@Friends' - Blue planter finds a happy new home

Towards the end of summer/early autumn I went on a little plant-gifting and reorganizing spree.  Hoarding is not something I want to do, unless it is with local honey, because honey doesn't go bad, it is delicious, and has reputed antibacterial properties, they use it on turtles at the aquarium that come in with cuts..... Wait, what was I writing about? The awesome power of honey? No, no, plants, plants! Bring it back to earth. Right. In an effort to weed out my collection* I started foisting plants and plant pots on to my willing (or so they seemed) friends under the guise of 'gifts.'

One of these friends, 'Lady K,' was over while I was in the middle of a plant-splitting and re-potting session.  Just to set the scene, any re-potting session usually involves me sitting on the kitchen floor, surrounded by a mini-jungle, dirt in both bags and open piles, planters piled up within arms reach, all the while holding a knife and staring intently at root balls and rhizomes.  It is actually very satisfying, afterwards I feel like a plant surgeon. Lady K, who was there to see her boyfriend, not me, casually mentioned that she was looking to expand her plant collection and before you could say boo! I had wrapped up some Sansevieria trifasciata cuttings, placed them in a large blue pot, and told her how happy they would be to grow under her care.  And I was right, again.  She recently sent me a picture of the plant in its new home.

So be careful what you casually mention in the presence of a freestyler, you just might find yourself the recipient of the perfect item for your home / office / wardrobe, for free!

P.S. Without plants where would be no honey, so make your world a bee-friendly place.

*pun intended

Orange you glad to freestyle me?

When it comes to framing pictures I don't consider myself to be limited by tradition.  Let me clarify, I love an ornate carved wooden gold leaf frame as much as the next person, but if you want hot pink metal for your modern art, go wild.  Despite this design-sense liberality I had never sought out orange colored frames, much less orange plastic.  Confession, I did not take this small orange frame when I saw it at le dump this summer, I just didn't see it fitting on the blue or cream colored walls anywhere.  Creative Roommate snagged it when she accompanied me at a later date, and I'm glad she did.  Orange and blue are complementary colors, a good thing to remember.

Small and brightly colored? Sounds like a songbird, and that is just what she painted to fit inside.

Moth noms!

Songbirds, yes, but they are eating instead of singing, it is for the kitchen after all.

Happy freestyling, and don't be afraid of orange, after all 2012 is the year of Tangerine Tango. Enjoy it.

We all *softly* scream for FREE ice cream

Don't get all icked out from reading the title of this post, I did not find free ice cream on the sidewalk. I just had to use the sidewalk to get to the happy place known as Toscanini's, on the last Friday of October.  As part of the Green Streets Initiative participating Cambridge merchants given discounts or special perks to people who commute car free.   All you have to do is check in and follow the prompts to get the QR code that you can then show to redeem your discounts.

I had to walk to the T and take it to school and back that day, because my bike had been stolen the night before. :(  Actually it was boyfriend's bike & lock that I have been using, he wasn't upset, but still.  Sadness. I looked around in disbelief for a bit, then decided I might as well take a walk since it was sunny and I needed a study break.

Did the free cardamom-and-pistachio ice cream restore my faith in humanity?  Can happiness be found in a micro-scoop of Kulfi (aka kuhlfee) goodness?  Yes.

So on the next Friday of the month, get out of your car, and then claim your reward, hopefully a delicious delicious reward.  Happy freestyling.

Fabric-covered cork board

I saw a simple cork-board at le dump earlier this fall, and I passed it by. Yup. Walked right by, didn't think I would want it, headed straight for the other shelves.  Silly me.  While I was conversing with the on-site recycling specialist he pointed out that there were actually TWO cork boards available, one large unframed board, and a smaller one framed in wood. So, ok, I took the small one.  I didn't take a before picture, imagine a bulletin board made of cork, then imagine one with an unpainted, unstained wooden frame around it. There you go.

At first I thought I would paint the frame, then I decided to go all out girly and cover it with fabric to make it into a jewelry holder. Cue fabric-hunting music.  A trip to the local Goodwill led me to two linen skirts, one salmon pink, the other black.  ~$2.50 each, and I think I even used my student discount.  Here they are drying after a vigorous wash.

buy, wash, craft!

Then the spray paint got involved.....

not quite what I had in mind

 ...but it turned out to be not quite the shade I had envisioned. Too reddish, not old gold enough, you disappoint me spray paint can [head shaking side to side slowly].  Not one to give up on this frame I thought I could simulate the look of bronze by going over the gold with black permanent marker. Don't judge, I was using what I had on hand.

can permanent marker fix this mess?

