A Pime of Time
Sep. 11th, 2004 01:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rain_gryphonThis sounds like the beginning of a very promising SF movie, the kind that's made on a low budget, where they have to use plot instead of special effects:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/09/09/103/?nc=1
Sadly, they don't seem to make that type much anymore. "Red Planet" was the last one I saw.
*****
Today I hit the Damnation Navy on a whim. I ended up with some WWII-era Christmas ornaments that seemed to all be part of someone's household goods. I had to buy three separate bags to get all the ones I wanted, but they were only $1 each, so it was okay.
The former owner was evidently a heavy smoker, as the ornaments smell of smoke, and in at least one case, you can see a thin film on the upper surface of the glass ball. That being said, they'll clean up, and it's nonetheless a mighty haul.
I've got several of the older striped Shiney-Brite balls, including one that's got the machine-applied striping, but no silvering on the inside. These were produced during the War when they needed all the mercury for blowing stuff up, and none was available for making shinies. They're rather rare.
I also got a mid-sized hand-painted reflector (the type with that textured depression in it) that has a little pendant bulb on the bottom. I'm guessing this is from the 1930s, with the flat satiny paints. These are sought after. I didn't even realize until I had it home and unpacked that it had the pendant on it.
There's also a late-period very small reflector, a couple metallic plastic facetted balls from the late 1950s, and a grape cluster. The reflectors both show some wear from age, but nothing unacceptable.
The grape cluster is odd. It looks uber-old. My mother has one like this that's been in the family over a hundred years. I don't think this one's /that/ old, but it's old enough that the silver is thin and oxidized. The metal cap is new and bright, though. I have to think that it was added much later as a replacement for the original.
*****
It astonishes me sometimes, the Xmas stuff I snag from that one particular store. That's where I got my Bradford "Celestial Star" (aka 'Hippie Pleaser') treetopper for $1. These regularly sell on E-Bay for $200-$300, although I'll confess I can't see why. It's moderately attractive, but certainly not worth the fuss people make over them. I'm hanging onto mine, though, as I'll probably never have another, and if there ever *is* some Xmas thing I want desperately, the Hippie's Delight is eminently tradeable. Perhaps some day I'll swing a deal for a small pink aluminum tree, or a huge box of Sputniks or glowing icicles. :)
*****
I'm thinking that I'll finish rewiring those old C-6 light strings, and have a 1940s Christmas tree this year. It's kind of sad that I've got so much Xmas stuff that I can pick and choose what period to have my tree from :)
On the other paw, I might give the reflectors and stripies to my mother, who really loves those, and just set up a 1960s tree with metallic plastic ornaments and C7 blinker lights. She was born in 1942, so those types or ornaments were as much a part of her childhood as the plastic ones were of mine.
*****
Buying other people's old Xmas stuff can be weird sometimes. It's like buying memories. You can see the marks of past holidays on them. Eventually they become fully mine, though, like my prized genuine aluminum tree.
*****
I need to get some of the replacement cellophane windows for my old Christmas village as well. There's a guy online selling them. This one's authentically mine - I've had it since I was a toddler. The little cardboard houses fascinated me, and they eventually ended up as mine. Over time many of the cellophane windows and doors have split from age and heat. We used to run them with a super-hot string of old C-6 bulbs inside them. They just absolutely got baked dry. You could *smell* the hot cardboard.
*****
The Christmas Store at the Easton mall was selling black Halloween ornaments the other day. They've got an actual Halloween tree, which is basically just a Christmas tree with macabre themed ornaments. You'd think they'd want to use a dead tree or a hanging oak or something. I may end up with a box of the (overpriced) black balls yet. A very few of those on my ice light tree would set off the clear glass balls really nicely. They'd look striking (though definitely anachronistic) on my aluminum tree as well.
*****
Arcturax is coming over this weekend to get some advice for his Fruitbat fursuit. It's a scratchbuilt. I've never done a Bat before, so it should prove interesting. Fruitbats are cute.
Hawk may come as well. He's got a commercial Hawk suit that he's trying to rework into Horus. That's a much easier proposition, just a solar disk and a crook and flail, and there you are.
*****
I should see another movie this weekend. I've got free passes. Last weekend I went to see 'Harry Potter' at the Easton 30. The theatre's as much a treat as the movie there. The ticket guy takes your ticket, then you ride up this long, long escalator underneath enormous chandaliers up to the lobby, off which the 30 theatres open. The whole thing is designed to make it feel like something of an event just going there. Having the ticket-taker at the bottom of the escalator is a nice touch. You feel like you've gained admission to a 1940s movie musical heaven as you ride up into the golden lights. I'm not sure if they put him there for dramatic effect, or if it was just a natural control point. Maybe both.
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/09/09/103/?nc=1
Sadly, they don't seem to make that type much anymore. "Red Planet" was the last one I saw.
*****
Today I hit the Damnation Navy on a whim. I ended up with some WWII-era Christmas ornaments that seemed to all be part of someone's household goods. I had to buy three separate bags to get all the ones I wanted, but they were only $1 each, so it was okay.
The former owner was evidently a heavy smoker, as the ornaments smell of smoke, and in at least one case, you can see a thin film on the upper surface of the glass ball. That being said, they'll clean up, and it's nonetheless a mighty haul.
