FOUND - whimsical art, vintage treasures, fun finds!

Contest winner AND new blog location!

mary@found — Sun, 15 May 2011 00:25:03 -0400

The randomly selected winner of our camera earrings blog contest is Last Minute Lynn, randomly selected by my mom, who choose #9. Congratulations, Lynn! Either stop in to pick them up or email us with the address you like them mailed to.

Our big news is that the FOUND blog is moving to our redesigned website address. All new posts will be done on that format, so watch for upcoming events and photos of new arrivals at www.foundgallery.com. There are still a few tweeks that need done, but I'm lovin' the new look of the website. Hope you check it out and add it to your favorites.

In a couple weeks, we'll be starting a series of contests to promote the new site. Watch and win!

May 2011 photos at FOUND. Drawing for camera earrings!

mary@found — Mon, 02 May 2011 00:30:18 -0400

This post is going to have LOTS of photos. A couple months ago, I got a new camera. I'm still playing with it and have lots to learn, but this is fun! Can you tell the difference? Look these pictures over, then comment at the end of this post to register for a chance to win a pair of camera earrings.

This guy brightens up the shop. I just grin when I look at him. Handmade in Michigan.

"Josephine's Studio" is the name of this mother and daughter crafting duo making these whimsical bird pins from discarded upholstry fabric samples. Their names are both Josephine, aka Joey and Jo.

Notice the table surface under the pin above - we have a set of tables made from recycled metal cans!

We had the Josephines bring in a second batch last week. If your mom likes eco-funky pins, this would be a great Mother's Day gift.

More button jewelry has arrived! Button bracelets and pins. We have 3 different jewelry artists creating with vintage buttons. All made in Michigan.

This framed button message is great - "Friends are flowers in life's garden."

All charms & chains are 15% off through Mother's Day!

Sylvia and Katina restocked us with scrabble pendants. Do you play words with friends?

Found more keys. Fun to incorporate in jewelry and assemblage. As are these clock parts...

Vintage pots for your spring flowers or just to gather on a shelf.

Antique book. Practical Midwifery. I should have focused on the spine title... I'm still learning composition and lighting tricks.

Hope you enjoyed seeing photos of the shop. I'm loving my new camera.

And I'm lovin' these cute camera earrings...

If we get at least a dozen comments on this post, we'll do a drawing and one lucky poster will win these cute camera earrings (combined comments from blog or facebook).

Smile and say cheese.... and comment below for a chance to win!

Burlap Boutique bags at FOUND

mary@found — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 07:55:00 -0400

Teresa Rogers, owner of Burlap Boutique from Brighton, Michigan, brought more of the wonderful purses she makes from recycled burlap coffee bags into FOUND on Friday morning. She knows local coffee importers who roast fresh beans. This is the source of the burlap fabric she uses. I love the variety of graphics!

This artisan really takes repurposing a practical direction, making pieces that are sturdy, functional and great looking! From small bags to tuck a phone and wallet in - to roomy totes - to messenger bags big enough for a laptop, Teresa designs them all.

I like how she incorporates thrift shop belts for the handles on some of them. All the bags are lined with recycled fabrics, too. Great gift for a student!

We're happy to carry these Michigan made, eco-funky bags from Burlap Boutique at FOUND!

Daffodils in bloom and Spring Cleaning Time...

mary@found — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:23:50 -0400

It was a glorious day in Ann Arbor today and I played hooky from the shop to sit in the sunshine and go for a long walk. Saw clumps of daffodils in bloom along the way. This is one of my favorite flowers as it announces springtime with such a cheery attitude.

When I got home, I realized that this was still on the table in the living room where Easter bunnies should be:

While I love my collection of pottery angels from Michigan artist Carol Roeda, I usually put them back in the cabinet in January. Whoops!

A quick peak in the cabinet and I found what belongs on the table now:

Out came Harold, the bunny in the yellow jacket, and his bunny friends. Tomorrow I'll bring some new spring candles home from the shop and get our Easter baskets out. Ahhh...now winter is a thing of the past.