At some point I realized that in order to wrap the cork properly I would need to disassemble the frame and remove the work board.  

if you squint it sort of looks like bronze, promise.

Here is the frame, in all its permanent-markered glory, after I pried it open to get the cork out. Hmmm, still kind of ugly, especially up close.  After coming to a place of acceptance regarding the ugliness of the frame color I decided to spray paint the whole frame white. Even that was a chore, it took multiple coats and I finally stopped when I achieve some color I'll call... driftwood (said in a breathy mystical voice accompanied by an expansive hand gesture).

Wrapping the corkboard with the salmon pink linen was pretty straightforward. I wanted to have the decorative seam running diagonal across the board, so there were a few strategic drops of super-glue on the front in order to secure it before I started to pull and staple on the back.

Here is a close-up of the seam detail near the top left corner.

seam detail from the original skirt

I found these decorative push-pins with hooks at my local hardware store, they were probably the most expensive part of this project since I bought 3 packs (3 pins/pack).

After the re-assembly and addition of hanging hardware my new jewelry display was ready for the wall.

 The salmon pink fabric is not quiiiite a perfect fit against the blue walls, but it works for now.  What color combos you would have chosen for the freestyle project?

@Friends' - Free Shelving, Just Hanging Out

I don't know if I can take credit for introducing others to the joys of freestyle.  I think it is already inside everyone, you just have to open your eyes, see the possibilities, and maybe get over any lingering qualms about stuff on the sidewalk.  Some people are way ahead of me in the freestyle journey, others are just starting, but whenever anyone has some awesome find to share, I'll post it under the "@Friends' " label.

So, moving on to today's post, with eyes sufficiently opened, some lovely friends (fellow Mid-westerners transplanted to Cambridge) have started to feather their nest -in part- with freestyle finds.  They have a tiny kitchen. Tiny. Tiny. Tiny.  Submarines have more spacious cooking areas. But, being handy with ropes and such the idea of suspending this shelving unit from the wall was easy to carry out. Hanging it from the wall saves on floor space and gives more vertical hanging space for those oh-so-critical pot holders.

This spacious shelving unit is ready to lend a hand from breakfast 'till midnight snack time, all thanks to a little sidewalk scouting.  Now, who wants tea?

The Fortuitous Appearance of an Adventure Bag

Normally I’m hesitant about grabbing used textiles, and bags especially.  On the minor end of the problem spectrum, small things like snaps, buckles, or zippers might not be functioning. On the more serious end of the problem spectrum there is the reality of mysterious stains, rips of various sizes, or that surprise mephitic whiff….

Sometimes though, just sometimes, someone gives away some luggage that seems to be both useful and relatively clean. Such was the case of black adventure bag Adventure Bag.  During the initial examination at le dump, I was surprised to find no major problems, so home it came.  My initial thought was that boyfriend could use it for an upcoming trip to South America. He said it looked like it might be useful, so I washed it. In the sink the water turned purplish-black, from dirt or dye release? I’m not sure.   Adventure Bag survived the wash, and here it is:

Adventure bag, closed

Rawr! Adventure bag open in full glory.

But how useful might this bag be?  I testing its carrying utility, deemed it to be of sufficient space and sturdiness, and no part of the Bag ripped unexpectedly....nothing ripped at all actually.

Keeping in mind the strict weight limits imposed on Boyfriend's luggage for his trip, he included the Adventure Bag in his packing. (Turns out he should have included more granola bars as well, but we'll chalk that one up to 'lessons learned from traveling.')

Here he is, modeling the bag-in-action during a trip to one of the spectacular sights of the region.

Boyfriend's final verdict on the Adventure Bag? "It fit all my important stuff. So it was useful, because I could  keep it in front of me while walking around and could hold on to it."  I call that a win for freestyle, or in this case estilo-gratis, on location, somewhere in Peru.

Bookish Beauties

I love old books, and the daughter-of-an-unofficial-interior-designer side of me especially loves old book covers.  The subtle way they stand on a bookshelf, quiet, but still warmly alluring.  Those muted colors, whether product of age or original design, seem to harmonize well even when mixed and matched on a shelf.  There might be glittery elements, embossed designs or shining author names, but the generally restrained use of bling, often on top of a single-color bookcloth, means that the overall effect is elegant, not uncouth or visually abrasive.

And you can find these beauties for free! Sometimes.

Here are lovely designs from a few of the freestyle books that I’ve found.

The Garden of a Commuter's Wife.  Although I haven't read this book, the repetition of slightly varied flowers makes me wonder if the design was inspired by the monotonous repetition of a daily commute. Seemingly the same, but with slight variations flavoring the day to day experience.

