6 Goodwills

6/25 was a thrifting day. I visited 6 Goodwill locations all over central Florida. I'll break up my visits into separate posts. This first post will cover the Lake Underhill, Orlando store.

Here are the two things that I came away with from this experience: 

1) The #1 rule of thrifting: Always, ALWAYS try something on. (Unless the store makes you feel itchy just by standing in it.) 

2) I got what I can only describe as, "Thrifter's Arm." I spent the entire day carrying around and sifting through clothes. No pain, no gain. 

Let's jump right in!

Happy Valentine's Day? Maybe? All I can assume is that this is something that was produced for people who don't know what to give their lover. Look at that face though, those eyes look downright terrified! (Side note: From a practical point of view, as someone who has worked with ceramics, why was the foot included? It's wholly unnecessary... I'm overthinking this beauty.)

 

There were a ton of these strewn about. You could have bought a nice set. Does anyone remember this? It seems vaguely familiar. Still, I like the idea of asking myself, "Do you want a Diet Pepsi?" and my rational self goes, "Fuck no, diet soda is nasty!" but my cup says, "Uh huh." 

I got very excited about this teapot (which is probably a coffee pot, given its shape). Looking at it now, after seeing about a million teapots it has lost some of its allure, but it's still sweet. 

A rather good ceramic thing. I'm a sucker for crackle glaze. But what would I put in it? 

I remember these are a kid. Sadly it didn't have a ceramic rabbit inside so that, as a 6 year old, you'd finish your mug of milk only to find a animal smiling back at you from the bottom as if to say, "Well done! You'll grow to be as tall as Michael Jordan, with bones of steel!" (Ability to dunk anything other than cookies may vary). 

Mug on left: Would totally go with mugs from my last post. Mug on right: Sooooo 90s! There were plenty of each. When the 90s comes back in full effect you'll all be begging me to nab these for you. Duh. 

I like these cozy mugs, you'll just have to put up with my obsession. 

I hate the motif around the lip, but the shape of this creamer is lovely. 

The blue one felt like buttah in mah hand. 

Love birds. This proves that a thrift store is a viable solution to the gift problem. 

See! Perfectly mismatched. Oh how I loathe you, random shelf of mugs! 

Design decisions fascinate me. Would this work on any other object?

I love ducks, but I SWEAR I took a photo of a modern mug at a Tuesday Morning location with these exact mallards!

This was amazing. I saw this, laughed, took a photo and thought, "This won't sell..." When I went to check out, someone had it in their cart. Hope lives on...in puzzle form!

Whelp, I guess God decided that heeding this plaque was unnecessary... 

I saw this guy in Walgreens over Christmas. I think you throw balls in his mouth. I see no balls here, but was damn tempted to pick him up for the lols and the bear collection. 

This almost took the "WTF Cake." Stewie's eyes just weirded me out so much... Why did they decide to print him this way?

Rule 1. And yes, I bought it. 

I saw this as I was leaving... What costume is this? 

Here's my WTF:

Wha'...I mean...NO! WHAT?!

Goodwill: Leesburg, FL (6.22.15)

I've always loved thrifting, but in California I was often beaten to the goodies by more experienced thrifters. Here in Florida I began shopping in thrift stores after losing a great deal of weight. I'm also on a budget and flat out refuse to pay full price for "work clothes." I have a very particular sense of fashion and I hate the idea of spending much on clothes that I'm only wearing because I have to. 

Floridian thrift stores have some amazing vintage clothes. Word has it that it's very difficult to nab a vintage piece in a Californian thrift store. Hopefully my eye for fashion will pay off. (I'm hoping to take my fashion finds to market). However, in the meantime, I know I'll see some incredible tchotchkes. I'll post them here. 

Today I went to my local Goodwill. I have had some good luck in this store. Here's some of the stuff I found: 

I was tempted to grab this guy to keep business funds. This pig is truly stylish. 

Although perhaps not as stylish as these sassy swine. I had to wonder, are these the only two, or is there a whole Village People collection of porcine porcelain...pigurines... I'm sorry...

Speaking of style, I found these beauties: 

I would have purchased them for resale, but at size 6, I'd worry I wouldn't find a buyer with such petite tootsies. Still, they're amazing. If they were a size 10 I would have grabbed them and held on for dear life! 

Aaaaand speaking of figurines, cat figurines are ALWAYS gold. 

"I gotz mah stripes, for I iz tiger." 

Or this guy...

I want to say he looks like some Jim Henson creation, but I'm drawing a blank. Thoughts? Aside from the obvious sadness. 

Teapots can always be found in abundance at thrift stores, which is perfect for me because I'm obsessed with tea and England. 

Here I thought I had found a legit Brown Betty. Unfortunately the bottom had no marks indicating that it was made in England. Plus, it felt quite a bit lighter, less formidable, than the real deal. Still, at $3.99 I was very tempted to invest. I bet she still makes a decent cuppa. Perhaps she's Black Betty...bam-ba-lam. (http://youtu.be/ZbjyuDYtAtk Educate yourselves). 

