Search result for: the-last-thing-you-aquired-
| # | Post Title | Result Info | Date | User | Forum |
| Dear niceguy, | 1 Relevance | 11 years ago | objectworship | General discussion | |
| Dear niceguy, I notice that you substantially edited post #11, which I find simultaneously satisfying but also somewhat disappointing. I think we probably have similar personality types/characteristics but with more or less polar opposite political values, which creates an interesting sort of volatility. With your lack of emotional control and my lower emotional response, it is admittedly somewhat amusing to make relatively innocuous statements and watch you self destruct. It's important to remember however that self destructing (or not) is your own responsibility, which is why a little self-evaluation is a good thing, i.e. checking the mirror. I am actually very interested in how mental illness and various personality traits may relate to collections and their perhaps compulsive acquisition, and how objects and interior environments can be manipulated to modify behavior or attitude. I have considered starting a thread about this; I suppose many threads indirectly involve this idea already. Purely for explicit crystal f'n clarity, a brief explanation of terms I used above- straight man. [ˈstrāt ˌman] NOUN 1.the person in a comedy duo who speaks lines that give a comedian the opportunity to make jokes. and "those people" as used above refers to outsiders (people who are NOT design enthusiasts) purely seeking a profit Love, objectworship | |||||
| eames chairs | 1 Relevance | 20 years ago | LRF | General discussion | |
| eames chairs I agree with lucifersum . A repoduction is what it is a reproduction the best reproductions are barcelona , Bruno chairs, Carbo chairs , and arco lamps , Wassliy chairs The chinese have really studied how to make this stuff look good, the worst reproductions are Eames chairs any one who knows any thing about the Herman Miller Chair knows for some reason who ever makes this stuff mostly China.... They have never gotten it right when it comes to knocking off the Herman Miller Eames chair to make it look like a Herman Miller Eames chair . I don't know if they can't get the rosewood right or the 5 star base but every one I have seen always looks bad. like a knockoff, Now for the the other chairs.. I have seen the knoll barcelona and the furniture fancy barcelona , pretty hard to really decide but the knoll will win out . now the bruno is impossible, the arco lamp from flos vs furniture fancy hard to tell . the wire chairs from knoll are easy to tell cause they have smooth welds verses a cut weld. I could go on and on as I have every design piece of furniture and i have only 3 reproductions .. and if I have bought them it means I have researched the market before I would let a bad reproduction in to my home. White on white stuff is so bad I would npt put it at a cheap motel 6. it would not last the month. (sad) | |||||
| Early casualties of Labor Day | 1 Relevance | 10 years ago | _ | General discussion | |
| Early casualties of Labor Day weekend (USA), and it is not even 10AM. Out with the old, in with the new. I did not pick up the glass top biomorphic table on the sidewalk but I told my nephews if they do, they might be able to earn some cash for their savings account. I picked up the early 1970s look alike floor lamp which could be useful as a stylish work light. The chances of getting an original is very slim for me for there are only a handful of the Moloch floor lamps (giant version of the famous Luxo desk lamp) produced and designed by Gaetano Pesce made for the MoMA exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz in 1970 called Italy: The New Domestic Landscape. Originals if ever shows up are between $60,000 - $180,000, and outside of my social class and even my 10' ceiling height in the first floor is not tall enough to fit the real thing . | |||||
| November 1 of this year will... | 1 Relevance | 18 years ago | NULL NULL | General discussion | |
| November 1 of this year will... November 1 of this year will be the tenth anniversary of my registering on ebay to buy and sell. One thing I've noticed is that every time they increase fees or make more than a minor policy or site change, there is a wave of bitter complaints about how they don't care about sellers, how they are greedy, and how they are surely orchestrating their own ruin which is imminent. And many of those who complain swear they are going to quit using eBay and move to another auction site. So far, eBay is bigger and more successful than ever. I think most people are happy enough with it and that those who complain are a very small but loud minority. I had a few problems with people not paying after negative feedback for buyers was disabled. But they all coughed it up after they got strikes against them for non-payment. Sellers can block anyone with two or more non-payment strikes, which I did. I've had two blocked people try to bid on things since then (yes, sellers can view these stats!). The alternatives for me are to sell on Craigslist to a MUCH smaller market, or to sell at auction locally and give 30-50% of the selling price to the auctioneer as commission. Or sell at consignment shops and give 30-40% to the shop as commission. Or open my own shop, I guess---but the cost of that would be even higher. So eBay's actually still a pretty good deal as far as I'm concerned. | |||||
| ... | 1 Relevance | 13 years ago | onegroovydude | General discussion | |
