I work with vintage costume jewelry pieces and rework them into One-of-A-Kind pieces for my OAK jewelry line. Living in Vancouver, it's almost impossible to find fantastic, reasonably priced pieces in good condition. So of course that means field-trips!Last Tuesday I booked my first Zip Car (a Prius, naturally!) and picked up my good friend Stephanie Prins and hit the road to White Rock. It's a smaller city about a 35 minute drive from Vancouver, close to the US border and right on the ocean - which is my favorite part of going there. Any small city or town on the coastline immediately goes way up in my estimation. White Rock is full of lots of old people who drive real slow and it reminds me a little bit of my hometown, Victoria BC - which is on an island, and yes, surrounded by ocean.
Steph and I hit 3 thrift stores all within walking distance of each other. I would recommend Superfluity if you are looking for some serious chachkas . . . they had a fantastic collection of vintage glass dishes, china dishes, figurines, and ceramics. All very reasonably priced. I had heard about this thrift store a couple of years ago after a customer mentioned it to me. I always thought the name kind of odd - until I figured it out - it comes from superfluous!
1 a: excess , oversupply b: something unnecessary or superfluous
Ah.
The last shop we hit up turned out to be a gold mine in my books. I'm looking forward to working with all these lovely bits and pieces for my OAK line in the weeks to come. Check out that little owl - how cute is he? He had a manky piece of fur in his belly that was a bit creepy - I almost left him there. At the last minute I changed my mind and scooped him up. I've now taken the fur out of his belly and I will replace it with a pretty flower or perhaps a glass gemstone? Not sure yet. Keep posted!
2 comments:
Saw you on Stephen and Chris (my boyfriends lol) and loved your stuff and your attitude! When it comes to design, it really IS about pleasing yourself first. Arriving at the "It's so cute" moment is always so exciting!
Good luck!
Very cool! It feels like most of the thrift stores in Vancouver are really picked over. Maybe because most people haven't lived here/don't stay here their entire lives? Less of that "I'm dumping my grandma's entire estate". Which are, of course, the best scores! lol
There's a big antique store/barn across the border on the way to Bellingham I always want to stop at, but never do. I need to make it a day trip with other crafty folks instead of the boyfriend. One of these days! :)
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