Twinsies...only not...like my ex boyfriend and his twin. You might mistake one for t'other, but not I. However, unlike my ex, I wouldn't know which pot to go with here. 

This saccharine number is the perfect segue into a certain "sweet style" that can often be pieced together in your local thrift store. I find my mind wandering to a fictitious apartment. I live there with my dog. It's small, but cozy. The decor has been pieced together at thrift stores and garage sales. All of my home goods are perfectly, adorably, mismatched. 

My god, tea becomes a woolen, toe curling affair with this mug. 

If you visit, I'll hand wash this one for you. 

Soup's on, but I'm gluten-free so you'll just have to deal with my homemade batches of Italian inspired stew. 

If I make us French onion soup, these are the tools.

Leftovers go in these.

Perhaps I've made lemonade, these will do nicely.

If you stay the night, I'll serve us orange juice in these with breakfast.

I love blue and while ceramic pieces. I don't even know what the thing on the right IS and I still want it.

Tinted glassware is always good. I'd like a veritable rainbow in my collection.

Other items that struck me weren't so cute, but would certainly give you something to talk about when entertaining guests...

If I were just visiting I probably would have taken this for a souvenir.

I have a thing for bears, you'll most likely see many more. I have a small collection myself. I also love stoneware of this ilk. 

"Oh yeah, there's a mug for that."

This mini-mug from New York is still hanging around. I love it so. 

I love the flower mugs in the back, but this rabbit is practicing some self love in the name of Jesus Christ. Also, is he pooping?

This beer glass surprised me. This motif is all over the damn place currently, some hipster clearly overlooked his opportunity to drink IPAs out of a trendy ass glass.

This lamp would be perfect for when I open my whorehouse. 

Finally we have my favorite piece; my crowning jewel in today's WTF crown:

I believe that this can only be described as a tennis frame, God knows how useful this must have been and continues to be. It has it's original price tag and one of the best 80s photo frame placeholders I've ever seen. Well done tennis frame, you are the first Thrifting WTF. 

Making a Mini Witch's Hat

I began with a bit of research on the subject, good old Google. That paired with what I already know about sewing helped me make this mini witch's hat.

For the sake of this project I decided to use a glue gun instead of sewing the seams. First of all, I'm not totally comfortable on a sewing machine. I hand sew with confidence, but the material I used was a thick PVC. It seemed silly to bother with seaming when the edges won't fray. It also seemed unnecessary to create a wire brim or other structural elements when the fabric I had was thick enough to hold its own without manipulation.

I used bowls from my kitchen as circular templates to create both the brim as well as the crown of the hat. A biggish soup bowl made a circle that I then cut a section from for the crown.

In the doodle on the right you can see that I cut a curve from the tip so that the two ends would join when rolled together. I also created a flap for the glue (seen at the top right of the right hand doodle) and at the bottom I created flaps to attach the cone, when created, to the brim. (Without the flaps there is no surface to attach to the brim; nowhere to place the glue. The bottom of the cone/form won't bend properly to meet the brim without this manipulation. It's difficult to explain, obvious when you're faced with the pieces.) 

I used a biggish soup bowl to create the brim. (Upper left). For all shapes I eyeballed and hoped for the best. Once the brim was cut, I loosely divided the circle to find the center, give or take. Next I used the cone's base (once dried) to trace a circle in the center of the brim. (Right and lower left). I then cut this circle from the brim. 

I then inserted the cone into the new hole and glued the flaps to the underside of the brim. 

(Ignore the trim, I wanted a shot of the underside to better illustrate how the pieces attach). 

Flipped over the hat looked like this. Pretty good without any embellishment, but I decided to hide the edges with the trim you saw above. 

To attach the trim I glued as I went and cut when it was clear that I had enough. If you look closely, you can see that I repeated the process where the cone's base meets the brim. 

For decoration I made a bow from a stiff mesh. Again, more eyeballing and a little scrunch created what I wanted. I used a twist tie to hold the shape and attached it to the hat with a squeeze of glue. 

To cover the twistee and add a little flair I made an owly friend from felt shapes. I'll toot my own horn here, I've always had a knack for simplifying visual elements for economy and clarity. Plus, I seem to have a decent image library in my head that allows for decent representations of animals and objects without research. That being said, I did Google owl designs after I got the body of this guy together. Why rely solely on my noggin, when I can pull together a little guy like this from several preexisting ideas.

Another squeeze of glue got him on the bow. 

Finally, I glued the whole thing to a $1.00 headband I got at a fabric store. 

All materials I either had on hand or bought as remnants except for the headband, but at a buck I think I did pretty well. Overall cost would be pretty damn low. The PVC was a little over $6 and I can get a bunch more of these guys from it, same with the mesh, but it was only a couple bucks. A sheet of felt is .23 cents. Glue guns and sticks are pretty affordable and last forever. The trim was $2.99 for a bag of assorted trims, including "dingle balls" that I really want to hang in my van. I think there were 6 trims, a yard each. 

Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions. :)

"Chubby Legged Girlfriend"

And so "Chubby Legged Girlfriend" is born.