Vintage Desecration - Things Altered/Repurposed, and a Vintage Treasure Lost Forever.

[Marc Chevalier]

You can split that hair all you want to but you know exactly what Im talking about.

My devil's barrister was advocating, but he's recently been fired for excessive silliness.


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[Marc Chevalier]

... everyone I knew growing up would cut that big [Levi Strauss] label off the back [of Levi's] -- it never would have occurred to them to leave it on, because tags were *supposed* to be cut off.

Wow! Very interesting. I wonder if that was common practice? It could explain why vintage denim collectors pay higher prices for vintage Levi's that still have the patch label attached. Perhaps they're harder to find?

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[Bruce Wayne]

.Again, why don't we mind that our cars have the manufacturers' names and logos emblazoned on them? Our cars envelop us just like our clothes do. When inside our cars, we can be seen --and judged-- by others from the outside. Still, we don't complain that our armor has "Nissan" written on it.


(Our ancestors did seem to mind. Their carriages and wagons were unlogo'd.)
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The only logos on my truck is a bowtie on the grille & a couple of Vette cross flags on the front fenders.

Yes, that makes sense. Begs the question: is it illegal for an owner to remove the logo and name from his/her own car?

No.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

My devil's barrister was advocating, but he's recently been fired for excessive silliness.


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lol lol lol lol

That argument has already been made anyway....

 

[Fidena]

Is anyone else disgusted by this?

Apparently people buy beautiful old typewriters on ebay, then cut the glass keys off for necklaces or bracelets. I've seen a few auctions where it's expressly said in the description you could cut off the keys for necklaces- even offering free shipping if you only want the keys.

 

[Shangas]

You're a bit late to the party. There's already a thread about this subject nine pages long, about how terrible it is that people destroy history.

 

[scotrace]

Mergement.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

"Stimpank" Russian Style

At a Russian watch forum that I frequent I came upon links to these images of jewelry made from watch components. :eeek:
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f10/becareful-women-638432.html#post4656400

 

[bunnyb.gal]

Oh, if that isn't just about 10 shades of ugly...what sick minds think this stuff up? :eeek:

 

[nihil]

I actually like it. Besides there are endless number of dead watches around, why not use some of them to make something useful? In many cases such watches have so little value that they are simply ending up as landfill.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Dead watches are a good source for parts, especially for repairing movements that are no longer in production -- which includes a good amount of vintage watches.

 

[Warden]

Edna is off inspecting the restoration of our two 1940's living room chairs.

I am sitting here hoping they have not sanded off the CC41 mark.

A rather worried Harry

http://t.co/yUpZ0yJx

 

[Kahuna]

When I first heard of it the steampunk movement kind of fascinated me with it's repurposing of all those gears and industrial parts. But now I realize that a lot of old typewriters, clocks, etc. are being torn apart for what will probably be a 5 year fad. It's kind of sad to think of all the stuff that will never have the chance to be restored to original condition.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I recently rescued a late-twenties Big Ben alarm clock that would have been likely bait for steampunkery if I hadn't gotten to it -- lots of brass gears, etc, but it had a broken mainspring and was covered with filth and grime. A five minute soak in some soapy water for the casing, run some naphtha thru the works, and punch a new hole in the broken end of the spring with an eyeletting tool, and it's now ticking happily away on my desk.

Moral of the story, just because *you* think it can't be fixed doesn't mean it can't be. Chances are there's little more wrong with it than ten or fifteen minutes with a screwdriver and a good cleaning couldn't put right -- so please, think twice about chopping it up for gimmicky jewelry or decor.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I recently rescued a late-twenties Big Ben alarm clock that would have been likely bait for steampunkery if I hadn't gotten to it -- lots of brass gears, etc, but it had a broken mainspring and was covered with filth and grime. A five minute soak in some soapy water for the casing, run some naphtha thru the works, and punch a new hole in the broken end of the spring with an eyeletting tool, and it's now ticking happily away on my desk.

Moral of the story, just because *you* think it can't be fixed doesn't mean it can't be. Chances are there's little more wrong with it than ten or fifteen minutes with a screwdriver and a good cleaning couldn't put right -- so please, think twice about chopping it up for gimmicky jewelry or decor.

In all probability I'll bet all some of these movements needed was some cleaning to get them working again.
http://biser.info/node/285718

Apparently it's from a Russian or Ukrainian beadcraft forum.

Translation:
комплект а-ля стимпанк "Власть времени"
Komplekt a-lya stimpank "Vlast' Vremeni"
"The Power of Time" -- A steampunk-style set

 

[RodeoRose]

Personally, I will even keep things that are irreparable if they're older and have aesthetic value. Now I've got a shelf full of '20s frocks now that are too shattered to wear, but I'd never dream of repurposing them; they're valuable references. Just fifty years from now, think how rare it will be to find unmodified objects from the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th; it's so crucial to keep as much of this intact as possible. (I know I'm preaching to the choir now; I only wish more people thought along these lines )

Oh, and this thread puts me in mind of this ghastly site, which I'm sure many of you have come across. It really breaks my heart to see this woman blithely destroying perfectly gorgeous furniture to bring it "up to date". How sad that character has become a commodity.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think part of the problem is that there's a whole generation out there that's been raised to think of things as disposable -- if something doesn't work, it's no good, throw it away. The idea that some things were *made to be repairable* is completely alien to them -- I hear this kind of thing most often applied to mechanical items like clocks and typewriters, and it never occurs to the "upcycling" crowd that the vast majority of such items they're likely to find are either functional already or can be very easily made so. But it applies to clothing and furniture as well -- a lot of things get destroyed because of a small rip that can easily be fixed, or just because the person doing the destroying doesn't like the style. Why not leave it for someone who'll appreciate it for what it is?

The most hideous "upcycled" thing I ever saw was a bookcase actually made out of books -- hardcovers from the teens and twenties, mostly, coated in some kind of goo and cemented into solid masses. To anyone who really loves books, that's like encasing your best friend in resin and using her as a coatrack.

 

[Edward]

There was some kid up Brick Lane a couple of years ago had a stall selling 60s and later tweed blazers (Harris and the like - good stuff) which some cretin had taken the sleeves off and replaced with those from an early 80s-style tracksuit. Vile and pointless. On the other hand, I've seen some nice manbags made from old Harris Tweed jackets that were beyond saving but yielded just enough for a bag.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Personally, I will even keep things that are irreparable if they're older and have aesthetic value. Now I've got a shelf full of '20s frocks now that are too shattered to wear, but I'd never dream of repurposing them; they're valuable references. Just fifty years from now, think how rare it will be to find unmodified objects from the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th; it's so crucial to keep as much of this intact as possible. (I know I'm preaching to the choir now; I only wish more people thought along these lines )

Oh, and this thread puts me in mind of this ghastly site, which I'm sure many of you have come across. It really breaks my heart to see this woman blithely destroying perfectly gorgeous furniture to bring it "up to date". How sad that character has become a commodity.

And what's with the color white on everything??? The after pics of the furniture remind me of the kind of faux-art furniture popular with Saudi princes and the late Saddam Hussein.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Welcome to the world of "shabby chic." It's supposed to be inspired by the sort of furniture found in the summer cottages of New England WASP aristocrats -- pieces that were too worn for the Main House and were sent up to the place in Bar Harbor after being painted to match the surroundings. Unfortunately, unless you actually *are* a New England WASP aristocrat and have an actual cottage in Bar Harbor, to which you are sending the worn-out pieces from your Main House, the whole thing is terribly terribly twee.