Flea Market Folk Art part 2 --where to find that perfect surface

Finding the perfect surface can be a pretty easy task if you know where to look.......

Some of my best surfaces have been freebies from family and friends....ask around, see what they have in their garage, attic, basement, etc...what is junk to them could be something totally awesome with a little paint!!

Once you have exhausted all the "freebie" options, time to go searching!! Garage and estate sales are great, you never know what you might find. Look at all the media for leads---newspaper, Craigslist, community billboard, signs, etc. Flea markets are also great, but the competition for great pieces can be fierce!! One of my faves is the Funky Junk Sisters "Junk Salvation" show. Country Chicks in Rochester is also great.
Thrift stores are great for everyday pieces you intend to re-purpose. I am currently on the hunt for softballs.....Saint Vincent De Paul is good for simple wood chairs and shelves, old metal canisters, stock pots....and they sell at very reasonable prices.

When all else fails, search regular retail outlets. Michaels and JoAnn's are very affordable when using the 40% off coupons....Ben Franklin Crafts have great little pieces for $1 if you need several similar items for gifts.....

And if you prefer to buy the item rather than create it yourself, there are alot of really nice "country" or "primitive" style shops in the Puget Sound area......my faves are FolkArt Gatherings in Sumner and Centralia, This-N-That in Enumclaw, Speckled Hen in Snohomish, New England Saltbox in Sumner, and Wisteria Cottage and the Clement House in the Olympia area.

Flea Market Folk Art.....finding a surface

Sorry it has been a while since I posted....have been busy busy busy with my real job.......

As promised, the next few posts are going to talk about how and where to find surfaces for your "flea market" folk art.......

First picture is of a couple of great metal pots I recently got from my friend Helen. These pots are great for a variety of patterns. If you have been to my blog before you have probably seen the pics of the painted "laundry powder" pot I featured before. That is just one idea....would also make a great candy bowl for halloween....(can you just imagine one painted black, with "witchs brew" on the side.....hmmmmm.....)

I always look for old pots like these at flea markets, thrift stores and garage sales....they are usually very reasonably priced. Make sure you clean it thoroughly and use a really good metal primer (I like Rustoleum).

The next picture is of one of my favorite surfaces....cupboard doors. Never pass up on a reasonably priced cupboard door.....I was heartbroken to find out my favorite vendor for these doors, our local ReHarvest Center, closed earlier this year.
Hit up your friends and family, thrift stores, garage sales.....these are fabulous!!! You want to look for something panelled....flat "modern" looking ones just don't look right....you can paint anything on them. Vintage looking signs, a great winter scene for Christmas, an advent calendar, a simple little snowman....you are limited only by your imagination.




The last picture shows a surface with significant damage....something you should probably pass up......this is even a bit much for me to bring back, but I am going to try......what you want to look for when you find a piece you are interested in is how much damage it has and can you easily fix it?? This old scale has a crack across the face that was repaired with tape, and the top plate is badly bent. If it were just the top plate, that is pretty easy to bend back (just takes lots of muscle) but the crack on the face makes this piece a challenge. What I am going to "try" is removing the face by punching a hole and breaking it out piece by piece. Once it is gone I can paint directly on the face....I hope.....

That's it for tonite.....next post I will talk about where to find pieces like these and some of my favorite haunts.....please follow along and let me know what you think.

Cyndy