Freestyle on a silver platter...part 2

After investigating the hallmarks on these free silver platters (described here) I had to step back and see what I was really working with.  Here is what everything looked like at the start.
(I named them to help keep order among my files).

The Round Tray

The Scallop-edge Tray.
Looks like the silver plate has worn through to the underlying copper in a few places.

The Scallop-edge tray has these three little feet, a nice detail.

Scallop-edge tray foot, pre-polish.

The Rope-edge Tray

So what is a freestyler to do to clean these tarnished trays? I don't maintain a collection of antique anything that needs polishing, yet it seems that special silver polish is really the best way to clean silver plated items.
Solution: Creative Roommate convinced her mother to loan us some silver polish, lets all give thanks for established households with these sorts of random supplies on hand.
I found silver polishing to be rather meditative and satisfying in the way that cleaning something really dirty so often is. Also a bit magical, wipe on the pink cream, wash it off and reveal the shine!

After a few cleaning sessions the trays looked much better. Some of the scratches and spots were quite resistant, but I think they went from this side of shabby to solidly respectable.

The Round Tray

 The Scallop-edge Tray

The Rope-edge Tray













Now that these beauties have their shine back, all that remains is to find appropriate settings that can use a bit of glamour. Stay tuned for part 3 of this freestyle odyssey.

Freestyle on a silver platter...part 1

Some weeks ago at le dump I came across something almost guaranteed to be irresistible to me, 3 tarnished silver platters.  But why would these be of interest (besides being free)?

1. Tarnish = real silver in at least some small amount
2. Platters are useful for organizing things
3. They had cool designs, and were all different
4. One of them had a Tiffany hallmark on the back, always worth a second look

I put them in my bag, and clanging down the road we went, back home to the interwebs for research!
Antiques Roadshow has taught me to always look on the bottom for a hallmark or maker's mark, here is what I saw.







As it turns out, they were all silver plate, although Tiffany calls this "silver-soldered" (way to be clever with the re-branding there T&Co).   I would like to thank 'Silver Jim' (of the blog Silver Chatter)  who answered my email inquiry about silver hallmarks even though I was a total stranger and had nothing to buy or sell. The website Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks was also informative in decoding these marks.

Silver-plate or silver-solder means some less precious base metal has been thinly coated with silver, and sometimes a design has been etched in.  Due to the small amount of real silver involved there is no real monetary value to any of the platters, not even to melt down. Knowing this was a relief, because it meant I could experiment with them and not feel like I was ruining some precious future heirloom.  It was fun investigating these little mysteries while learning a bit about the convoluted history of metalwork firms in the Northeast.

Next posting will have some before & after pictures, stay tuned!

Freestyle Shoebag from Canvas Shelving

A long time ago, in a land far away, I found some hanging canvas shelves on the sidewalk (and then promptly washed them once they got home). We're talking years ago here. I've used bits and pieces for other projects, but lately I've gotten tired of looking at the old plastic bag I store these remnants in.  So I asked my roommates, what would be useful to you that I could make out of canvas that is already in these odd sack-like shapes?

Answer: A bag for shoes! Something to throw in a backpack, sturdier than a plastic bag, and washable, but not important enough that it matters if it gets dirty/lost/ripped.

Shoelaces from shoes on their way to the donation center. 
To be repurposed!

I decided on a drawstring top bag. There are openings for strings at opposite ends. Since the recipient usually travels via bicycle I made the shoelaces/drawstrings long enough that they could be used to tie this simple freestyle canvas bag to the outside of a backpack if need be. 

Large enough to hold a pair of men's sport shoes.

Partially closed bag.

 

There were some random seams required because of the deconstruction-reconstruction process, I used a contrasting color thread just for kicks.  Any other suggestions for how to freestyle these fabric remnants?  An apartment only needs so many shoe bags.

Watch out and wear it out.

