Opening Night Jitters

It has been a couple of very late nights getting set up for the Grand Opening at Gypsy Lea's. The space is beautiful, but almost cavernous. We keep bringing in more and more inventory and spaces and holes continue to open. Yesterday I brought in three large totes filled with old books. That is enough books for my space at the Porch with two totes left over. I placed the books in some of the spaces and Gypsy Lea asked me when I was going to bring in the books that I had promised?

We have 15-16 large hanging light fixtures, including the 6 hanging church lights that I pictured earlier. Yet this morning I am rewiring 3 large school house lights because more light for accent and to fill the dark spaces around big furniture is now needed. I also want to bring at least four or five table lamps and a couple of floor lamps. It is an amazing space. Kris and I hung paintings, prints, piano keyboards. guitars. autoharps, saxophones and various organ parts (non-organic) along one wall. We now refer to the space as the music room. All it needs now is the tuba and accordion that I have already loaded into my truck for today's venture north.

The St. Cloud Times, which is a daily newspaper, is sending a reporter and photographer to the shop tomorrow. They are hoping to have a little article about the place in the Thursday morning paper to coincide with the opening. Gypsy Lea is very excited about the extra exposure.

The new memory stick for my camera arrived yesterday. It did not resolve the problem. I think that a piece of the plastic frame from the old stick is lodged in the camera and prevents the new one from seating properly. I have started disassembly of the camera, but now I need a very small screw driver to complete the mission. I have dug out my old camera and will attempt to take some pictures of the new shop today. I will probably just incorporate them with this blog.

Anyway it is an exciting time for a new shop. We are all hoping that a new location, where the occasional sale concept hasn't been attempted, will be accepted. The building and the contents are very interesting. So let there be CUSTOMERS.

Mr. Flannery

How Much Stuff Does One Guy Need?

I decided that two lifetimes' worth of inventory may not be enough and therefore attended an auction in Walker, Minnesota yesterday. Walker is about 220 miles due north of Minneapolis, very near the edge of the advancing continental glaciers. Attendance demanded that I be on the road by about 6 AM. The auction bill included photos of many great (and huge) looking pieces of furniture and antique store counters. I hauled my trailer, a second trip to pick up the pieces that were too big for the truck the first time was not feasible.

There is still enough ice on Leach Lake at Walker for the fishermen to be standing on the bay doing their fishing. At least they didn't drive their 4 wheelers to the spot to enhance their sinking possibilities. Its May 3rd and the ice is still thick enough to support standing men. So much for global warming here on the tundra.

There was almost no one at the auction site. I parked in the row one off of the the building and directly out from the doors. This was a very encouraging sign. The furniture that was pictured on the auction bill was at least as good looking in person. This was going to be a fun auction. Well even though there were only 50-60 bidders there at any given time, they all had money and they all wanted to spend it on the things that I wanted. I ended up with an awesome Apothecary counter from the 1900 Nissawa Drug Store, a counter from the International Harvester store in Winger, a great green painted two drawer 1860's library table, a porcelain on enamel Family Fallout Shelter sign from the 1950's, a high school shop project of an airplane wing strut from the 1930s, a 1/2 round window with saw tooth design on the casing, 2 1940's pressed steel lawn chairs (one chippy blue and the other faded red, I have a similar white one to place between them for our July sale) and a couple of bark cloth cushions that will work well when I find that 1940's wicker chair missing it's stuffing.

The Apothecary counter must weigh 500-600 pounds in two large pieces and the IH counter is only slightly smaller. All the pieces were loaded on to the trailer or into the truck. Being quite clever, and realizing that there was no way for me to unload this mammoth load at home alone, I stopped at Gypsy Lea's enroute. She was there with her friend Mark, we called Kris and Mike, who live near by, and between the 5 of us, mostly Mark and Mike, the trailer was unloaded directly into the new shop.

Mike, Mark and I assembled the Apothecary counter, deliberating placing the top piece on the counter 180* out of normal because of the dramatic effect that it provided. The piece looks spectacular. My huge pumpkin pine 2 piece cupboard was dwarfed by its presence. It will work as a room divider or bar or other focal point in a home wonderfully.

I stayed at Gypsy Lea's to well after 11 PM getting things arranged. It was a regular Furniture Dancin' Hodown. Today we are planing to meet in Buffalo at 5 PM to remove anything that didn't sell at the occasional sales there and haul it all to Gypsy Lea's. The grand opening is only four days away and we are hustling to get things in place.

I hope that the new memory stick for my camera arrives soon. I will take pictures and will keep living by my antiquing name.

Mr. Flannery
aka Dances with Furniture

Antique Steel Table with Queen Anne Legs, Why?

