Saturday — August 18th, 2007

   I recently ran across this interesting “reproduction” being offered by Christopher Radko under his “Shiny Brite” line. I find this piece odd, because while most of the Radko Shiny Brite Christmas items are accurate reproductions of vintage decorations, this “boxed decoration” piece has no real-world counterpart. The design of the plaque is taken from a German die cut which was made from the 1920s through the 1930s. The original die cut has such a wonderful vitality to it that is completely missing from this Radko knock-off. The Radko witch looks like Aunt Bea in a costume rather than the threatening hag of the original item. Despite this, I find the graphics of the box to be somewhat pleasing...especially the little Haunted House vignette. While it is only personal opinion, I absolutely LOVE the Radko Shiny Brite Christmas items, but the Halloween seems to really fall flat. They had a chance to make some really cool stuff and they just totally missed the boat with the Halloween. The tiresome and ubiquitous use of glitter on Radko Halloween items really takes away from what is already a weak endeavor. Here's my rule of thumb...GLITTER—Christmas: YES...Halloween: NO

Wednesday — August 15th, 2007

    I have noticed that, as usual for this time of year, the Halloween listings on eBay are rapidly growing as Labor Day approaches. After that they will explode offering a plethora of delights! This year has gone by fast and it's hard to believe we are coming up on another fall season in just a few weeks. My favorite time of the year is the last four months!

   A HEARTY congratulations to Johanna Parker! One of her Christmas sculptures has been featured on the cover of this year's “Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts” issue. Three cheers to you Johanna and your wonderful art.

Sunday — August 5th, 2007

   Website Update: The “Contemporary Folk Art” page, has been completely redesigned, now making the sections devoted to each folk artist more consistent and clear. New sections have been added for Pennie Griff and Johanna Parker. The new layout will allow me to more easily swap out/add new pictures in the future. I have also added a link from the main home page right to the folk art page, so it's not so buried in the site. I have also added several new links to the “Links” page for Greg Guedel, Johanna Parker and the Ehag website. I hope everyone enjoys the new pictures and layouts!

Monday — July 30th, 2007

   The other day I ran across this delightful set of lights designed by Bruce Elsass, for sale at Christmas Tradition's website. While the lights are only mildly interesting to me, what immediately caught my eye was the BOX...had to have it! Put anything in a vintage style box and I'll go nuts. Another example of this, that I love, is the reproduction Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments that Radko has been making for several years now. I think the box for these lights is the real show stopper! I am unable to determine if the lights have a specific design. They have some sort of decorative cover or bulb on them. The BOX ROCKS!

8/3/07 UPDATE: Thanks to new info from Greg Guedel, I now know that these light bulbs are reproductions of an art deco design from the 1920s/1930s. Looking at them I can see that now and they are quite unique!

Monday — July 23rd, 2007

   I hope everyone had a good 4th with lots of fireworks! July has been a busy month for me so this is the first blog entry for this month even though we are already 2/3rds of the way through it. The highlight of July so far has to be the announcement of the La Place collection being auctioned off through eBay beginning on the 22nd, with new items being listed each Sunday through November 25th. The first grouping of 13 pieces listed yesterday are enticing indeed! I can't wait to see what other wonderful things will go up over the next few months. I have also enjoyed the wonderful comments and friendly emails I have gotten over the past month regarding this website. Mark Ledenbach was right…Halloween collectors and folk artists really are some of the friendliest people I know. :)