A Soup Of Earphones

I don't normally 'do' public trash bins. I leave that to the homeless looking for deposit bottles and cans. But one evening shortly, coming home from work fairly early and passing by, I took the time to walk around the square of the Amsterdam Central Station, hoping to get some deposit just to grab from the pavement. I got some, but then there were bins with the door opened by the scavengers, plastic bag half hanging out. Just like this one. Photo from internet but in the street running from the CS.

Then I saw this huge knot of wires on top of one pretty full bag. E-waste has a kilo price and it was easy to get out without getting my hands dirty I thought. But there was more deep down than I expected and I kept digging and digging up the soup... until I started to hit real muck and had to stop. But I think in all I got some 90 % out.

It was a weird experience and it won't make me a lot of money but I don't regret it.

I just really wonder, who has two kilos of (unused) earphones and needs to get rid of them in a public trash can?

Three Fantastic Paintings

Oops, it’s been too long again since I posted. Well, changing one second job that totally sucked for a better one has been occupying me. So I also didn’t pick up much trash, which is all the better since I still hope to sell out, get space and then start all over again but more organized. Although I sold some stuff on line, most went out at the markets. Let’s have a look at what I lost in the past months, at least the things that were photographed but were unsuccessful on line.

A set of IKEA pillows. In my possession since 2015. I found the cases and later added the inserts from free pick-up centre. Didn’t help sell them. In June we went to that fun place by the water in the north of Amsterdam and they were gone in the first hour.

A pile of 13 Willy and Wandas. Decided against listing because of poor condition. Little boy didn't mind.

A tablet sleeve.

A couple of weeks later I was amazed a Moroccan guy bought  this for his mother!

The occasional book. Bought by an English girl who was reading aloud from it to her boyfriend and apparently found it hilarious.

In July we went to a one-time event at a new location, not far from the usual mall in the west of town but found a totally different crowd. Nice people and I lost some more really old stuff.

Unfortunately only this magazine basket to show. A German brand who dump their outlet at Lidl.

Back in the north last week I had my best day so far. Not in sales numbers but in having a great time.

First off while still unpacking this expensive photo book went. I dumped it because off the cracks on the cover.

Then even two age old handmades. Reused yarn and that blue is from yarn found in 2009.

And then this bright red dress went after over two years of trying. I thought it was quite lovely but while shooting I noticed the seams were not of the best quality so it had to be a market flog.

So here it comes. My neighbour Freek picked up these three paintings with fantasy creatures. So far I sold all the paintings he brought me on line. Not this time. I see my first listing dates of October 2016. I gave up earlier this year but they had become hidden behind a pile of stuff, so I couldn't bring them out. Digging through it all season that morning I finally got to them and said: Yes, this is your day! Well, starting off with a light drizzle they had to stay in the car boot and I was downed a bit. But it cleared up quickly, then towards the end of the day a young woman walked off with all three. Passing by a short while later with family I heard her say: Look, this where I got them! I felt so chuffed and my friend was shining with me. She liked them.

Finally yesterday we were back at the mall. Not fantastic, but at least I got rid of this big vase that was taking up space in the bags. Altogether there is quite a large open space in my little storage now, so the rest of the day I will spend filling that with things that are now still crowding my living space. Feeling good!

More From 2016 Part VII - Fish Planks

I hope I packed wisely. I opted for a load of shoes, some clothing and other fairly regular stuff, as last year, on the early markets the Moroccans just bought about anything cheap to bring home to their families. Later on we relied on the Dutch who are more picky and looking for special stuff.  I'm leaving that on line for the moment.

Now I just have to sit and wait so plenty of time to post another dozen of sold curb finds from last year. I'm getting towards the end now.

This antique door window is another one of my favourites. This size they were often in double doors dividing front and back rooms. Those were then removed when people wanted more open space. I sold it for less than what they go for, but it had paint stains and was framed in a peculiar way. Can you see it? It's curtain rails. As I couldn't see the state of the lead underneath I took the first bid that was reasonable. Then the woman almost came running for it and it made me think... Regardless it was a good amount of money for me.

IKEA Trissa boxes are apparently sought after by vinyl collectors. I picked it up with toys in it which attracted my attention first. I sold one plastic truck at a market, donated the rest then found out the box was the most valuable thing of the complete haul.

Another cheap thing someone was prepared to pay shipping for. It keeps amazing me.

Luckily I didn't have to ship this.

Yin yang balls are not hot second hand. I got way less than what I saw others asking and it took eight months. Perhaps they do better with newer looking boxes.

A set of the exact same fold-up chairs I sold two months before.

This is an IKEA PS collection vase. I sold it for my friend. She brought it to a market and I had to sit with the thing between my legs in the car. Told her I wouldn't do that again and to leave it in my house. Got twice what she had asked.

It finally convinced her to bring me more stuff after the end of market season. Now she claims I made a face when she produced these fish shaped planks. Well I thought I'll list the weird things first, and first they went and the money I got stunned both of us. The lady was thrilled and was recently back at my door for a vintage suitcase.

I was sure Oprah would help me sell this book. She did and the bid was way higher than what I normally get for a novel, if at all on line.

The Joska vase from March.

Not all Ikea flies out. Found October 2015, sold November 2016.

Are you getting tired of looking at vases? Here's something more fun. Well the case looks quite nice...

then open it and... I suppose it's for wigs. Not nice enough for displaying my hats and I've got some good enough heads. Sold in about a week.

I'm almost there now. A few more things in the next post and then I'll do a seperate one on baby toys that I skipped so far.

