Lamp Lunacy and Porcelain Prettiness

Lamps: they are my mostest favorite thing to thrift. Favorite in kind of an obsessive, too-excited way, in fact.

An interesting vintage lamp gives me a thrill that other folks get over, oh, a new love, winning the lottery, or chocolate cake. (Though I wouldn't turn down any of those things, either.)

As a result, I have a lot of them in each room. And this is okay, given my house is an otherwise pretty dark little Victorian.

Lamps offer that warm glow that also warms my heart.

So when I saw this baby at the L&L Fleatique over the weekend, I could not leave it there.

It's not actually stained glass, but some sort of frosted plastic material made to look like glass. I imagine, based on the materials, that it was probably made in the 60s or 70s, when they started really incorporating plastics into lamps.

I thought the whole thing was sort of gaudily beautiful, which is often my quirky criteria for a good lamp. And the colors are just so inspiring to me when lit. It's now residing in my livingroom.

At the Salvation Army thrift store earlier in the week, I nabbed this glass, pink vintage ceiling light shade...

I plan to use it on my third floor office, where currently there is a white, plastic, very sterile Atomic Age shade which just doesn't work with the rest of the house. It should be a fairly simple swap, and at just $4.99 the price was right.

At only $5, was this frosted glass, depression era boudoir lamp of a lady in a belle skirt...

I'm not sure why it was marked to just $5, when it had been listed at $35, but everything in that area of the Fleatique was, so I couldn't pass the deal up. Again, because of lampaholism.

At the Good Samaritan thrift store, I got these two painted plates from Germany (I plan to hang them on the wall)...

And these Moonstone pattern cups. At $0.69 a piece, it was a very good deal.

Oh, and last, I got this nice little dresser jar from Germany the same day I got the pink lampshade. I think it would be handy for storing cotton balls, Q-tips or something like that.

So that's the thrifty goodness for this week. Quite a lot, really, at one time-- funny how that happens!!

Let's hope none of you are too "shook up" from yesterday's earthquake. I was standing at work, talking to someone and didn't feel it at all, while all my colleagues seated at their desks were really feeling it rock-n-roll.

Taking a Shine to Lusterware

I’m a total magpie. Anything that sparkles, twinkles, has an iridescent glow or rainbow sheen is fair game for feathering my nest; in fact, it’s just a wonder I haven’t accidentally bashed my beak on an over-clean window.

At home, mirrors glint on walls and tabletops, colored glass sits on window sills, and one of my favorite types of porcelain is lusterware.

See that opalescent sheen, like a child’s soap bubbles? This is lusterware. That rainbow gleam is caused by metallic oxides which are added to pottery glaze after the porcelain is baked and enameled.

Like so many of today’s collectable vintage items, lusterware was considered commonplace back in the day. It was inexpensive, functional and sold in stores like five-and-dimes. Much of the lusterware you see today was made in Japan after World War II. But some turn-of-the-20th-century lusterware was made in Czechoslovakia and Germany. And because many of the pieces are marked, that makes collecting from a particular region or time period a lot easier.

Yet lusterware of different styles, time periods and brands works well together. Here you’ll see my German lusterware canisters.

These are representatives of three different sets made by two different companies: White & Block and Mepoco. Yet because they’re in the same basic colors, they give the feel of a matched set.

Best of all, vintage lusterware turns up at thrift stores. I came by this tureen and ladle, as well as assorted luster bowls and tea cups at different thrift stores over the years.

Sometimes, I’ll find an orphaned saucer while I’m thrifting and I’ll just set it aside. Since lusterware looks good with any number of other lusterware pieces, it usually isn’t long before I find a saucerless cup looking for an appropriate match…

Yes, basically, it’s my own dating service for lonely porcelain.

Collectively, lusterware can make the kind of cheerful table setting that I’ve used for dinners and even a tea.

So if you’re looking to put a little shine in your dining and retro in your room, lusterware can easily give polish to your own occasion.