| ... My family are all Romanichal's from Romania. They were raised on Gaudy Victorain type furniture and objects, and that's what I thought I wanted to collect at first. That's how I started so far back in time, and that's also where my eye for the unusual began. There's a lot of unusual shit from that era. It wasn't until I came across a Louis Icart Illusion print in a chrome frame, while working in Florida during one winter, that I realized I now had a new passion. Art Deco. It was out with the gold, and in with the chrome. There was something in that lady that called to me, in a way A victorian woman never could. She was intriguing, mesmerizing. The detail in her smoke filled hair was amazing. It was from there that I built a database of objects, and knowledge from 1900 and up, until I slowly ended up settling at the Eames era as my all time favorite. I now am very fickle, and love numerous forms of art from the early 1900's all the way to the 1980's. While other kids at my age where trying to find parties, and listening to Metallica, I was trying to find flea markets, and was listening to Elvis, and Jackie Wilson. Elvis is a Gypsy thing, so that brought me close to the 50's, and that's how that all tied in. I was raised around a melting pot of era's, and styles, and have now burned that all into my psyche, to add to the era's a I love the most. At 39 I should be collecting Skateboards, Transfromers, and RC cars. Instead I'm scouring the surroundings looking for art from a hundred years of creation. | |||||
| Yes, Kav, the various oil finishes generally available | 1 Relevance | 15 years ago | tktoo | General discussion | |
| Yes, Kav, the various oil finishes generally available are more accurately wipe-on varnishes. About the only advantages to them are the relative ease of application and repair. The very thin film tends to wear off or oxidize rather quickly, hence the need to reapply periodically. More often when subjected to heavy use or harsh environments (heat, humidity, UV). One nice thing about oil is the way it enhances the color, contrast and optical depth to the wood grain, to make it "pop", as the colloquial expression goes. The natural waxy resins in some tropical species can cause compatibilty problems with some finishes. This is very much the case with teak, and it has a nasty reputation for being difficult to glue successfully, as well. For some reason, though, linseed oil-based "Danish" finishes don't seem to exhibit these issues with teak. Perhaps that's why they became the norm. I'm afraid the previous posters are correct that trying to match the faded sections to the darker leaves is an unrealistic goal in this case. Even if it were, it's not a job for a novice. If the top of your table has never been varnished, I'd go with the usual protocol of cleaning with a clean rag and either mineral spirits or naptha to remove any grime or wax, followed by re-oiling with whatever oil finish does it for you. You shouldn't need to strip it unless what remains after a good rub-down seems thick and gummy. If you anticipate hard use, or if you're not happy with the durability of 3 or 4 coats of oil, you can always apply a wipe-on poly later. | |||||
| well they were made this year.... | 1 Relevance | 15 years ago | TinyArmada | General discussion | |
| well they were made this year.... I'm not sure what makes this stand out to your discerning eye so much but obviously these were made to replicate the old runners that came with the chair. Maybe the original runners would "stand out" to you too, actually I know they would because one laid flat on the ground due to a split in the wood. That's the only major difference I can see between the org. and copies - though I did have him repair the split on the org. with the broken piece I had. The only thing I could say is these look fresher and not-used as opposed to roughed up and used for 50 years. I wanted these to look like they originally did when produced and bought 60 years ago. My whole point is to keep and love the chair for the next 50 years, so I figure I needed the same good start with the runners as the first owners had. If I started with what the shape the original runners were in - I'd be trying to rock with toothpicks in 20 years. The first pick shows them against the floor under natural lighting, the other two are done with flash and natural sunlight to highlight the grain & Varnish. The first photo is how they appear - and as can be seen, they do not look out of place. I could easily go bury these in the yard for a week, sand them, kick them about, rub them on cement and basically age the hell out of them if I wanted to get a "vintage look" but I'd prefer just to do the job properly over the next 20 years. Maybe later this week I'll get the original runners that came with the rocker, which I've stashed away for safe keeping, and photograph them next to the reproduction ones I've got on the chair now.Since there are variations with RAR runners and their mileage, one needs to see the original vintage runners I asked him to try and copy to judge the work. -Maria | |||||
| Thanks, guys---i did try some | 1 Relevance | 12 years ago | Spanky | General discussion | |