Oh, that neighbour of mine!

On Monday night my co-picker brought me this piece of plastic kitsch. Right now it’s already packed and waiting to ship. I don’t usually agree to ship big clumsy items that make me less than EUR 10 (the frame doesn’t look huge, but it didn’t fit in any box), but the bid was pretty cool for what it’s worth and I was afraid to have to store it for a long time if I didn’t take it.

Wrapped in six layers of bubble plastic and then just shoved in a trash bag, it was pretty easy after all.

Talk about the weird things my neighbour brings me sometimes:

This is what I found in my porch on Monday morning.

The colossal thing is made of iron and stands over a meter tall. I was half in shock but I took it in and listed it straight away. Now taking up half of my lounge almost! Well if everything goes according to plan it will be picked up coming Sunday.

Last summer he brought me a bulky Times Atlas of the World. Cool, but I wasn’t really sure what to do with it. I can’t remember if I ever took it to a market, if so nobody looked. When I finally did research I found there were a lot offered on the local site, but no one had my English edition. So I gave it a chance and listed it after all in August and it sold quickly after three weeks.

A Mysterious Concrete Object

I picked this thing up because the design attracted me. Then my antique loving friend came by and said: Oh, that’s pretty, what is it?

No idea to be honest, though obviously it had been the support of something. But I was happy she approved of my rescue.

So I listed it as ‘a pedestal or something like that’. Two days later a young artist picked it up who told me he was going to use it for one of his concrete sculptures. My friend was thrilled when I told her that.

Henna

For the first time in my life I dyed my hair with henna instead of the chemical stuff since I still had these two packs that I dug up in the trash years ago. Just never did it before because I thought it would be too much of a hassle, but that’s not so bad after all.

So I don’t know how old the packs were but the powder doesn’t decay even though the brown was a leftover in an opened sachet (and the auburn was untouched). Tried that brown/chatain first but it turned out too light for my taste. So I had but no choice than to go for flaming red auburn… a colour I’ve never worn before. Scary, but it turned out great and all my friends say so too!

Apart from that natural dye is better for me and the earth anyway, it strengthens my hair and a pack is good for at least three treatments (for my short hair). Way cheaper, so next time I’ll have to buy I’ll go for henna.

False Hair Extensions

As I was looking for a way to display my hair accessories I dug up an old find: a thick bundle of cheap kinky false hair that the Surinam ladies in my country use for weave-ins.

It came to me in a loose braid that I redid more tightly tying it around the neck of my dress dummy.

Then turning it to the back did some experimenting yesterday.

But I wasn’t too happy with the all black background and the bottom plume where I clip the barrettes over a few strands of hair hung too low. Apart from the fact that the light in this part of my garden wasn’t cooperating.

I wanted to profit of the contrast of the white décolleté so today I tucked the top of the braid underneath the right shoulder of the jumper then swung it to the front on the other side.

Focusing on the left side of the doll, excluding her neck it just looks like she actually has a head with hair.

If you like my creations take a look at my hair accessories shop section here.

Freeform Seventies Crochet

If you crochet, have you ever tried this style? Or, if you were a kid or teenager in the Seventies perhaps the teacher forced it on you in craft class…

I don’t often find craft books in the trash so my first reaction was ‘how cool’ when the BF spotted it on a heap and handed it to me one night. But it was not for me. Even though I don’t often use patterns I’m a neat stitch counter.

As even the basic instructions taught me nothing new I decided to see if I could list it in my online bookshop. To my surprise it's EAN/ISBN was recognized by the hosting site and the book was ordered a couple of months later. Though I can’t imagine anybody would want to have it, the buyer must have been specifically looking for it. Hope she’s happy. It turned out to be one good rescue after all.

Now I only regret I didn’t scan more pages. This scarf here was really one of the ‘prettier’ designs!

The Swine

This has nothing to do with trash but I had to think of the incident when I was talking about my 'funny' neighbours a while ago in The Hand And The Doll.

It was last summer when I came home from work and found a little black swine happily routing in the hedges along the path behind my house.

By the time I came back with my camera the girl had come to try to bring the escaped animal home. She is not the owner but another neighbour who thought she knew where the hog belonged. It looks like she managed to get it moving!

To this day I haven't found out who the owner is and where exactly they live. Or still do live here for that matter.

A Strange Musical Instrument

A long time ago I wrote about the simple rack we gave to our good friend Ed to display his collection of musical instruments on. In fact we only picked up this guitar-like instrument because we thought of him and we were just waiting for the proper occasion. So when he invited us to join the celebration of the 20th anniversary of his arrival in Amsterdam we were ready to go and didn't have to go shopping for a present.

It misses most of its strings but it's otherwise in good condition. Though nobody at the party had ever seen anything like it before it's a real instrument to be played on, not some kind of toy or decorative thing.

And at least our man is more than happy with his new curiosity. Now the only thing I still haven't done is to go over to his place and take a picture of the complete collection on that rack. But as I promised him a frame from my curb found pile for a drawing someone made for him I hope to get that opportunity soon.

Moulding Mixture

Another one of the more curious products we found in our favourite shop that we call 'The Last Order'. At least on a quick Google search I couldn't find any place where you can buy the stuff on line.

The pack looks old but it hasn't even been opened and the contents feel soft so I'm sure it's all in perfect condition. I've no idea yet what I'm going to make with it, but this is just one more proof even specialized craft shops are places I don't need. And I don't even want to start about the piles of half full paint cans, glue bottles etc. I've collected.