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Antiques

Antiques

Fixing & Cleaning Paint Brushes

As I shared last week, my Victorian-era watercolor box came with a bunch of brushes and other tools.  I finally took some time to give them a little TLC and I thought I would share my process for fixing and cleaning paint brushes.  This is helpful not only if you buy/acquire a lot of vintage or antique brushes, but if you just need to take care of some of your favorite brushes that get heavy use. The first thing I do when fixing and cleaning paint brushes is to pull on the tops to see if they are firmly attached.  Most of these popped off easily, so that was the first thing I needed to address. (Those little marks of dried paint are from Violet’s paws!  She has a knack for stepping straight in any paint if she sneaks into the studio.) I bought waterproof, neutral PH adhesive a while

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All Things Home

charcoal, a glass dip pen, and a Victorian watercolor box…

It’s time to share some more antique and vintage art supplies!  Obviously, I haven’t bought any this month because of “no-spend February”, but I bought an antique Victorian-era watercolor box with some Christmas money in January and I received a few little things last week as a gift. An antique dealer from PA who used to buy things for me to resell sent me a few art supplies she picked up as a part of an auction lot.  It was a total surprise and so sweet of her to think of me! She sent me a box of vintage Flair vine charcoal… I love the label on the box, but was even more delighted to see it was full of vine charcoal sticks!   And she also sent a glass dip pen!  It has the most interesting nib.  I haven’t had the chance to use it, but I’m looking forward

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a slice of life

scanning old documents, photos, & postcards

One of the big projects I want to work on while organizing and purging is scanning antique and vintage family photos, letters, postcards, and documents.  Fortunately, I have a lot of them!  Unfortunately, that means the task is a little overwhelming and I’ve been putting off most of it for years.  So, I’m just going to chip away at it.  Here is the basket I’m currently working through, but it’s just a fraction of what needs to be sorted, scanned, and properly stored. I started by scanning the letters that are most important to me – my Opa’s letters and telegrams to his family when he was serving in WWII. I organized them and made copies once before, but now that I have a nicer scanner, I scanned them all.  I have uploaded them to a Google Drive, so I can share them with family members who are interested, but

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All Things Home

Collecting Wallace Sleigh Bells FAQ

I have shared about Wallace Sleigh Bells on my blog (HERE) and social media for a few years and I get the same questions about them regularly, so I thought I would answer them all in one post!  For those who aren’t familiar with them, Wallace Sleigh Bells are collectible bells that were introduced in 1971 by the Wallace Silversmiths.  My Oma, who was an avid collector of anything she wanted to collect, bought one and started a collection she added to each year.  When she passed away and we were cleaning out the attic of her home, we divided her ornament collection, which included the Wallace bells, some antique glass ornaments (like the one commemorating man’s first moon walk), and vintage German ornaments she bought when she visited us in Germany. I ended up with three Wallace Sleigh Bells from her collection…my birth year, Jeff’s birth year, and a

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a slice of life

cleaning a set of antique pastels

When I shared about antique and vintage art supplies in THIS POST, I also did a bit of window shopping to share some listings on Etsy and eBay.  Well, my window shopping turned into actual shopping when I found this set of antique pastels listed for a great price.  It was purchased by the seller at an estate sale in Scotland and it just spoke to me.  I snapped it right up! Unfortunately, when it arrived, it wasn’t packaged as well as it could’ve been and one of the pastels (it looked like black or close to black) was pulverized and made quite a mess.  It was all over the inside the of the box, the bubble wrap and the interior of the box.  I receievd a partial refund from the seller for the damage to the set, which I was happy with.  I now had to go about cleaning

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All Things Home

building an ironstone collection

I read an article on ironstone in a decorating magazine (I think Country Home) about 20 years ago and have been smitten with it ever since.  I can’t tell you exactly what draws me to it…  maybe it’s the simplicity of it, the creamy-white color, the variety of shapes and designs, the luster of the glaze.  I can’t tell you why, but I love it and it’s one of my favorite things to collect.  I’ve been collecting it since I found an ironstone pitcher in a dusty, crowded booth at an antique mall in Florida.  I’ve since bought and sold thousands of pieces of ironstone, adding to my collection along the way.  I’ve become quite the ironstone hound and can spot it from across the room. If you love ironstone, as I do, here are a few tips on building an ironstone collection of your own… Of course, the first

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All Things Home

antique French pump inkwell

I have always been fascinated by old things, things that were made before modern manufacturing, before computers and electricity.  I marvel at the ingenuity and problem-solving abilities of their creators.  I initially bought this inkwell because…well, I just love art supplies, ink wells, beautiful dip pens, and the like, and I had missed out on a similar one a couple of years ago.  But now that I’ve played around with it and have done a bit of research, I love it even more.  I’d like to introduce you to the clever design of an antique French pump inkwell… It’s another item I purchased from the Dreamy Whites’ birthday sale a few weeks ago.  I initially thought it was an ironstone inkwell and, as I mentioned, I had pondered purchasing a similar one a couple of years ago, but I missed out on it.  When I saw it listed in Maria’s

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a slice of life

this is the project I’ve been working on…

For the past several months, I have mentioned here and there that I’ve been working on various projects – writing, working on my house, and doing photo shoots.  These smaller projects are all a part of one big project.  This project hasn’t been a secret one, but I wanted to wait to announce it until I was a little further along in the process. Here’s the big news… I wrote a book! Well, more accurately, I’m in the process of writing a book.  I wrote the complete manuscript and took hundreds of photos and turned them all in to start the editing and layout process a couple of weeks ago.  There is still a lot of work to do, but the heart of the work is complete. So, let me rewind a bit and tell you the story of how this came about… I have written a book before, Inspired

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I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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