Sheer Trash Roadshow (continued from July 5)

This day's getting away from me, and here I've promised you to show you some cheapo vintage Christmas junque from one of my latest forays. So without further ado, let's take a look!

 

What I hope you see here is a tiny plastic cage with both a flocked red bird on top, and one inside swaying on a little swing! These very lightweight, flexible (cheap!) plastic ornaments were almost certainly made in Japan, probably in the 1960s, give or take a few years. I find ornaments and decoration of this type often in free boxes and buried in jumbled boxes full of more modern ornaments, and it'd be unusual to pay more than 10 cents to 25 cents for one. But they're going to be harder and harder to find as time goes on and most of them are either broken or have been hauled to landfills as cast-offs. It would be a fun and inexpensive way to start on a mid-century kitsch Christmas collection if you were to begin hunting them down right now. 

 

Vintage bead craft ornaments are another frequent find when people are clearing out their Christmas clutter. I'll admit I'm not especially drawn to these, but every now and then I find one I rather like, again from a free box or for a modest bit of pocket change.

I like this one because it's not beads studded on a styroform form, but these swing and sway. I haven't cleaned this yet, but I believe it will be quite sparkly when the film and dust of years is removed. To keep from damaging the ribbon part, I think I'll dip it in Windex and then carefully spray with warm water.

Now this little fellow is much more to my liking, and the wonderful thing was he was still in a cellophane bag so he'd seen little if any use, and is nice and clean. This, again, is lightweight plastic but with the added appeal of flocking. And of course, that delightful little neck bell! This one is made to hang on a tree and can't stand on its own. 

The little flocked mouse is also in like-new condition and, as I bought it at the same estate sale as the deer above, I assume they were made by the same manufacturer. The gingham trim is very cute--I paid about 10 cents for this ornament, but on Etsy, I should easily sell it for $3 - $5.

Other ornaments,however, were designed to be free-standing though they wobble and sometimes don't want to stay upright. The epitome of kitsch "Made in Japan" mid-century Christmas decorations, vinyl and celluloid deer are becoming a hot item on Etsy, eBay, and in the antique stores, and many people collect them--including yours, truly. Fortunately there are a lot of folks who haven't figured that out yet and if you're willing to do some free box diving and/or digging through piles at rummage sales, you will still find these for little or nothing. For now, anyway. Usually these are of rubbery vinyl composition or the older, brittle celluloid.

I've no affinity for garden gnomes or similar figures, but I bought this figurine for three reasons: 
  
1. I can torment my sister-in-law with it if it doesn't sell. Great fun!
2. It was cheap.
3. I believe it's of mid-century Japanese manufacture, which means there are folks who might want to add it to a collection.

The gold label has been torn, but there's enough there for me to see it looks vaguely recognizable, as do the symbols. Enesco? Inarco? I'm not sure, but...  A bit more research is called for.

I was over the moon to find a handful of these vintage plastic nativity scene ornaments in their original boxes--for 10 cents apiece! Snap these up by all means whenever you can. The bigger, the better. You'll have no trouble reselling them, if that's your choice. Or you can do like my sister-in-law Claudia does and group them on a low table in a mass display at Christmas. She has all different sizes and styles, and they look fabulous together.

Last of all tonight, I want to show you this silly deer decoration someone made from wooden spoons. I don't know that it's vintage, but it intrigued me for its sheer hokiness, so I paid my 25 cents and brought it home to see how it was made. Let me turn it over so you can see it from another angle:

 

Looks like all that's required are 5 short wooden spoons, a hot glue gun, some pompoms, googly eyes, and bits of ribbon and felt for trim. Oh, and a brown chenille stem for antlers. Something fun to do with the kids perhaps?
 
Well, I had better close for now and try to get some weeding done this evening while I still can. Thanks for popping in! Goodnight, all.