Hornsea Owl Salt and Pepper Pots

I have wanted these forever - and now they're mine! Bought from a local second-hand/junk shop. 

Mr Pepper has a tiny chip on his ear, but that's fine, it made them affordable instead of the usual silly prices they go for on Ebay. 

Linking to Thrift Share Tuesday

The joy of imperfection

I've mentioned this in passing before, but this Hornsea vase reminded me of the strange happiness found in the not-quite-perfect thrift find. 

The glaze is slightly "crazed", meaning it should not be used to hold water but is fine just sitting there being pretty.  Most importantly, it frees me from the need to check prices on ebay and feel that I should sell it on.

I can keep it and enjoy it myself!

I have found that items in thrift shops fall into one of three categories :

- Good enough to sell, even if I really want to keep it

- A bit manky - mine, all mine!

- Lovely item, but way too damaged to buy, I recently had to leave behind a badly crazed Stavangerflint casserole and serving dish, and another Hornsea vase.

Thriftshare

Considering it was still the school holidays here last week, I managed to have a good thrifting week.

My favourite find of the year so far - this little Hornsea Studio Planter.  I love the slightly muted colours which seem to fit in well with most of my colour schemes, and the unusual texture, which manages to be both matt and glazed at the same time.

I was attracted to this bright original watercolour, maybe because it reminded me of some of my favourite places in Northern France.

After some Googling, I was surprised to find it's a view of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia.

I have a bit of a stationery problem.  I really love it, especially notebooks, but I can never bring myself to use them.  I don't know what I think I'm saving them for, but somehow my boring everyday scribbles don't seem worthy of such nice ones.

So, that's four more for the stash, then.

Hope everyone had a good week, looking forward to seeing everyones thrifting finds.

Linking up to Flea Market Finds  at Her Library Adventures
and
Thrift Share Monday at Apron Thrift Girl.

Bird-themed Thrifting

Not for the first time I find myself with an accidental thrifting theme - this time it's birds.

This lovely fat little crystal bird turned out to be made by Hadeland of Norway when I got it home and removed the price label from the bottom.  I'm not normally a big fan of crystal, but this is such an attractive, simple shape.  

I am a big fan of John Clappison's designs, especially his animal mugs, so I was really happy to find this Hornsea chicken family mug.  It must be 40+ years old, but the glaze is still as rich and glossy as new.

This owl vase/pot is a bit of a mystery item, and I paid a bit more than my usual thrifting limit for it.  

Confession time : I was immediately drawn to it, not sure if it was the slightly John Clappison style of the design or the red lava-style glaze.  I carried it around while I browsed the rest of the shop, decided it was too expensive and then hid it behind some books while I went to have a think about it.  Does anyone else ever do that?  

Well, obviously I went back for it, having Googled it on my phone in the meantime and found no trace of it, therefore convincing myself that I was unlikely to ever find another one and would regret not buying it.  It's made by the Tyn Llan pottery in Wales, but that's all I know.  Googling has only brought up images of big chunky pottery mugs with Celtic knotwork designs - no animals.  Any information gratefully received.

Linking up to Thrift Share Monday and Flea Market Finds

I'm back

after a slightly longer break than intended.

Having spent most of the summer holiday de-cluttering and tidying, I've been trying to exercise some self-control in my thrifting.

It's rude not to browse charity shops after you've just donated bags of stuff, though, isn't it?

I seem to have accidentally adopted a red/orange theme in my recent buys.  They're not colours I normally buy, but I am enjoying their cheerful presence in my kitchen at the moment.

This "Thetford" heat-proof tray was the first of my red buys.   I was looking at a huge tub of old buttons on the counter, and the helpful volunteer fetched this tray from the back of the shop for me to empty them onto.

The buttons were all a bit manky and boring, but after I thanked her for getting the tray, I asked if it was for sale.  She seemed surprised that I would want it, and said "£2?".  Yes please!

These storage canisters were still wrapped in their original tissue paper, so until I got them home I thought I'd just bought three.  I specially love the tiny ones.  A real bargain at £1.

I love everything about this Myott Ceramite coffee pot, another £1 bargain that I almost didn't buy because I never use coffee pots, though I drink so much coffee I probably should give it a go!

These Hornsea salt and pepper pots were actually put out on the shelf after I'd looked at the bric a brac and was browsing the books at the back of the shop.  As I was walking back through the shop I just glanced back to make sure I hadn't missed anything and there they were.  Even better, they were marked at 50p for the pair.  I've never seen this pattern before and have had no luck with Googling - does anyone know the name of this design?

Hope everyone has had good thrifting luck, I'm looking forward to catching up with all my favourite blogs.

I'll be linking up to Selena's Thrift Share Monday, and anyone else who'll have me!

Thrifted last week........

.... some slightly surprising things.

Last week the charity shops seemed a little disappointing and expensive, so I found myself leaving my thrifting "comfort zone" and looking at stuff I might pass by on a better day.
Thinking about it, I guess this means I have a hard time leaving empty-handed!

I often see Hornsea Heirloom about, mostly over-priced due to the "Hornsea" name, I think. It's kind of nice, but I don't particularly feel the urge to buy it.

This Flour jar was sitting at the back of a shelf and was quite dirty. The wooden lid is good but the rubber seal has perished, meaning it's no good for storing flour any more. It was marked at £1, and I was attracted to the lettering (I love fonts).
I brought it home and cleaned it, and was happily surprised to find it was in perfect condition, so it's now sitting on a shelf in my kitchen waiting to be filled with something.
Every time I pass it by I notice the beautiful lustre of the glaze on the raised parts of the pattern, contrasted with the equally beautiful matt finish of the darker parts of the pattern. It has completely won me over and now I'm wondering if this is the start of a new collection.

Another trip outside my thrifting "comfort zone" happened when I spotted these Holkham "owl" mugs at the back of a different dusty shelf in a different dusty shop. They were also dirty, which made them look very unappealing, but at £1 for the pair I decided to buy first and think later.

I'm so glad I did. Like the Flour jar, they have grown on me, and have gone from "weird, ugly shaped things - what was I thinking?" to "beautiful, tactile, wonderful pieces of modern design" in the space of a few hours. Am I particularly shallow, or does this kind of thing happen to other people?

I'd always known these as "Holkham Owl mugs", but doing a bit of Googling today I found a very interesting article about the Holkham pottery which included this :

Wilton Elston, who trained in Stoke on Trent, was managing and designing items for the Pottery. His designs were brilliant, and apart from the large number of flower vases he designed, he created mugs in relief for practically every cathedral in England. One of his most successful designs was the Elizabeth range —named after the fifth Earl’s wife—and was inspired by the ‘hole in the pebble’ that is often found on the beach. The mug, jug, teapot and sugar bowl were all cast with the handles incorporated into the piece, creating a very modern
look for the time. More than a million of the mugs were made.
This sounds so much like the "owl" mugs, though sadly I can't be sure as there was no picture.
I love the "hole in the pebble" idea.

And finally, something useful.
This 50p Starbucks water bottle was brand new with its original tag. Lovely colours, lovely pattern, and something that will definitely get a lot of use in the summer holidays as my family seems to drink gallons of water.