If you need some things to freshen up your home for Spring, FOUND is filled with wonderful new home accents and non-chocolate goodies to tuck in an Easter basket. Hop on it soon!

Now at FOUND: Antique Tin Expressions by Lori Daniels

mary@found — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 02:34:45 -0400

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to meet artist Lori Daniels and her life (and art) partner, Stephen White of Mapleton, Illinois. I brought back over 2 dozen pieces of Lori's art of various sizes from small 6x6 tiles to a huge 9 foot tall glazed painted tin totem collage.

This artwork is called Antique Tin Expressions because the "canvas" is actually antique embossed tin, mostly salvaged from tin ceiling panels, circa 1860 through the early 1900s. Lori mixes paints, resins and glazes in a unique manner to create the most amazing color effects on the tin pieces. With Stephen's assistance, the tiles are mounted on wood stretcher frames or assembled into collages. The effect is stunning!

Lori and Stephen share a love of antiques. She was once an antique dealer and Stephen is a noted Folk Art dealer and picker with a passion for great pieces. Their home and gardens are absolutely overflowing with antique collections which inspire the colors and patterns of her art. It was a true feast for the eyes (not to mention the feast of homemade french toast Lori feed me)!

Garden treasures filled the spaces between her porches and outbuildings. including a wonderful assortment of Victorian-era white iron benches, fabulous old tables, rusty garden chairs, architectural salvage, clay pots in antique holders, watering cans, signs with great patina, welded repurposed metal indians and other sculptures by various outsider artists. 2 old Coke machines formed surfaces she uses as workspaces to paint on. I left my camera in Ann Arbor... next time, the gardens will be in bloom and I promise to take pictures.

If I thought the yard and outbuildings were interesting, there was more to discover inside her home. Stuff filled every nook and cranny. Lori has been collecting Majolica pottery and could write a book on it - I saw painted cabinets filled with more of this amazing Victorian tin glazed pottery than I have ever seen at any antique show. She had it artfully arranged in vignettes with her painted tin original works. I could have spent a full day just exploring each room of her home.

Seeing the antique Majolica glazes displayed side-by-side with her handmixed trademark glazes made me understand her connection to the artists and potters of 100 year ago. From a distance her art resembles Pewabic tile. In fact the patterns in ceilings would minic the fireplace tiles and other decorative arts of the era. In this detail from one of Lori's totems, you can see the variety of patterns that can be found in the tin tiles she paints and glazes.

It was interesting to hear her refer to each style of tin by the name of the building it came out of. I purchased several pieces for the shop that she referred to as "International Harvester", from the building in Peoria that a distinctive pattern of tin ceiling tiles was salvaged.

Recently, Lori started incorporating vintage license plates, tin containers, hardware and other recycled items in her artwork. The bold vintage #6 is part of the series she calls "On the Road Again". That's something I say whenever I head off on a road trip, so of course I needed to bring a couple pieces from this collection back to FOUND!

Here's another tin "quilt square" (my term) with a vintage coffee tin - a perfect compliment to the mid-century California pottery on our table at the shop this week.

Art + antiques abounded! What fun to get to know the artist behind these unique pieces that have made their way to FOUND. Thanks to Stephen's packing skills, we fit more in to the van than you would think possible. Their studio and home were overflowing with creativity! From the fabulous pottery collections to the dozens of antique flagpoles in a pot in the corner, to a statue of St. Christoper at the top of the stairs, a gardian angel over the bed and blackened raku pots stylistically interspersed with her artwork surrounding the whirlpool - it was such a treat to get the grand tour of this artist's home!

