RIP Eva Zeisel

One of the cool side-effects of the thrifting/vintage bug is that you learn a lot along the way.  Last month I posted about a set of dishes I found that were designed by Eva Zeisel (the fabulous pink-and-black abstract 50s pattern in not-great shape).  In researching the dishes I read the Wikipedia article on Zeisel herself, and felt like I was reading the plot to some epic novel of the 20th Century.  She was a Hungarian Jew from an intellectually-oriented family who decided to be a potter's apprentice, became Stalin's art director of ceramics in Russia, got thrown in prison when she was accused of plotting to assassinate him, somehow got released and ended up in Vienna just in time for the Nazis to invade, escaped on the last train out and fled Europe for America with her scholar husband, designed for some of the greatest names in pottery, had the first ever one-woman show at MOMA, and raised a family.  She was born in 1906 and designed a line for Crate & Barrel!  She basically lived all of modern history, and she died on Friday, at 105.  I heard about it on NPR today, and after reading her obituary, where they quote her;  "I'm always thinking about my friend, someone to whom I'm giving my loveliness, my friendship and my shapes,", I feel all warm and fuzzy about owning some pieces of her work, even if they are kind of beat up; she was an extraordinary woman.  Excuse me while I go add her biography to my wish list.

Eva Zeisel - design genuis, participant in
history and all-around fascinating person
who apparently also designed some rugs!

Update on the little pot from Monday and a thrift FAIL (or, laterally speaking, a chance for thrift genius)!

Hi all!  I still haven't unpacked my biggest and most interesting score from Monday, but here, as a consolation prize, is a cheap plastic item that will probably make you smile:

HEY, KOOL-AID!

But wait, there's more!  Remember the little pot from my first post?  The one with the sort of repeating Rorschach glaze pattern?  Well, I just happened to see a seemingly similar glaze style on an ash tray yesterday afternoon in the basement at Retro 101 on Cherokee Street (a very cool shop - any St Louisans with a yen for retro goodness, especially clothing, accessories and "smalls", needs to check it out!).  The ash tray in question had a sticker on it that read "Treasure-Craft, Compton, CA".  So I came home and googled Treasure Craft, and while I didn't find anything exactly like my pot, here's a Treasure Craft tidbit tray with very similar glaze colors and style:

from SWANKmoderndesign.com

More interesting still, when I googled "pottery glaze rorschach", Item #3 was this.  So what do you think?  Did I find the origin of my little pot?  It seems like a pretty reasonable guess, at least.


On another note entirely, I picked up a pair of slightly-too-big but very comfortable and seemingly sturdy desert boots while thrifting awhile back, and I've worn them a few times, and quite liked them until today, when the sole of the right boot started just peeling away, like so:

Thrifted desert boots - luckily I didn't pay much.

Now, this happened about 3 hours into a 12 hour work day, and as you can see, the sole peeled off quite a bit.  In order to make more than 2 steps without tripping, I had to walk like I was either:
A. Igor (or whatever Doctor Frankenstein's assistant was called), or
2. in a Monty Python sketch.

So on the one hand, giant fail of a seemingly good thrift find.  On the other hand... opportunity.  I can either:
A. throw them out - they're no good to anyone now.
2. look into shoe glue and try to fix them, because they really are very comfy and the materials are really good, even if they apparently weren't stuck together very well, or
C. try something crazy!

You know I can't just do A.  I'd have to at least try something else first, or I'd feel guilty.  So here's the inspiration for the Something Crazy I'm thinking about.  I apologize for the quality of the picture; I basically took a picture with my decent camera of an old snapshot I took years ago that's in a frame under glass that's, quite frankly, not very clean:

An old shoe (probably my grandfather's) 

on a concrete table under an overgrown arbor.

Now, I'm not sure how other people will react to this.  Some folks might think this picture is gross.  I think it is fabulous on a number of levels, including:

A. I love the idea of this small physical representation of nature reclaiming it's own.

2. It looks flippin' cool.

C. It's just so ODD!

So I've had this fascinating image in my mind (and on my tv stand) for ages, and recently, I came across this:

From this interesting site I need to peruse more,

where they have a recipe for growing moss wherever you like!

Now, I live in a postwar bungalow in South St Louis city surrounded by zoyzia grass rather than an old English garden or something more suited to this lovely and intriguing art form, but I filed the idea away for "someday", now that I know a recipe exists.  So today, when my really very cool (if slightly too big) desert boots decided to fall apart, I have to admit, I'm thinking hard about giving this a try.  I'm not sure what I'd do with Moss Boots once I had them, but surely something would come to me... right?

What do you think?  Try to repair, or collaborate with Mother Nature on a weird little art project?