Last week, in the course of my daily folk art search on Etsy, I stumbled upon something exciting: something better than old needlework, more interesting than your typical duck sculpture. This was a cache of the most amazing rings I’d ever laid eyes upon, and there had to be a story behind them.

I wrote to the shop owner, Constance, in the hopes of finding out more info. The story just got better. In fact, it went back over seventy years, to the days when the rings’ handy creator, Bob Dodd, was a sailor. According to Constance:

Bob said that when he started as a sailor in 1937, making rings from celluloid was a crafty thing to do, but few people made more than one or two because the process was so time consuming and labor intensive. Each of these intricate rings was made by hand — without the use of molds or melting — by cutting up raw materials such as old celluloid toothbrushes, hand mirrors, vanity trays, combs, piano keys, guitar picks, umbrella handles, pocket knife handles, accordion pieces. (Bob said he once even used a piece from the windshield of a helicopter or small plane.) These pieces are then filed, pieced together, and filed again. This process can take a master craftsman a day or more to complete.

Today Constance is selling a portion of her collection of Bob’s rings, in the hopes of funding efforts to make them herself. Bob was a true folk art hero, and I can only hope to own one of these elaborate pieces someday.

Read the whole story on the Etsy Blog.

Oh my. Do you know what these are? (Dismembered Sasquatch arms? Bear claws, minus the claws?) Hold your guesses! They’re actually vintage stagecoach driver gloves. Totally brings to mind the long, snowy drives from Little House on the Prairie, when Almanzo would go and pick up Laura from her terrible teaching job. Through blizzards, ice and a frigid twelve mile drive (each way!), they’d drive in silence across the prairie, huddled under a bearskin. Oh, courtship!

Pick up Little House if you haven’t read it in a decade or two. It totally holds up, and it’s a yearly tradition for me to re-read the series. All the talk of cozy sod houses built into the ground, clean hay and corn cob dolls just make me feel all warm and gooey inside.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: pottery rules me. Claywork provokes my most covetous urges. Just…want…all of it.

Oh, the dreaded cone of shame! These salt and pepper shakers by Rogue Taxidermy are both tragic and adorable. Love!

Yevgeniya Kilupe, a Latvian Holocaust survivor and self-taught artist, started making masks to supplement her pension after a life of working in a factory. The Etsy Blog was lucky enough to interview this tiny lady and check out her process. Not only is she totally adorable — her masks are incredible!

Read more on the Etsy Blog.

ENH! So in love with this little herd of pup pins. I want, I want!

Find more at Ginette Lapalme.

Twin Peaks is a series that screams “fall” to me. I can’t hear the intro without thinking of snuggling up under a blanket, cherry pie and a “damn fine cup of coffee.” The characters are so lovable, but often bizarre — Nadine and her eyepatch (and curtains), the backwards-speaking little person, Laura Palmer. There are infinitely more reasons to love this show, but ultimately, it’s certainly lives up to its cult status — which results in an incredible breadth and variety of fan art. Case in point, these can-size, miniature dioramas that show key moments from the series, including “the red room,” the scene of the crime (that’s Laura in a plastic bag, not a weird doobie, FYI) and many others.

Find more can-size dioramas in Box Artig’s shop on Etsy.

I first came across Kara Gunter’s smoke-fired ceramic eggs on Etsy. Intrigued by the premise, I looked up her website and the art project where the eggs originated, entitled “Trial by Fire.” I was not disappointed: the salt, smoke and ceramics are like candy to me! Kara’s artistic statement explains her motivations:

According to fire ecology — the study of fire and its relationship to living organisms — fire is a necessity for propagation. Certain plant life has evolved to depend on fire as a means to clear out the old and dying so new life can take hold. Seeds are split open by the heat, and the ground is fertile with ash.

Trial by Fire explores themes of devastation followed by the cycle of rebirth. Referenced are eggs, seeds and cast away skins, all signs that the metamorphosis has begun. Salt, also attributed with purifying and preservation, suspends the moment of purity in time, holding the cycle’s completion in stasis.

