Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve - Mid Century Style Putz Houses


Thank you Retro Renovation for the mid century (house) putz patterns!  I've been hit by the bug and here are a couple I made the past week and a half.  The yellow one isn't quite yet finished, but I wanted to post it as today is Christmas Eve!  I'm planning on designing my own structures of commercial buildings,
 can't wait!



Thursday, December 13, 2012

Vintage Napco Figurine - The Joy of Rescuing (and New Finds)

Can't believe the weeks have gone by and I haven't posted even once yet in December.  There has been a lot of hunting for vintage Christmas goodies.  I've got bitten by the vintage putz houses and I started making my first one yesterday.  Then there is the kit I'm building to make a vintage felt and sequin wall hanging (or something) fashioned after this really nice mid century tree skirt I saw online.

We have bought more Christmas (vintage) stuff than I would have imagined.  Below are some of the ceramics we just couldn't pass up.  Three music boxes that my husband would not leave the store without-- and at 2.99 and .99 I couldn't say no.  They are adorable!  There is the Santa that circles over the house with Mrs. Santa functioning as the flagger, the swinging Santa and the Santa on the rocking reindeer.  The figurines were reasonable at .49, .99, and the angel with the accordion was my splurge at 3.99.  Unfortunately, the little girl holding the candle is/was broken, but I fixed that (see below).  The yellow angel is missing part of her wing, what a shame.  I passed her up a couple times.  In the meantime I repaired the other figurine and since it came out so well, I told my husband if the .49 cent broken angel was there I would get it and try and repair it.  It wasn't there that day, but a couple days ago he found it in an odd spot, so I got her.  The angel with the red cape was very faded so I diluted some red acrylic paint and freshened up her flocking.





 
The object missing from this 1958 Napco little girl's hand appears to be freshly broken off (we think while handled at the thrift store).  She is so precious, I just couldn't leave her on the shelf.   I suspected she was holding a candle and  I searched on line to find out I was right.


I molded a candle and holder from polymer clay--mine is a bit Suess-ish, but I like it.  I only had red, blue and yellow clay, so I used the red.  Below, painted and varnished, I'm very happy with the results.  On to the angel with the broken wing.  I'm expecting a challenge with that as it is broken half way down and it will be hard to disguise where the old and new materials meet.