I like to wear watches out.  I like to wear a watch day and night until it falls off my wrist. The past 4 or so watches have eventually fallen off because the wristband has broken, not because the time-keeping device has failed.  Normally you would be able to just buy a replacement band, but for reasons unknown, timex doesn't seem to sell replacement bands for their ladies ironman watches. Bah to that.  I have tried to fix a few watchbands, but they are some sort of rubber and even with hot glue, or string, or duct tape....it just doesn't work.  Also I don't want to look too shabby.

How does this relate to freestyle?  Despite not having a functional wristband, I saved the watch part, waiting for inspiration. And waiting.

But recently, during a dinner-time open ideas session, Creative Roommate (not a watch wearer) and I were thinking of when she might want to know the time, but wouldn't have access to her phone.  We came up with: 1) Swimming, 2) Biking 

I had a large piece of fake leather (fleather?) remnant from a discount store (left over from another project), so we came up with the idea of a cuff-type bracelet with the time piece attached.  Since the pins that held the original wristband to the timepiece were still intact, I took a narrow piece of fleather and threaded it over the pin-under the watch-over the other pin, and attached it to a larger piece of fleather.  

The result is shown below.

After the main attachment

After fitting the main piece to Creative Roommate's wrist, we decided that an angled attachment would be the best way to ensure a proper fit.  I first suggested rip&stick-type closure, she wanted snaps, and I just happened to have some 'pearl' covered snaps in the old notions box.  After some decorative stitching around the outside and snaps installation the reclaimed watch was ready to wear.

Snaps!

It has an angled closure in order to fit the arm better, a custom fit for the apartment artist.

What time is is? Freestyle time!

Shark attack

  

Found: black plastic snap frame with 3-picture mat (water-damaged), front acrylic sheet intact and useable.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Going to the swap shelf on overcast days is usually less fruitful than sunny ones.  Rain ruins a lot of otherwise useable stuff, but I got this frame before it was too far gone.  The backing was too far gone, but the mat was only partially damp, so Creative Roommate was able to take it out, dry it, and paint it to cover the water stain.     At left is a photo of the mat in the process of being painted.

                       

Her inspirations are varied, but this was a surprise when I found it on the kitchen wall on morning. Good day to you oh representatives of Carcharodon carcharias!  Are you fans of freestyle?

Feed me! and me! and me!

Since this happens to be in our kitchen, it seems appropriate that these pictures are about hungry animals.

Stay tuned for how this blank canvas of a wall will get freestyled in the days ahead.

A bronze y-urn-ing

Can you tell what I'm trying to say?

Found: small bronze-color tripod urn, with 3 decorative lion heads on the outside


Location: Swap shelf

Question: Can you identify the mark or writing on the bottom of this mystery metal urn?

My guess for the lower stamp is some bird (eagle?), possibly double-headed.  The ovoid text stamp remains a mystery, I can't tell if the letters are from the greek or cyrilic alphabets, or what they say. Any suggestions?

Time for a bath.

From the quality of construction I'm under no delusions that it is of any value, likely some souvenir trinket, the grey stuff in the first photo is perhaps solder from where the leg section was attached to the round vessel part.  Despite these flaws, I rather liked the shape. It looked like it could be a cool little planter, and I'm always on the lookout for plant storage.

At right is a 'before' photo.  As you can see, it is a bit dinged up, with some mystery white residue in the small details of the lion heads and the design at the top of the legs. 

After a bath, some delicate cleaning attempts, and the application of a glaze to the inside and out, I declared it done enough.  Soaking and then scrubbing did not remove all of the white stuff, so I left it there rather than scratching up the metal in an attempt to remove it. C'est la vie. Or rather, c'est la métal.

The glaze made it look smoother, shinier, and hopefully will protect the inside from any plant water.  I added glaze because it did appear to be rusting on the inside when I found it, not very exciting, hence no photo.  But there you have it, a little urn and my new fragrant rosemary seedling.

These lions don't have to worry about thorns.

Guardian of good taste.