It should come as a surprise to exactly nobody that knows me that I am a complete bagwhore. I can’t help it. I will never cease to be compelled by well-designed, amazingly crafted bags. And when my new best buddies at NewDuds (posted about their shirt and scarf awesomeness a couple of posts back) put this bag in their shop, I didn’t stand a chance. The pebbled leather, the long strap closure, the redundant but much appreciated magnetic closure, and did you see that lining?! Hand-printed by the awesome duo Tessa and Torrey at NewDuds. Go give them some business, I can’t express enough how great their stuff is and I don’t even have this bag in my hands yet.

I justify this (and pay for my habit, basically) by subsequently selling one of my other bags that I no longer use. This time around I’m selling an Orla Kiely bag that should more than cover the cost of this new one. Plus this is handmade! Very excited.

Here is another of my Christmas gift ammonite fossils. This one fossilized entirely out of the mineral pyrite (fool’s gold), so it has a deep brassy sheen to it. It’s only about .6 inches across, and perfectly formed. flickr.
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Here is another of my Christmas gift ammonite fossils. This one fossilized entirely out of the mineral pyrite (fool’s gold), so it has a deep brassy sheen to it. It’s only about .6 inches across, and perfectly formed.

flickr.

So I stumbled upon a more simple, modern version of a waxed canvas bag by bookhou, a little design company in Toronto cofounded by John Booth and Arounna Khounnoraj in 2002 to showcase their individual and collaborative work. They are a multidisciplinary studio that emphasizes natural handmade materials and small production pieces.

This bag uses waxed canvas made by the same American family since the 1800s, and upcycled leather for the zipper pull and strap. And guess what, I bought it. Yay bags!

I’ve been an admirer of bookhou for over a year and I’m excited to support them and own some of their work.

Here is the other bag I mentioned, made by Strawfoot Handmade. I love the whole concept/idea here; independent artist, US-made, hand-sewn on a vintage machine… Inspired by styles and designs from the early 1900‘s, waxed canvas is the primary fabric used, as well as vegetable-tanned natural leather and solid copper rivets. This creates not only an extremely strong bag, but one that looks slightly weathered and that will age beautifully with time. I work in a small workshop in Santa Cruz, Ca with a vintage sewing machine and hand tools. All bags are designed and sewn by myself on a part-time basis, which means that production is rather limited. Strawfoot Handmade values American-handmade products that will last a lifetime and serve as a functional part of daily use. - Garrett Kautz Check out his blog here and shop here. This is probably my favorite color combination for the tote bag but is unfortunately sold out, so I’m going to keep my eye on the shop for a while and see what comes up.
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Here is the other bag I mentioned, made by Strawfoot Handmade. I love the whole concept/idea here; independent artist, US-made, hand-sewn on a vintage machine…

Inspired by styles and designs from the early 1900‘s, waxed canvas is the primary fabric used, as well as vegetable-tanned natural leather and solid copper rivets. This creates not only an extremely strong bag, but one that looks slightly weathered and that will age beautifully with time. I work in a small workshop in Santa Cruz, Ca with a vintage sewing machine and hand tools. All bags are designed and sewn by myself on a part-time basis, which means that production is rather limited. Strawfoot Handmade values American-handmade products that will last a lifetime and serve as a functional part of daily use.

- Garrett Kautz

Check out his blog here and shop here. This is probably my favorite color combination for the tote bag but is unfortunately sold out, so I’m going to keep my eye on the shop for a while and see what comes up.

I got several ammonite fossils for Christmas! Here’s a closeup of the most striking. More to come later on when I get a chance. flickr
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I got several ammonite fossils for Christmas! Here’s a closeup of the most striking. More to come later on when I get a chance.

flickr

Another fish plate for my collection of fish plates. Yes I collect fish plates. But only slowly, as I find awesome ones like this. I love how crazy and barely fish-like but just-fish-like-enough this one is. Great interpretation of the tail.

On Saturday we hit up the Kane County Flea Market, which is one seriously huge flea market held in Geneva, IL. “Country primatives” and boxes of junk (as in “why bother hauling this stuff back and forth to these markets, it’s pretty much garbage”) are everywhere. But there are awesome booths with cool and unusual stuff too, which makes the trip very worth it. The weather was great for November, and today ended up being my most successful day at this flea market to date. What you see here: A mid century Schaffenacker abstract cat ceramic art tile with foil label signature reading “Ken.” I still need to research this signature label and how important or not it is to preserve it on the tile, but I think it’s a good thing to have. Schaffenacker tiles are pretty famous to collectors of this era of ceramics, and this particular design is one I can’t find anything even similar to online (so I’m hoping that means it’s rare in a good way). This wasn’t cheap but I really dig it, and I’m pretty sure I paid less than it’s worth; I’ve found tiles going online for over triple so that’s a good sign. A Lapid mid century ceramic vase from Israel, hand-painted and signed. I got really lucky and paid only $5 for this (eBay seems to indicate it’s worth more like $40-$50). Two vintage tumblers made to match one of the Fiestaware color schemes of the day. Another deal at $5 for both. In the background: an antique Hamilton brand letterpress drawer. This is a full size drawer in incredible shape for its age; the finish is still smooth, no chips or cracks. Just a nice patina. I think I’ll hang this on the wall as storage for my ever-growing collections of tiny things. I got a ridiculously good price on this. Finally, Dustin’s take from the day: an Art Asylum Enterprise NX-01. This came in its original box but it was quite chewed up, so he opted to open it. Great sound effects! More detailed pictures of these items and other scenes from the day are on onion of infinite leaf.
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On Saturday we hit up the Kane County Flea Market, which is one seriously huge flea market held in Geneva, IL. “Country primatives” and boxes of junk (as in “why bother hauling this stuff back and forth to these markets, it’s pretty much garbage”) are everywhere. But there are awesome booths with cool and unusual stuff too, which makes the trip very worth it. The weather was great for November, and today ended up being my most successful day at this flea market to date.

What you see here:

  • A mid century Schaffenacker abstract cat ceramic art tile with foil label signature reading “Ken.” I still need to research this signature label and how important or not it is to preserve it on the tile, but I think it’s a good thing to have. Schaffenacker tiles are pretty famous to collectors of this era of ceramics, and this particular design is one I can’t find anything even similar to online (so I’m hoping that means it’s rare in a good way). This wasn’t cheap but I really dig it, and I’m pretty sure I paid less than it’s worth; I’ve found tiles going online for over triple so that’s a good sign.
  • A Lapid mid century ceramic vase from Israel, hand-painted and signed. I got really lucky and paid only $5 for this (eBay seems to indicate it’s worth more like $40-$50).
  • Two vintage tumblers made to match one of the Fiestaware color schemes of the day. Another deal at $5 for both.
  • In the background: an antique Hamilton brand letterpress drawer. This is a full size drawer in incredible shape for its age; the finish is still smooth, no chips or cracks. Just a nice patina. I think I’ll hang this on the wall as storage for my ever-growing collections of tiny things. I got a ridiculously good price on this.
  • Finally, Dustin’s take from the day: an Art Asylum Enterprise NX-01. This came in its original box but it was quite chewed up, so he opted to open it. Great sound effects!

More detailed pictures of these items and other scenes from the day are on onion of infinite leaf.