miss america and a unibrow

So, what, besides a fuzzy unibrow for my Frida Kahlo Halloween costume, did I find at Gee-Dub this week?  A sweet little crystal clear depression glass bowl in the Miss America pattern for $1.99.  Life is good.

Depression glass is translucent glassware that was distributed free or at low cost in the United States around the time of the Great Depression, 1929 to the early 1940s. The Quaker Oats Company and other food distributors would include a piece of the glassware inside the box, as an incentive to purchase their product.  Movie theaters and business would sometimes hand out the glassware at the door.

Most depression glass was made in the Central and Midwest United States, where access to raw materials and power made it inexpensive to manufacture.  Various companies made over 100 patterns.  Since it has become highly collectible since the 1960s, it is becoming more and more scarce on the open market.

spin the bottle

I don't know about you, but the new moon always spins me into a
freshening and rearranging mode. This weekend, I scrubbed up my
collection of old glass bottles. Since there was some chat about
bottles over at Subby's blog, I thought I'd snap some pics to share,
while they're nice and shiny.

My collection started with a few vintage bottles when I was a girl.
Some of my favorties are the ones found by my sons in the woody
area behind the manor that was once an old trash burning dump.

I'm really nutty about all kinds of glass. I love the magical play of
light, and the delightful bubbles and imperfections in vintage glass.
I imagine myself traveling back in time and buying a glass factory
like Lucinda Laplastrier in Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda.

Anyone out there ever had a Prince Rupert's drop? I think they're
also known as Dutch tears. It's a glass curiosity created by dripping
hot molten glass into cold water. The glass cools to a tadpole shaped
droplet with a long, thin tail. If the tail is broken it explodes into a
million tiny particles. I'd love to have one. They're so pretty, tough,
I would be tempted never to burst it. Apparently, Rupert's Drops
have been around for quite some time. Here's an excerpt from Ballad
of Gresham College, 1663.

And that which makes their Fame ring louder,
With much adoe they shew'd the King

To make glasse Buttons turn to powder,

If off the[m] their tayles you doe but wring.

How this was donne by soe small Force

Did cost the Colledg a Month's discourse.

Once in a while, WT brings one back from his travels, like this pretty
little gold one from Portobello Road in London. I've always got my
eyes peeled for them in flea markets and antique stores.


Here's a video montage from the movie Oscar and Lucinda, set to
music by The Strokes which shows the breaking of a Rupert's Drop.