I have some great stuff at the Porch this month. I also have some not so great stuff and some real junk. The great stuff includes an 1880's steel table with Queen Anne legs and antique typewriter-like dimpled brown painted and pinstriped legs and rails. The table is a wonderful cross of American Industrial Revolution meets Queen Victoria parlor room style.

The sales have been better again this month, but I am having trouble getting better furniture out the door. It is also always interesting to see what the first items of mine to sell. One month, from amidst all the wonderful baubles and glorious hogs, it was a rock. This month it was the wood propeller from an old farm windmill electric charger and the bright yellow pop-bead style Italian designer purse.

I spent a good part of Wednesday getting more things ready for the Grand Opening of Gypsy Lea's. I hung 6 huge glass and metal church chandeliers in the trusses of the ceiling. They look spectacular and do not overpower the room. They form a walk-way from the front of the shop to the bar and back bar. Many a guy's definition of going to church.

Mr. Flannery

Some Photos from the Porch

The following are some random photos of part of my space set up for the May sale. I broke the memory stick in my ancient Sony camera yesterday and had to order a replacement from a specialty obsolete technology store on the Net. Teresa loaned me her camera which I used until the battery wore out. (Hello again Mr. Murphy). More photos later.

The following two photos are of my neighbor Steph's space. She is the "Queen of the Smalls".

Mr. Flannery

Mr Murphy Ain't My Friend

"We have met the enemy and he is us", Pogo 1970. Seems that the Irish star of misstep and aggravation, Mr. Murphy, had a couple of drinks with Mr. Flannery yesterday.

Mr. Murphy, is the proclamator of Murphy's Fourth Law of Thermodynamics. Not to be outdone my such lesser luminaries as Issac Newton, who could only conjure up three such laws, Mr. Murphy, probably in an alcohol induced state of higher conscientiousness, proclaimed his own universal law of society, if anything can go wrong, it will.

Yesterday I could not get out of my own way, or Mr. Murphy's, in getting set up for the occasional sale. The erstwhile Duncan Phyffe coffee table which has been painted pepto pink, then Easter candy yellow and finally toned down with a slather of aged oak gel stain, again crossed my path.

Now this table is a $5 refugee from some estate auction. It had wobbly legs, sagging joints and a stained and unstylish top. (Not unlike your correspondent). I, for some unknown reason, decided that it had potential. Its real potential now appears to be processing it for its BTU's by rapidly converting it to ash.

I removed one of the two tripod legs, then glued and clamped each leg set into a nearly stable configuration. I painted and stained the table and the legs. For the piece de resistance I cut and glued a 1950's over the sofa print of a woodland scene to the top. This involved resetting my steel carpenter's square a couple of times because it was a couple inches short to make a full cut. (Now how can two sides be square and the connecting lines not meet properly?) After making the de riguer blood sacrifice, because this portion of the project required the use of a sharp object, I finally got the print to lie flat and nearly square.

Remarkably the print's October tones matched the pinkish-yellowish-stained brown finish of the table pretty well. I reinstalled the errant leg, using not just wood glue, but Gorilla Glue, clamps and screws. I left the clamps on the table and placed it in my pickup for transport to the Porch.

I disassembled the multi clamp matrix from the table and gently set it on the tarmac of the parking lot. I'll be damned, the table sat flat, level and without a creak or wobble. I was very pleased with myself. After only 200 hours of work I had turned this $5 piece of junk into a $25 piece of art. Then along comes Mr. Murphy.

It seems the that there is a proper direction to point the tips of the the tripod legs. One foot of each tripod must point to the other and the center of the table. This gives it symmetry and prevents one foot from extending beyond the edge of the table. In my desire to make sure that the tripod never moved again, I had permanently fixed one of the legs 180* out of position. So today, with my Saws All in hand, I will be attempting to perform a tripodectomy and rotation right here on my driveway.

Mr. Murphy, have 'em set us up with another round.

Mr. Flannery

The Lament of the Occasional Sale

Procrastinator -- me? Nooooo. There's plenty of time. I am in my self induced monthly dilemma concerning setting up my space at the Porch for the occasional sale. The May sale starts tomorrow (which leads to another existential question, how does the May sale start in April?). I am in my usual dither about not having my pieces ready, not having my merchandise priced, not liking the way my space looks, not liking the pieces that I'm selling and worrying about failing to meet my personal standards or those of the shop.

The weather has been terrible, there is still snow on the ground from last Friday's dump. The tools cannot be found. I put them away and now can't remember where I put them. The pieces need to be excavated from my garage, but where do I put the excavated debris while the piece is in process. All good excuses. Most available and utilized in some form by me every month. The problem is that I am a procrastinator. Never do today what can be put off to tomorrow. Besides if I die between now and then I'll never have to do it.

