A project with Eddie Ross

I am very fortunate to live in a small town, Millerton, NY 100 miles north of New York City,  also to have a great neighbor and friend, Eddie Ross and his partner Jaithan Kochar.  Eddie called one day saying he had found an amazing 19th century apothecary jar and would like to have it made into a lamp.  I so love to get interesting pieces to make into lamps.  Most days I look at just about anything for a lamp, a bottle, carved table leg. old pieces of metal in any form.  I get so excited when I get these type of projects, Eddie had the same enthusiasm about it.

Once the lamp is done, we were only half way there.  The next part is the shade, picking the right shape and material to accent the lamp.  Eddie wanted a barrel shaped shade, I suggested we use a wonderful seagrass paper to offset the sleek glass. Visit Eddie’s blog to read all about this great project.

I hope this inspires you to look at every day objects, treasures you find and family heirlooms  in a whole new way.  The simple gracefulness of this bottle will be enjoyed for years and surely make Eddie and Jaithan smile.

Getting ready for the cold

The cold weather in nearly here,  most of the beautiful fall leaves have dropped. The news  is full of all the things one needs to do to prevent the common cold or flu.  Keeping a box of tissues at hand is high on the list.

I could not agree with them more, but those boxes are very ugly (sorry Kleenex makers, they are).  I have a box in every room of my house. Here are some of Shandell’s tissue boxes, great to hide the ugly one’s we all have.

These make great gifts, get one for yourself and smile as you reach for your tissues.

Stay healthy and warm.

Pumpkins are everywhere this time of year

The potters of the Mid 19th century experimented in the most amazing shapes and glazes.

Lucky for us so many examples survived the changing times.

I wonder what the artist’s of that time would think of how I transform them.

I could not resist this pair,  perfect for this time of year. There shape, chunky and round,

just like the pumpkins we have been decorating our homes with.

I paired them with a great paper made with leaves running throughout.

Bring a bit of nature indoors to make you smile.

House Beautiful, 250 Gifts under $25.00

The editors at House Beautiful selected Shandell’s Matches as one the best gifts for under $25.00 this holiday season.  Visit Shandell’s studio or online store for an amazing variety of matches to fulfill your holiday needs.

No holiday season will be more challenging than this one. How to afford a gift that’s really special, but doesn’t bust the budget? The handmade matchboxes from Shandell’s of Millerton, NY, will make gift giving personal and fun: a beautiful gift, but also useful—who doesn’t need matches, whether in the kitchen or for lighting candles or a fire? And just $14.

As a hostess gift, they will last longer than a bottle of wine or a box of cookies, and our large collection of styles—each drawn from our unrivaled 30-year collection of vintage imagery—would match any décor.

I am extremely honored to be selected.  A friend and fellow blogger Anne Harwell’s note cards of her wonderful chairs were also included in this great list.  Stay tuned to see what Anne and I have in store for the Holiday Season.

Susan

Fall, my favorite season for change.

Recently, I was reading one of my favorite blogs The Sister Project.

Each month I start off reading Sheilaa Hite’s horoscope and find that she has an amazing ability to sum up my life(I am a true Capricorn).  This months she talks about  “The whirlwind swirling around you is real.”  Well this is so true.

I was on a hunting trip a couple of weeks ago and found a large number of 19th century indoor shutters.  Fell in love with them.  Came back to my studio without them, pondering what can I do with all of these beautiful shutters.

I have been in my new studio space for a year and it needed a shake up.  Perfect, these shutters carved out a much needed office space for me to create in, at the same time gave the front of the studio a wonderful back drop for my fabulous collections.

Here is a snap shot of the new studio space, I am still working at putting together the office. Curtains are being made, lamps being rearranged.  I will keep you posted.

If you are in the area, stop by and see.  If not browse my online shop.

Enjoy the change of season’s. I am having a blast. Have a great weekend.

Susan

Nothing Better than a Good Scrap Yard, Part 2

This summer I was on a hunting trip in upstate New York, stumbled on a great organized junk/scrap yard.  There was a section for everything.  I could not contain myself, all I thought was how I was going to get all of my treasures home.  There was a 19th century iron garden gate, I love these.  They have a history, I use my imagination to wonder who were the people who walked through the gate.  The center pieces was the only thing left to salvage, the iron scroll work was beautiful.

On my way home I stopped at my welders and dropped them off.  These are the lamps, vintage industrial with style.

The fun part about what I do, is I get to find incredible hand made papers form all over the world new and old to make lampshades for the lamps that get created from my hunting trips.  This paper I found this spring in New York.  The paper is a light version of Kraft paper with scrolls of espresso and bronzes screened on it. A perfect match for these lamps.

If you are in the area stop by to see works in progress or visit my online shop.

Have a great weekend.

Susan

Good Witches or Bad Witches

Recently I went on a hunting trip for vintage images.  Not that I need more, but you can never have enough.

I stumbled upon a postcard album from the early 1900′s, that came from upstate New York.  As I turned the pages this wonderful original water color appeared.  I fell in love with it.  For all the years of collecting I never found such a wonderful Halloween image.  Not signed, I wonder who the artist was.

Perfect for Shandell’s matches.  What a fabulous way to light your Halloween night.

Simply Stated

Kate Parker from SimplyStated a blog from RealSimple.com, shared my work with her readers.  I was honored to have her write about me.  Grateful I am to be able to make things with my hands and make people smile.

Kate said “Handmade gifts have that extra special, personal touch – and it’s always nice to support independent artisans. At $14, these match boxes are an affordable and unique  present – plus it’s something everyone needs.”  The “Met Opera” matches were one of her favorites.

Thank you Kate for sharing my work.
Susan

Dorothy Draper would have loved these.

These fabulous ginger jar shaped lamps, with gesso flowers came right from the Dorothy Draper era. They are classical and funky wrapped into one. The tone on tone feeling is soothing.  I have found quite a few examples of gesso decorated lamp bases lately.  This is the first of a series that I will be doing this fall.  The gesso is normally white, but I have found a few lamp bases that the gesso has been colored. The imagination of the artists back then are amazing.  Someone must have filled a pastry bag with gesso and decorated the lamp bases just like a wedding cake.

I topped them off with a great pair of cream colored sea grass hexagon lampshades.  Bringing a twist to these bases.  The sea grass has the wonderful warm tones of the lamps.  These lamps would be a welcome addition to any home.

If you are in the area stop by and see or visit my online store.

Enjoy,

Susan

Sexy, Retro & Irresistible

Pin Up Girls have been documented since the late 1890′s, but the girls from the 1920′s to the 1960′s are the most notable.  Showing up on calenders, matchbook covers, in ad campaigns and more.  These woman always had a smile, dressed in a little or a lot of clothing, they allowed your imagination to be free.

I have fallen in love with these.  The first ones I ever came across was in 1990, I was on a house call for antiques and in the lot of goods that I purchased was an entire series of girls.  I sold them all but two that I keep in my bedroom.  I do look back and wished I keep the others, but since I am this mad collector I have found so many more for my collection.

Shandell’s match boxes seemed like a perfect “match” for these lovely ladies.  I hope they get you to smile for a while.

The “Daily Tattler” is one of my favorites.

Enjoy,

Susan