The majority of the work created for Trial by Fire, utilizes fire in some way in its fabrication. Clay must be exposed to extreme heat to become vitreous. Furthermore, clay work has been stained with fire and smoke in the smoke-firing process. Paper and wood have been blistered and scorched with fire.

So beautiful. Many of the pieces are now for sale on Etsy.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a muff like this rabbit fur kitten. The attached head! The missing eye! (I’m a sucker for a cyclops.) I feel envious of the child that kept her paws warm inside this little bit of cute antiquity.

(No actual kittens harmed. I can’t speak for the bunnies, unfortunately.)

[Via Pinterest, home of all things good.]

[Clockwise: Vintage Furry Man; Vintage Cast Iron Crab; Matte Wavy Band; Vintage Humo Frames; Raw Chocolate Tea Pot; 1930s Bakelite Timer; Vintage Straw Handbag; Original Abstract Painting; Antique Woven Willow Chest; Vintage Beacon Blanket Pillows; Rustic Jug; Pedro Pujol Abstract Copper Sculpture]

So, my birthday is next week. I received several concerned emails about what I’d like to receive as a gift; I’ve been told that I’m very hard to buy for. (True. So true.) I haven’t decided yet if I’m actually going through with a party or not. All I really want is a freshly made pie (peach), some sweet cards and a vacation — and I’m taking all of next week off, in fact! Cape Cod, here we come.

However, if I had my way, here are some gifts I would open with great glee. Mostly that beautiful matte gold ring.

I’ve been a fan of Juliet Gorman’s ceramics for quite a while; over a year, in fact. I’ve observed the Internet explode over her work — and rightly so, because it’s so damn beautiful! — and all the while I’ve sat on the sidelines, watching her style develop. You see, Juliet is not only my colleague at Etsy, but she’s also a friend. I absolutely admire her aesthetic, and I made a point to venture out to Renegade Craft Fair to snag a necklace (my new favorite and in constant rotation). At long last, her work is for sale on Etsy. Check out her shop at Digoyo.

I’m trying to keep myself from buying this amazing antique sleep mask from Ethanollie (look at the eyes!), so I thought I’d post it here, in the hopes that someone else would buy it.

And….go!

[Clockwise from left: Horse Hair Belt; Ulpu Earrings; Antique Wooden Elephant; Vintage Lace Wide-Leg Pants; Vintage Rocking Horse; Vintage Abacus Lamp; Kilim Cube Stool; 1940s Clarion Bakelite Radio; Coney Island Photographs, Circa 1940; Brutalist Wrought Iron Candle Holders]

I’ve been hoarding all kinds of goodies in my Etsy cart. I’m not sure if I’ll ever actually have the guts to wear lace pants, but damn if I don’t think about it often! (And what a nice breeze for summer.) Also, the horse hair belt? Incredible.

Thanks to an in-the-know commenter, I’ve been informed that the elephant above is a classic Schoenhut toy from the 1930s. I’ve since fallen down a Schoenhut hole on eBay — so many incredible designs, and all wooden! In addition to wooden animals (many circus-themed), they also made realistic dolls and miniature musical instruments, like this player piano. Their clown toy is the stuff nightmares are made of! Thanks for the tip, Robin!

Each photo links to the furniture in question.

As I can’t seem to curb my pottery addiction, I’m constantly stumbling across it on Etsy. Then buying it. Then attempting to find a place for it in my crowded apartment. Here are some of my favorites from this week. Check out that ceramic lantern!

[Clockwise: Hand Built Ceramic Lantern; Stoneware Vase by Theo Helmstadter; Striped West German Vase; Yellow and Blue Bowl by DiTerra; Eggshell Vessel by Modine Pottery; Folded Miso Bowl by Pigeon Toe Ceramics; Blue and White Jar; Teapot by BellaCosset]

Just discovered the lovely swimwear of Minnow Bathers via Fieldguided’s Etsy faves. The first suit is, to turn a phrase, “sex on wheels.”

Do you use Circles on Etsy? Crucial to find neat stuff your friends are favoriting!

The tools of the optometrist trade make for great conversation.

Find it here.

Enh!