Learn more about artist Lori Daniels at www.antiquetinexpressions.net. Or stop by our shop to see her work in Ann Arbor. If there are color palettes or particular pieces on her website that you are interested in, Lori will work with us to bring them to FOUND.

late night photos - pillows & more

mary@found — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 22:39:54 -0400

Earlier this week, we got a shipment of wonderful new pillows (handmade in USA) and some other fun things. We've been busy getting the shop restocked. I stayed late at the shop the other night freshening up displays and adding the new vintage merchandise, too. Here are a few photos taken late at night, without proper lighting....

This seamstress also sent placemats: Sit. Eat.

Stop by soon. We've been gathering more fresh accents for home decor and gifts. You never know what you'll find at FOUND!

More vintage finds at FOUND

mary@found — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:59:06 -0400

Don't have time to write now, but wanted to show you a few more of our recent vintage additions to the shop. More coming in almost every day. I like it best when FOUND is a combination of vintage and fun new things seamlessly mixed...

More later!

I Spy...something green

mary@found — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:43:45 -0400

St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow. The day that we give 17% off anything in the store that has even a little bit of green in it. For our blog readers, we'll continue the sale through Sunday - the first day of Spring. Just mention the blog when you check out on St. Patrick's Day or throughout the weekend.

Look around the shop and see what you can spy with the color green. Like this frame made from old computer motherboards.

And all of the Green Daffodil soy candles - not because the wax is green, but because the label has the color green on it. Even a little bit of green does the trick.

We have lots of flowers that look real - all of them have green stems, so they are included, t00.

Here are a few more things with touches of green that you will find at FOUND...

Spy something you like that has the color green in it OR on the label. Then, mention this blog post when you check-out and save some green at FOUND (March 17 - March 20, 2011).

And may the Luck of the Irish be with you,

Mary

Vintage March Finds...

mary@found — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:09:54 -0500

I got my finding mojo back! For the past week I have been washing and cleaning and pricing vintage finds like crazy. It's been almost a year since I had any old barkcloth fabric in stock, but I found 6 panels on Friday, soaked them in Biz overnight, washed, rinsed, rinsed again and drip-dried the panels, then I took them into the shop for you to make pillows or bags with (or even use as curtains).

This pictoral barkcloth has the perfect colors to go with our dotty Easter eggs and polka dot candles. I think it would work well as a spring or summer tablecloth, too.

Found some sweet vintage Blue Ridge pottery dishes.

Vintage chickens and pottery vases. Still have a bunch of pots to clean up and take in tomorrow afternoon. I'm starting to get a garden section set up in the back - today our shipment of garden benches came in. They are new, but in the old style that fits in a curve around a tree. Some assembly required.... need to add that to my list!

Anybody remember the 60's spaghetti glass? They are glass with a rubberized pattern on the outside. Mostly made as lemonade sets with a pitcher. We have 8 of the colorful glasses.

The colors go great with our Easter egg display.

Whenever I find pyro-glazed juice glasses or tumblers in bright reds and greens, I pick them up. They mix and match with each other. Fun to collect!

You know I love vintage paper. We brought in LOTS more sheet music recently. And found 4 of these Boy Scout posters - they would be great framed. Be a good Scout!

Actually, that reminds me of my days as a Cub Scout. Unofficial Cub Scout, that is... of course girls couldn't join, but since mom was a den leader, I got to do all kinds of fun things with my brother's pack before I was old enough to be a Brownie.

That's it for tonight. My kitchen counter and dishwasher are stacked with more vintage goodies that I need to get out of my house and into the store.

Regards,

Mary

hints of Spring....

mary@found — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:45:39 -0500

Even though there is still a foot of snow on the ground in Ann Arbor, this little vintage birdie reminds me that spring is on its way.

Until I can actually see the daffodils peeking through the dirt, I like to surround myself with hints of springtime....

Our Spring candles and florals have started to arrive.

The AuGres Sheep Factory sent a new flock of soft boucle lambs. It is lambing season, after all.

I reordered these sweet little birds on stones - a whole flock of them!

Stop in and see what else we've found, as we make the welcome transition from winter to spring.

Regards,

Mary