was doing the flowers, I missed it.  Other family members were there but I didn't know that was the official ceremony.    Everyone says that was the emotional wedding.  I think I'm more upset that I wasn't considered important enough to go to the "official" wedding. Or maybe am I upset that it didn't bother anyone that I wasn't there?    I'm feeling like the hired help. Missing her wedding(s) has left me very upset.   I hope she appreciated my efforts, I really tried to make it beautiful.    Just remember, if you take on a project like this, you will work day and night before the wedding.  The florist is worth every penny!

I think this is my favorite teapot.  It is circa 1820's

This is what it looked like with a print hanky under it.

These are some of the other hankies used.  They went with specific teapots based on color.  Antique bags that got used are in the background.

This cute little thing lost a few flowers in transport,
and the oasis moved around. Isn't it darling!

I am exhausted, I now have a sore throat and earache.   I have some flower arrangements to clean up.  After I throw out all the flowers, I'll harvest my lavender for the season, close up the house, and go where it isn't 108 degrees.  It's probably raining in Washington...  I'll  chill out and realize that families are families.  We stick together through everything, including when slighted relatives are not included to attend a niece's official wedding ceremony.

My daughter's wedding is next May.  Here's a peek at what I am working on:

A card from the 1700's!

Her wedding will not start until I'm seated and that's final.  No, I'm not doing the flowers.  We asked her to elope yesterday.  She said no.