On this copy of War and Peace, the material that makes up the cover is not much more than cardboard, but the swirly symmetrical gold design caught my eye and I had to take it home.

The bookcloth on this partial set of works by the Bronte sisters has faded to green along the spines, but the front and back covers are still a rich dark blue.  The ornamented gold squares along the spines form a lovely grid, an ordered counterpoint to the intense whirlwinds of emotions described within the stories. I confess, I've only read Jane Eyre...

If the entire book cover is interesting it can be a difficult choice to when deciding whether to display the spines or the front cover.  This choice is sometimes dictated by space limitations alone.  I did come across this blog post titled 'How to Stack 7 books 7 different ways'  which gives examples of, well, obviously, different ways to stack books, but I'm sure there are more options out there. 

Freestyle book display suggestions welcome!

The value of a printer's mark

Found: Framed print of mother & child. No title, signature, or information on the back. What to do?  I originally took the piece for the frame and matting, but it seemed worthwhile to look for more info. But how to start?

Sorry about the camera flash glare....

There was one small piece of information, an imprinted mark on the lower right corner. Although it had 2 lines, only the bottom was legible to my eyes. It reads "Muenchen-22."  

Since this is how you would spell the German city of München (a.k.a. Munich) without using the umlaut, I thought this piece must have some connection to Germany.   Maybe it was made there, or maybe it was made by someone from there.

(Random Shoutout: Herr Schmitz would be proud of me, I still remember ein bisschen Deutsch!)

Oh tiny imprint, what can you tell me?

Here is where that printer's mark (as I later learned it was) took me.

Muenchen-22 led me to the name "Von der Becke", a German printer. 

Full name: Alexander Von der Becke.

Time range of operation: early-mid 20th Century

 The top line of 2 line imprint likely reads "A.V.D.BECKE"

In finding works by the printer, I learned he printed reproductions, etchings, by the artist Käthe Kollwitz, and that Von der Becke had purchased her plates in 1931.   From what I could gather, Von der Becke published mostly unsigned, and thus inexpensive, Kollwitz works. Some more searching through Kollwitz prints led to a matching image, and a title of my find! 

"Mutter mit Kind auf den Arm" (Mother with child in her arms)

The original version of this picture was created by Kollwitz in 1910,  There were reproductions made by Von der Becke starting in the 1930s, but work was interrupted by WWII.  Other websites mentioned reproductions made during the years 1946-48, and 1963-65, but it isn't clear how often or how many of these were printed.  Alexander Von der Becke died in 1958, but his business continued to be run by his wife and son, so Kollwitz prints were published until 1972.  

I have no way to tell the age of this print. Also, given the fact that it is unsigned and was found at the dump I don't have high hopes for its value. Oh well, another fun freestyle puzzle, its good to stay challenged.

On this little quest, which only took half an hour, I learned a little bit about German art and solved a mystery!

Other resources for learning about Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945):

Käthe Kollwitz Museum - Berlin

Encyclopedia Britanica 

Her work is also part of the collection in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Freestyle A Room, The Challenge

When I first got word that a dear friend was moving to Cambridge to attend grad school I went into extra-search mode.  I also wondered, would it be possible to freestyle an entire bedroom? (Except for the mattress of course, I do draw the line at mystery mattresses)  Second only to free food, free durable goods are a grad student's favorite gift.  So I started scouting with dear friend in mind -she appreciates things quirky, handmade, and of-bargain-origin, so I knew freestyle origins would not disqualify anything good that I found.

Here is the list of objects I thought to collect:
-desk
-desk lamp
-other light fixtures as needed
-dresser
-bedside table
-metal bed frame, full or queen size
-mirror
-hangers for closet
-shelving, (for closet or bedroom)

Here was/is my searching area.

Cambridge is faintly outlined with a pink strip and dashed grey line in the map above.

What was I able to find to outfit this ~10ft x 10ft bedroom? And how much money was saved?
Stay tuned for the results of the freestyle challenge.

Finds: Pastel insert & Pomegranate dessert

You might remember my earlier post about freestyle-on-the-road finds from my summer trip to the home state.... If not, I've included a picture below to jog your memory about the neat-o frames I found and was able to bring back to Cambridge. As I was taking this stuff across country I was reminded of those Antiques Roadshow-esque moments where someone is describing how they came across a tsarist russian medal/ ancient nubian war mask/ signed copy of the Magna Carta in some random basement/ flea market and everyone wonders just how on earth did it get there??? Yeah, well, this is how. People grab stuff they think is cool, pack it up, ship it all over, sell it/ forget about it/ pass it on to unappreciative heirs...and then bam, church basement rummage sale.  Hmm, maybe I should go to more of those...  Anyway, back to the frames, specifically the one in the upper right corner of the picture.

