Like many
upcyclers, I love searching thrift stores for one-of-a-kind treasures and
vintage discards. I never know what I'll find, a sharp contrast to chain stores
where everything is the same (direct from China). And I can tell myself I'm not consuming, but recycling. The low low prices are icing on the
cake.
Of course,
there's a dark side -- accumulating so many treasures that I spend all my time
organizing, not creating. I, like many others, suffer from this disease, which I'll
call "Ed Wood-itis".
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| Image from Wikipedia |
Ed Wood was a mid-century filmmaker who was famous for producing extremely bad movies. Movies so bad, they're fun to watch. He did this because, ironically, he loved movies too much. He loved every frame of every film he shot and every outtake or B roll he could get his hands on (he may have been an early cinematic "upcylcler" or maybe "downcycler"). He also was willing to cast almost anyone in his films. This lack of discernment gave us Plan 9 from Outer Space.
When I go
shopping, "Ed Wood itis" drives me to look at the saddest maxi skirt
or most over-loved board game and think, "boy, this would make something
cool!" Yesterday, in the midst of such a spell, I came upon an idea for a
cure -- rules I could follow when deciding what to buy and what to pass by.
One blogger
who has mastered the rules of thrift store shopping is Mandi at Vintage
Revivals (www.vintagerevivals.com). Before buying something she asks herself 8 questions to avoid buyer's remorse.
I kept these in mind yesterday while I trolled the aisles of my local St.
Vinnie's. In search of a skirt or dress that could supply fabric for ipad sleeves, I let my fingers do the "looking." They found two wooly plaids, one nubbly knit, and a retro
checkboard pattern. Should I buy them all? They met most of Mandi's criteria --
good quality, fair price, nice condition. But I'm trying to buy less!
Obviously, I needed more rules.
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| Feels luxurious, but is it me? |
I remembered
the advice from another blogger, this time about branding. April Starr, who
writes The Flourishing Abode blog (www.theflourishingabode.com), suggests coming up with a tag line that incorporates a
few core adjectives describing the "brand" you want your blog to have. What if I tried doing the same thing with the materials I was looking for (and
ultimately, the creations I choose to sell)?
My words
(actually, word pairs) would be:
- nostalgic/retro (50s-60s-70s era)
- mod/cool (appeals to 20-30 somethings)
- humor, whimsy (makes me smile)
So if something
catches my eye and I'm wondering whether to buy it, I ask if it's any of those
things. Er, maybe 2 out of 3. I tested this rule on the items
I'd picked up. The plaid skirts were nice, but not retro or cool -- so back on
the rack. The nubbly knit was kind of retro, but more matronly than cool, so back
it went as well. Finally, I was left with the checkerboard. I was about to
throw it into my cart when I double-checked the label -- dry clean only. Oh, no
you don't.
Armed with my
new "magic" words, I took another lap through the racks. Two new
pieces caught my eyes. See what you think:
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| Not your grandma's paisley |
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| I'd call this print "Vishnu" |
I say they are
both "retro" and "cool." (My husband disagrees about the
second one, but so what.)
My new rules
led me to choose the materials best for my "brand," and to avoid
bringing home nice pieces that just aren't "me." The next step is to
go through my stash and cull out the items that don't fit my criteria.
For example:
Retro? yes!
Cool? yes!
Whimsy? yes!
Retro? yes!
Cool? maybe
Whimsy? nope
Retro? no
Cool? no
Whimsy? no
If you need help pinpointing your own rules, check out April's tips on branding here..