@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.