Thrift Tales #4: November 2020’s Tiny Haul
Welcome to #4 in my monthly Thrift Tales series. This month, I find myself contemplating whether three items can really be called a “haul.” If I’m being honest, it’s not even a full three, since one is more of an honorable mention. I guess I’m just feeling down about it because November was such an abysmal thrifting month for me…
I have a handful of shops I frequent pretty regularly, but with things being what they are in the world right now I had not been to one flea market in particular since earlier this year. I’m sad to say in the past few months it has become a lot more “flea” and a lot less “market.” Far too many of the booth spaces are just dusty junk heaps now. And not the fun sort where if you dig hard enough you can find something awesome for a steal… no, the type instead where you have to dig to find something filthy that then has an eBay level price tag on it. I hope this one manages to turn itself around, but I certainly won’t be back any time soon.
I did find this adorable brass bunny there for only $1. I only have a few brass figurines, none of which I have ever polished, but I decided to polish this one with Brasso to see how it would turn out and I love it! It is so shiny and golden. It has a bit of a kawaii vibe to me, which is not something I have felt of a brass figurine before.
Next I found a sealed pack of UNO cards from 1988! I love the retro design. UNO was a frequent choice on our family game nights, so I can’t imagine how many games of it I must have played so far. I paid about $2.50 for these.
Lastly, this one is more of an honorable mention because it doesn’t exactly fall under my definition of “thrifting.” I mostly consider thrifting to be anything purchased secondhand at a reasonable price, but I’ve never thought of online shopping as part of that. In my mind, thrifting involves running across things by chance, not purposefully searching for them online with the intent to purchase. Does that makes any sense? It’s a flexible definition for me, but I’m just throwing this one in since I have so little to share this month.
“The Best of Making Things: A Hand Book of Creative Discovery” by Ann Sayre Wiseman is a a craft book for kids from the 90’s which combines two volumes from the 70’s. I discovered it through a recommendation on a crafting podcast I listened to recently. This book teaches a lot of basic crafting methods, from simple ideas such as painting vegetables to use as stamps to more interesting techniques such as making paper from vegetable fibers.
Isn’t it fun when secondhand books have old notes in them like this. Apparently Phil is a fan of marbelized paper. I paid about $6.50 for this from thriftbooks.com and I can’t wait to try some of the projects.
Not much of a haul I admit, but hopefully December brings better luck. As COVID-19 cases are surging following the Thanksgiving holidays, I still don’t intend to try any true thrift shops soon, but I’m doing my best to enjoy this hobby of mine however I can safely do so. I usually try to leave you with a large gallery of interesting things I found and did not purchase, but, alas, even that’s going to be lackluster this month folks. That’s how thrifting goes though – you win some, you lose some.
How are you handling thrifting during the COVID-19 pandemic?