I've got several of the older striped Shiney-Brite balls, including one that's got the machine-applied striping, but no silvering on the inside. These were produced during the War when they needed all the mercury for blowing stuff up, and none was available for making shinies. They're rather rare.
I also got a mid-sized hand-painted reflector (the type with that textured depression in it) that has a little pendant bulb on the bottom. I'm guessing this is from the 1930s, with the flat satiny paints. These are sought after. I didn't even realize until I had it home and unpacked that it had the pendant on it.
There's also a late-period very small reflector, a couple metallic plastic facetted balls from the late 1950s, and a grape cluster. The reflectors both show some wear from age, but nothing unacceptable.
The grape cluster is odd. It looks uber-old. My mother has one like this that's been in the family over a hundred years. I don't think this one's /that/ old, but it's old enough that the silver is thin and oxidized. The metal cap is new and bright, though. I have to think that it was added much later as a replacement for the original.
*****
It astonishes me sometimes, the Xmas stuff I snag from that one particular store. That's where I got my Bradford "Celestial Star" (aka 'Hippie Pleaser') treetopper for $1. These regularly sell on E-Bay for $200-$300, although I'll confess I can't see why. It's moderately attractive, but certainly not worth the fuss people make over them. I'm hanging onto mine, though, as I'll probably never have another, and if there ever *is* some Xmas thing I want desperately, the Hippie's Delight is eminently tradeable. Perhaps some day I'll swing a deal for a small pink aluminum tree, or a huge box of Sputniks or glowing icicles. :)
*****
I'm thinking that I'll finish rewiring those old C-6 light strings, and have a 1940s Christmas tree this year. It's kind of sad that I've got so much Xmas stuff that I can pick and choose what period to have my tree from :)
On the other paw, I might give the reflectors and stripies to my mother, who really loves those, and just set up a 1960s tree with metallic plastic ornaments and C7 blinker lights. She was born in 1942, so those types or ornaments were as much a part of her childhood as the plastic ones were of mine.
*****
Buying other people's old Xmas stuff can be weird sometimes. It's like buying memories. You can see the marks of past holidays on them. Eventually they become fully mine, though, like my prized genuine aluminum tree.
*****
I need to get some of the replacement cellophane windows for my old Christmas village as well. There's a guy online selling them. This one's authentically mine - I've had it since I was a toddler. The little cardboard houses fascinated me, and they eventually ended up as mine. Over time many of the cellophane windows and doors have split from age and heat. We used to run them with a super-hot string of old C-6 bulbs inside them. They just absolutely got baked dry. You could *smell* the hot cardboard.
*****
The Christmas Store at the Easton mall was selling black Halloween ornaments the other day. They've got an actual Halloween tree, which is basically just a Christmas tree with macabre themed ornaments. You'd think they'd want to use a dead tree or a hanging oak or something. I may end up with a box of the (overpriced) black balls yet. A very few of those on my ice light tree would set off the clear glass balls really nicely. They'd look striking (though definitely anachronistic) on my aluminum tree as well.
*****
Arcturax is coming over this weekend to get some advice for his Fruitbat fursuit. It's a scratchbuilt. I've never done a Bat before, so it should prove interesting. Fruitbats are cute.
Hawk may come as well. He's got a commercial Hawk suit that he's trying to rework into Horus. That's a much easier proposition, just a solar disk and a crook and flail, and there you are.
*****
I should see another movie this weekend. I've got free passes. Last weekend I went to see 'Harry Potter' at the Easton 30. The theatre's as much a treat as the movie there. The ticket guy takes your ticket, then you ride up this long, long escalator underneath enormous chandaliers up to the lobby, off which the 30 theatres open. The whole thing is designed to make it feel like something of an event just going there. Having the ticket-taker at the bottom of the escalator is a nice touch. You feel like you've gained admission to a 1940s movie musical heaven as you ride up into the golden lights. I'm not sure if they put him there for dramatic effect, or if it was just a natural control point. Maybe both.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 05:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-11 05:46 am (UTC)oooooh, shiney things!
Date: 2004-09-11 08:03 am (UTC)It's interesting to read the history of the ornaments and what's rare vs. what's high priced.
Re: oooooh, shiney things!
Date: 2004-09-11 05:47 pm (UTC)The strings that came with them had been chopped up and crudely repaired too, so I bought some old cloth-wrapped wire from an antique radio dealer and I'm restringing the sockets. I'm stringing them in series of ten instead of eight, so the bulbs last about twice as long.
So far as Jewishness and Christmas stuff, Christopher Radko, who bought the Shiney-Brite label a few years back, is Jewish, and apparently fascinated with Christmas decorations. He's reissuing essentially everything that Shiney-Brite ever made, and a few period-looking things that they didn't, but now it's all 'collectible', and consequently priced way over what it ought to be. Nevertheless I do buy his stuff from time to time, as it's the only way to get some of it. I've got his 'swirled' lights, and the tiny little glass spheres that used to be *so* common in the late 60s, but are just unknown now. Also a set of gas-discharge 'snowflake' lamps.
Sometime if I get motivated I'll photograph all my Christmas lights, and post that.