| Thanks, guys---i did try some acetone but it didn't anything that the oil didn't do. The mineral spirits were only slightly better than the oil plus they dried the wood out so much! Yech. I oiled the oak again after the mineral spirits and it still looks unevenly colored, though not nearly as patchy looking as before. But part of the patchiness was also dryness in some areas. It was a mess. I don't want to strip the whole thing. I don't do methylene chloride anymore! Too many brain cells seared away. But the chairs look better. They could always be sanded lightly later if the owner wants---by someone else. This is the before--it looks like it just needs oil and steel wool, right? The color is way more even now but not 100%. And it doesn't look like there's a lot of pigment in that wood but the paper towels that I wiped the paint thinner/oil off with looked like I'd been wiping up shoe polish. Very dark pigment. P.S. I forgot--the other chairs were oak, too--not teak. ETA: WAIT WAIT WAIT---I did do a test patch with mineral spirits on this chair back before I took this photo! I had forgotten about that--it was a week ago and I did the other of this pair in the meantime and then this one today. Sorry about that. But you can see even in that big test area in the center, it's still not even in tone. The legs and rungs were pretty evenly colored (DARK) but the arm rests were blotchy where the stain had worn off. | |||||
| Heath | 1 Relevance | 16 years ago | fastfwd | General discussion | |
| Heath First, Global knives are awesome. They feel good, they take a super-sharp edge, and they're easy to clean. I sharpen mine with an EdgePro Apex and give them a light touch with a ceramic steel after every washing, and they stay razor-sharp for half a year. Plus they look bitchin'. I like the look of your proposed spice rack, but it seems a little wasteful of space. I have a couple racks that I bought at the Container Store some time ago; they don't look like much, but they do a lot of things right: 1. screwcaps for air- and bug-tight storage 2. clear glass jars, so you can see how much is left and so you don't have to rely on labels to know what's in there 3. labels anyway, on the caps so you can read them no matter which way the bottles are turned 4. dark storage for the clear jars, so the spices aren't exposed to the sun 5. tight packing of the jars into a small volume, with a very small footprint on the counter 6. wall-mounting option for situations in which even a small footprint on the counter is unacceptable The Container Store doesn't sell mine anymore, but they have a new one that's very similar. The only difference is that the outer box is clear acrylic rather than steel, so you don't get the sun-blocking benefit unless you paint the thing... But you also get room for 20 jars instead of 12. | |||||
| Staceyneil: Can you post a | 1 Relevance | 10 years ago | leif ericson - Zephyr Renner | General discussion | |
| Staceyneil: Can you post a photo of the front corner of the side piece? I think there is a separate piece of teak there, but I can't quite tell. Here's what I can tell tell from these photos. There is veneer over the entire surface of the side face. I can see this in the grain pattern. The easiest way to notice this is that the grain pattern is a book match mirrored down the center because the veneer is sequential flitches. The second thing to note is that there is no joint in the side grain that matches the joint in the end grain. So the maker is hiding something under that veneer. What that is really depends on the age of the piece. If it is early to mid 60s on, then it is probably particle board with a strip of pine up the center. If it is earlier, then it is probably one piece of lumbercore cut to shape. Either would have been surrounded by edge banding. And in this case the oddity is that there is a bit of end grain edge banding. (This is the second time I've ever seen that). My guess, based on the fact that the side pieces are notably heavy is that it is particle board underneath the veneer. Solid teak is lighter than particle board, by volume. And solid lumbercore is lighter still. Also, end grain edge banding strikes me as "later". If you want to find out, you could unscrew on of the threaded inserts. The hole should be big enough to see particle board or lumbercore. | |||||
| Yes, these are undesirable, but...Pt. 1 | 1 Relevance | 21 years ago | dcwilson | General discussion | |
| Yes, these are undesirable, but...Pt. 1 they are bent-wood and probably at an unbeatable price. I don't know why they didn't either borrow more appealing designs, or hire one of you folks here to do some thing fresh, but they lacked that insight for whatever reason. The keys are: are they put together well and are they cheap? If yes, then they can live to style another day. If not, then they firm dies and they will not last long enough to hire anyone here, or grow their own great designers. Societies and firms always have to start somewhere when they begin to export to America and excellent, or even good, is rarely where they start. I am not so familiar with the arc of furniture designers entering our market from emerging (or reemerging) economies, as I am with car manufacturers, so I'll use them to make my case. After WWII, the now beloved 544 Volvo was just an weird, shrunken prewar Ford two door. The first Land Rovers were just Ford Jeeps with the steering wheel in the middle and a different skin to allow it to be sold in right and left hand drive countries without modification. I recall the first BMW Isetta three wheelers brought here, while cute, were absolute crap. Early Volkswagens were reliable, but you couldn't see out the hole-punch back window, they had a heater weaker than warm breath, had trouble breaking 50 in a strong head wind, and could just as easily have been the subject of Nader's "Unsafe at Any Speed." | |||||
| I've read | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | Cloudburst2000 | General discussion | |