Plush sculptor kusjkjkjk creates the most animated, Muppet-like creatures. These adorable dogs appear as photographs in children’s books but can also be posed in stop motion animation. I’m charmed. Find them on Etsy.

Here I am in Iowa, sixteen inches of snow on the ground and a self-proclaimed blawggin’ hiatus currently underway…but I just couldn’t stay off the internet. Nope, addicted.  Then I saw this glorious felt and fur wall hanging by Modern Fiber Lab and I just had to share. It’s like a matted pelt! (My favorite.) If I was loaded, this would be in my living room right this second.

Back to hiatus, and happy Christmas!

[Via Shavingkit's sumptuous Treasury]

If trash is treasure — and it usually is, as my raccoon-like rooting instincts are now honed to a science — then my used Q-Tips are eagerly awaiting their second life from the cloistered comforts of my bathroom garbage can. Yes, you heard me correctly: waxy Q-Tips, stale potato chips, and used Bandaids — the refuse that only bottom-feeding pets with a penchant for choking usually deign to touch? — are now cast currency, and beautiful at that. In Danielle deCongé’s Rescued Refuse jewelry collection, she “brings life to overlooked familiar forms rather than creating new ones. She transforms objects such as orange peels, potato chips, toothpicks, and coffee sleeves by employing traditional metalsmthing techniques.”

I’m pretty in lust with the pearl-and-broken-champagne-bottle earrings.

P.S. You can rot in hell, bedbugs. Get out of my trash cans and let me root in peace!

[Via]

It’s a humid, heavy rain kind of day here in Brooklyn. Fifty-six degrees is not really normal for December! I never thought I’d say it, but I can’t wait for cold that freezes the inside of my nose and snow deep enough to fall in, Iowa style. Bring it on.

[Via]

The horsehair and weave jewelry trend is finally starting to take off on Etsy, and I couldn’t be happier. This bangin’ pair of vintage horsehair duster earrings by Dollybird are on my holiday wish list. Gift guides to come!

P.S. That lip color is something else. I want that too!

This blanket coat is equal parts beer guzzlin’ at the high school football game and high fashion. The plaid — sweet jeebus. Want.

This Spanish shrine is so petite and cute! I love the handmade details, the scrolling artwork and the closing doors. Find it on Etsy.

This antique dressing mirror is magic! I love the muddled glass.

There’s something about the label on that honey jar that just….calls to me. The story behind the makers, River Farm RI, also sounds pretty dreamy: “River Farm sits on the sunny bank of the Narrow River in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. The farm is home to a flock of Merino sheep, Remy their watchful companion dog, and pot-bellied pig friends Bernie and Ernie. We produce fresh eggs, culinary lavender, honey, and organically processed Merino wool in a range of the sheep’s natural colors.” Pot-bellied pigs and a farm?! Paradise.

In my never-ending search for a decent wall calendar for the coming year (because iPhone calendars aren’t very nostalgic or cute, and I love to turn the page at the end of the month), I felt I’d seen everything: generic and not-even-ironic cat calendars, cat calendars that cost $50 (cough, you know who you are), blah letterpressed things and an endless array of “seasonal photographs” set to the months. Yawn! Then I came across the I Heart Brooklyn Girls 2011 calendar, inspired by classic vintage queer pulp covers. This is so cheeky and fun! I love the set-ups and costuming, and the titles are amazing.

I am a sucker for any allusion to pulp fiction, but queer pulp is definitely the most interesting in my eyes. Read some Ann Bannon and you’ll see what I mean! Just totally groundbreaking for the time period and a real cultural barometer for the ’40s and ’50s. What’s your favorite pulp novel?

This Frida-esque doll by Petra Hilbert is incredible. No detail was left to chance, including a tiny embroidered mustache, delicate lace sleeves and adorable headdress. Love!

Add a little fairy tale magic and you’ll find Hilbert’s set of illustrated decorative plates, inspired by her story “A Girl With a Heart on Palm.” Multitalented much? I’m especially fond of the first in the series, with the little girl riding a deer with a clutched heart.

Oma Vintage is just killing it lately. So many classic looks and such great styling!