Garage sale leftovers, best served free!

 I gave the wooden one (with pastel-ish insert) to Creative Roommate as a gift from the heartland, she loved it. She also liked the free t-shirt I wrapped the frame in, grey, her favorite!  Naturally a frame is not fulfilling its highest and best use until it is accenting some art, especially if that art involves food.

I weeell be nomming this pomegranate.

Creative Roommate found inspiration in a cute picture of a meerkat nomming on a pomegranate. (For those of you who have never seen the site Cute Overload, 'nomming' is eating- but done by super cute animals. Be warned, clicking on the CuteOverload link can lead to many work-wasting giggle minutes.)

So there it goes, from distant free pile to Cambridge freestyle.  Happy nommings.

If the shoerack fits...

Found: Over-the-door shoe rack
Location: Near Broadway St
Time: Early in the month of May, at night

I scouted a trash pile near Broadway street while out walking one spring evening, and upon my return to the apartment I gathered up Creative Roommate, and Girlfriend-of-Technologist-Roommate (aka Lady K) who happened to be over, for some rooting around at night.  We found a few things, one of which had some of the most desirable qualities in a freestyle item: lightweight, metal, and all parts intact and present.
Behold the humble shoe rack.
It asks for nothing, does its job day in and day out, displays your shoes whether stinky or chic, and helps you feel like your life has the semblance of organization. Shoe racks are a good thing.

I understand why someone might not want or need this anymore, but really, the discarder couldn't walk it down to the Goodwill? Or even bring it to the scrap metal bin at the DPW? This was going to the landfill people, so I'm claiming a tiny moral victory at the salvage of this organizational item.

Since the cross-pieces of the shoe rack come apart from the vertical support tubes we were lucky to find them all intact and not bent out of shape.  An additional bonus was that the white rubber door-bumper end caps were still on, no dents in the door!  The shoe rack spent a little time in our living room until we delivered it over to Lady K's house in another part of town, thanks to boyfriend for his help with that, go Team Freestyle!  Here is the picture she sent me of the shoe rack being put to good use.

It's the simple things really.  Great friends, organized stuff, and freestyle.

Four-part Freestyle Frame

Found: A grouping of four frames, with one unattached.

Location: Cambridge DPW

Time: Back in mid-july, where did summer go?

Something is off.....

I turned this over to Creative Roommate, who figured out a way to separate the top two frame elements from the rest. Add in some simian inspiration, and voila, new art for the feeding wall.

Nom nom nom nom nom

We've turned a corner in our relationship

The new frame is on the far right. Technically the feeding wall has expanded onto walls plural, we've turned a freestyle corner!  You can now see our electrical box, fetching isn't it?  Some of the other pictures on this wall have yet to be featured, check back for more detailed photos and descriptions.

A subject fit for 5x7

After being away from the DPW for a week or two it is extra fun to go back and see what has turned over, and what new treasures await the patient peruser.  In early August, after being on just such a hiatus, I came across this flagrantly fake wooden frame:

At one point this was on special offer....

Not much going on back here.

Such a small frame inspired Creative Roommate to paint a picture of a small subject. The unappreciated, and probably widely unloved, fruit bat.

Oh....was this pepper for you?

Naturally a picture of a feeding animal made it on to the 'feeding wall' in the kitchen- in the picture below you will find Mr. Fruit Bat's new portrait in the lower left corner.

 Fruit-a-licious freestyle for all! Yum.

Owl together now

Owls seem to be quite fashionable as of late, and I’m in support of their popular resurgence. I appreciate their classical association with Athena, they are beautiful birds of prey, and they have curved faces that concentrate sound (much like a satellite dish concentrates a signal). Awesome.   

Given my enthusiasm you can imagine my double delight when I found this charming pair of owls with old tea light candles inside of them on the swap shelves at le dump.  After cleaning them up they looked like this:  

 I’m not a candles person, so how best to use these glass containers?  My natural inclination was to make them into planters, and with the leftover moss from a centerpiece I did just that.

It seemed fitting that owls should perch on the bookshelf, out of direct sunlight of course!  Maybe their steady gaze over the shoulder of the reading chair will help us attend to our studies...

Aside from owls, another awesome thing from a strictly freestyler point of view, is the start-of-September move time. Good weather, the end of summer sublets, and the start of new leases means Cambridge is on the move.  Labor Day weekend’s good weather this year also saw 'yard sales' springing up on front steps and sidewalks, such fun to peruse, even though I don’t aim to spend money on miscellany.  Stay tuned for the results from our walkabouts….