| I've read that he was the desinger for several George Nelson clocks...which ones outside of the ball clock I'm not sure. He also created the Herman Miller logo(just a little factoid of interest). I've read that Nelson did not mind if the actual desinger got credit in trade publications, but to the general public he wanted all the works to be attributed to the company name. And Harper apparently wasn't that much into the limelight anyway so he didn't really have much a problem with it. I actually have a quote from Nelson about the origins of the ball clock. He wasn't even sure who invented it. It was apparently designed on a night when a group of them (Noguchi, Fuller, and Harper) had been drinking and no one would take credit for it the next morning. Nelson just says that he knows it wasn't his idea, he thought it was likely either Harper's or Noguchi's design. The quote is as follows: "At some point we left- we were suddenly all tired, and we?d had a little bit too much to drink- and the next morning I came back, and here was this roll (of drafting paper), and Irving and I looked at it, and somewhere in this roll there was a ball clock. I don?t know to this day who cooked it up. I know it wasn?t me. It might have been Irving, but he didn?t think so?(we) both guessed that Isamu had probably done it because (he) has a genius for doing two stupid things and making something extraordinary?out of the combination?.(or) it could have been an additive thing, but, anyway, we never knew." It wasn't until years later that Harper admitted being the one to actually design it | |||||
| Yes, finish removers destroy | 1 Relevance | 12 years ago | SDR | General discussion | |
| Yes, finish removers destroy lacquer and other finishes quickly -- I'm not aware of a professional finisher who uses just thinner to remove lacquer. But perhaps the chemicals are an issue for some. Fixing a worn and chipped lacquer finish shouldn't necessarily require the removal of all the finish, it seems to me; wouldn't it be enough to remove damaged finish where necessary and sand the whole piece, then spray new lacquer -- assuming we're talking about a clear finish ? I wouldn't attempt finishing without the availability of compressed air. But a tack cloth works well (I made my own, last time, by wetting a clean rag with paint thinner.) Oak is a special case, wherein the open pores fill with finish which I suspect remains after even the most throrough stripping . . . I really shouldn't be speaking to finish procedures, as it's the thing I know least about. But I'm learning to get a good finish with clear poly. I re-did some café tops last year; I stripped the old ffinish, sanded with an orbital sander to 150, then rolled and brushed out three coats of poly, sanding with the orbital after every layer with 220 paper -- because I was finishing outdoors and couldn't control the air-borne specks. The result was a super-flat flawless finish . . . Flat surfaces are easy ! | |||||
| Early LCM - Fake? | 1 Relevance | 14 years ago | ommcc | General discussion | |
| I bought a LCM recently that according to the seller was very old and he said he purchased the chair in 1949. The rubber feet are not original and just generic but he claimed nothing else on the chair was changed or replaced. It is missing the sticker and the shape size looks right to me but the rubber mounts do not look correct. The rubber mounts appear old so I was hoping that in 1949 the mount were different than the mounts used in later years. Also the wood is not black under and around the mounts under the seat. Is that normal? does that indicated that the seat was removed and reattached? Last thing, the metal is solid not tubes which also is not what I was expecting. The second post has a picture of the bottom of the leg with out rubber feet. | |||||
| [...continued from previous post] | 1 Relevance | 18 years ago | Gustaf | General discussion | |
| [...continued from previous post] I am intrigued by your view that technology should not be visible. I think you are referring to manufacturing technology here, is that right? Could you elaborate? To me, revealing the method of fabrication or assembly while keeping it functional and aesthetically pleasing makes for a more honest design. This I appreciate. It is difficult to achieve, but for the GJ Chair it works. However, I agree that there is a more fundamental and interesting question here concerning the reason for all this retrospection. The simple answer of course has to do with return on investment and risk. Classics are safe bets. But I believe there is more to it. The symptoms can be seen not just in reissues but in the sheer amount of new work that is either retro influenced or new but totally irrelevant. The clear break with convention to achieve something new seems rare. And haven't all the lasting radical breaks with tradition been a way to solve a problem? Most of what I see in design today does not solve any problem. All these new chairs that you can barely sit on, all the conceptual designs, all the space age future high tech new materials blahah. I doubt most of those designers really believe in their visions. It is just designers trying to be different for different's sake. So are reissues of designs that actually work and have a meaning such a bad thing in this context? Of course, one problem is that if we buy these products we send a mixed message to the manufacturers and designers. That is a risk. Edit: Added a paragraph. | |||||
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