OUR STORY
Celebrating the details of decorative craftsmanship.
The question that I am most asked is “Where do you get all this stuff?” Well, it helps that I’m pretty old and have just collected a lot of just “things” over time, but there is a story behind this. I have always been an obsessive crafter. I have long had Fibromyalgia that has limited my ability to get around as much as normal people, so I focus on more sedentary activities and I do have so much fun making things.
After the years of popular Country Rustic decor when Mike and I made barn wood birdhouses and such, I had lots of wonderful antique furniture hardware and general rusty, dirty old metal objects. The drawer handles from Victorian times were mostly black from age but when I polished them they were so beautiful that I had to figure out a way to share their beauty with other people. I became fascinated by many things that we have taken for granted in busy life and began studying ordinary objects with new interest - I am amazed by the skills of craftsmen who have learned and worked so hard making everyday useful things so detailed and beautiful. Mike has very much been an active partner me in searching for things and helping getting the collages properly framed. I could not do this without him.
When country decorating began to be popular in the l990s, I painted every surface I could find and loved it. I was successful at selling things. But when country and farm rustic became popular around the 2000s, my husband Mike and I started making outdoor things like potting benches and bird houses from old wood and decorated them with small antique objects that we thought were interesting. We went to antique stores in small rural t that towns when we traveled. and we went to garage sales and auctions. We gathered up boxes of old objects to decorate with.
But in 2008 when we had the big financial collapse, people quit buying unnecessary things. I have had Fibromyalgia since 1994 so my ability to move around like normal people has been limited but I am still obsessed to MAKE things. As I looked closely at all the interesting antique objects we collected, I became fascinated by how beautiful the craftsmanship was in everyday things. I try to picture the years it took to develop the skills to work on objects completely by hand.
Mike has an interest in archaeology and so whenever he had a chance, he went to ancient sites in many countries. He brought home fascinating foreign coins and bills. I wanted other people to also see these wonderful things. I thought of collages.
Celebrating the details of decorative craftsmanship
Because I have some artistic skill, I was able to place these items in pleasing arrangements. Then I began to run out of things. Mike loves to search for things, so he went to garage sales and went online at Ebay to find old hardware. When a box arrives, it is the joy of the treasure hunt to open them, but items had usually been kept in garages and workshops for many years and are in bad shape. I have had to learn to clean and polish brass that is so old that it has turned black and is covered with dust and grime. You can imagine the fun of seeing items become shiny and glow as if they were new.