I'll get my space finished today. Some of my stuff will sell. Some of my stuff will remain. The space will look presentable, the goods will look fresh and different. And I will swear that I will be ready early for the June sale.

Mr. Flannery

I Attempted to Set Up My Space Today

I brought some more merchandise into The Porch in Buffalo. I didn't get much done. There is a pile of unpriced and unsorted stuff. I will get to pricing and set up tomorrow.

Mr. Flannery

PS - These are photos of some pieces that are already set up at The Porch and then some at Second Hand Rose. I have nothing to do with them (which is why they're set), they just looked interesting.

Ho Ho Ho The Green Giant was Laughing at Us

Minnesota has lived up to its reputation of being the theater of seasons, all lousy. We traveled to Le Sueur for the flea market and farm equipment show and it rained. We walked from dealer to dealer and it rained. The weather was miserable. I found a huge ship's light sitting on the trailer of a non-attendant seller, while it was raining. I went back 4 times, while it was raining, sleeting, drizzling and raining, he was not there. Finally, when I found him, he had just sold the light to someone else, for $15, and it was still raining. He was having coffee earlier "because no one would be out there in the rain to buy anything". Bahhhhh.

The sellers were set up in the gravel roaded fields. The higher situated roads were bad, the lower roads were swamped and the dirt drainage swales on the sides of each road, that needed to be crossed to reach the goods, were quagmires. Many of the sellers were stocked with tractor parts and all other sorts of heavy metal. Trucks and tractors hauling trailers full of heavy goods over soaked roads mixed the gravel, dirt, and specks of grass into a cake batter consistency. It was a miserably muddy day.

Kris, Mike and I had a wonderful time, but that was in spite of the weather, not because of it. One of the few items that I purchased was an oil painting of sailing ships at dock. (Who else goes to an antique farm equipment show and buys a maritime oil painting?) I also bought a electric charger windmill propeller and the front cowling from a small Allis Chalmers tractor.

We got home, soaked, mud caked, sore and tired. The greatest indignity occurred this morning. I awoke to 4 inches of snow on the ground. Bahhhhh (again). I have had more than enough of the theater of seasons and just want a little Spring.

Mr. Flannery

To the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant - Ho Ho Ho

Very early tomorrow morning Kris, Mike and I are going to head to the antique farm machinery show near LeSueur. LeSueur is in the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant and the headquarters for the agribusiness. Its not that Kris or I are that interested in farm machinery, there is a huge flea market associated with the show. The past few years, Kris and Mike have not been able to complete the entire market because it is just too big. We are going to pack up my truck and trailer for our adventure. The weather is predicted to be soggy and given that the sale is in a bare field, muddy.

Mike is hoping to find a couple of old fanning mills. He cuts the machines into pieces and uses just about everything for a variety of shabby (but not foo foo) projects. The tops make interesting tables. The weathered lettered side boards with the names like Hero or Winner are wonderful in a number of made up pieces. Mike and Kris even have a Smut Cleaner (which is a smaller fanning mill type machine) in their yard as decoration. And it is handy for any smut that may need to be cleaned.

Mike and Kris promise that there are piles and piles of interesting pieces to be found there. They are also certain that the trailer will be needed in addition to the bed of the truck. I'll take them at their word, but 5 AM and "sprinkles" certainly are not enticing me to get up and going.

I was cleaning some smalls today getting ready for the occasional sales next week. I found what is one of the most foo foo plates that I have. It is pink and blue with air brush and decal flowers. Royal Bonn, made in Germany, circa 1900.

Mr. Flannery

An Air Traffic Controller is Needed

It is a glorious day on the tundra. The sun is shining, there is a slight breeze from the south and working outside is a gift rather than a punishment. The ice is just about gone from the bay that I live on. There are only miniature icebergs rafting across the bay and disintegrating as they hit the shore. The main part of the lake is still in ice, but its hours are numbered.

The best part of working outside today was the reappearance of all of the water birds. As soon as the ice on the bay opened three swans landed next to my dock. The loons, at least three different pairs, are swooping in and calling frantically. A squadron of Canadian geese honked as they overflew my house and circled in for a noisy landing on the bay. There are mallards, wood ducks, coots and a bunch of gulls and pelicans. All this activity started this morning and was going on all around me as I puttered on some shabby projects.

I added aged oak gel stain to a washstand that I had earlier painted red. I sanded and gel stained 8 shelves for an oak bookcase that I am going to set up at Gypsy Lea's. The top of the yellow legged antique lamp table was stained ebony and then aged oak. I have 4 other projects goings. The weather is good, the setting is fabulous and I will be getting many things done today.

Mr. Flannery