Modern vs. Vintage toys

It's kind of a long story but my parents have always been into collecting random vintage and antique pieces, mainly figurines and little pieces that serve as home decors. I grew up watching Antique Road Show with my mom and always thought "who would PAY for these things??" As a kid, I never thought much of my parents collection...they were always around looking dark and old. For the last few years it's been a trend among interior designers and decorators to include a piece of vintage architectural salvage/furniture in the house. Now companies are producing decor pieces that "looks" old and rusty to imitate the look. You see these fake vintage rustic stuff everywhere to the point where you might even start to hate them. My workplace also happens to be located in an industrial area where we're literally surrounded by vintage shops. So for me there is really no escape....

Recently, I've been working on a new project for work and I checked out an episode of American Pickers for reference...and I ended up getting hooked on to the show! I've been fascinated by rustic vintage stuff for awhile and I think this show really pulled me in to the whole thing. I think there's something fascinating about digging into a pile of junk and finding these pieces that have a story and a sense of history to it. 

SO I've finally checked out a few of the vintage stores around the area. Very pricey stuff but I can understand why, some of these pieces are one-of-a-kind and may be the only one that still exists. Couldn't help but take a few pictures although I'm always a bit paranoid about taking pictures in stores...like the owners might slap me in the head and kick me out the door. 

Earlier today my mom was telling me about this huge estate sale where the passed owners had a huge vintage toy collection. So I decided to stop by today and was totally excited to see all the awesome vintage and antique stuff!! Some pieces were very pricey but I'm sure it's because they checked their values online before pricing everything. It was exciting to see all these things that I could see American Pickers picking up. As you may know, estate sales are usually (not always) when the home owners passed away and everything in their house gets sold. Walking around, it kind of saddened me to see the owner's collections breaking up this way since they probably spent all their lives collecting these things (and they collected A LOT of things; from toys, to a basement full of wood working tools, to glass, posters, etc). You could tell they really valued everything they collected.

But part of their collections are now in good hands! When I buy I second hand items I always feel like I need to value them just as much as the previous owners did.

Moving on to pics!! 

My favorite buy of the day!! This is a mini vintage lantern full of candies. I was fascinated by the colors of the candies and especially liked how the letters were actually embroided into the glass. It was very pricey for an estate sale find but everything was 50% off and I figured if I don't buy it now, I would never find it again. Also the thing I like the most about vintage objects is that they're so intricate and made with quality materials. You can't find things that are so well made today (especially if it's made in China) 

Old candy bottles. I picked one and when I went back, they were all gone!!

 The one I picked. Love the old label and colors of the candies. 

Also got this mini gumball machine. It's surprisingly the cheapest out of the three and the heaviest. The candies are probably like 50 years old but obviously nobody's going to eat it unless they have a death wish.

Saw this really cool cigar display box. Photo doesn't do it justice, but it's a very unique piece. They were selling it for over $200 but I'm sure any antique shop would be happy to buy it. 

Old spice containers!! Now that I think about it, when I took a cooking class back in high school there was a shelf full of these kind of spice containers...and we actually used some of them. Made me wonder how many decades they've been in there...

Not sure what these are called officially but they're like little pinball games made out of paper. Saw this cute one where you have to fit all the little eggs into the nest.

Took these photos at the vintage shop downstairs from my workplace (Aurora Mills). They have so.much. cool stuff!! See that curly hanging lamp shade? I think if I had my own house I would've bought it in a heartbeat. 

 Letterss 

Love the bold colors of this old sign. Could see it looking great as an interior wall decor. 

Old letter stamps 

Postcards and flyers 

Photo is a bit out of focus...but that table on the bottom left is made out of this metal spool (??) and ropes with a glass as table top. I've never seen anything like it.

Here's a fake vintage container I saw at Ross and I'm contemplating on whether to buy it or not...

Found out that Godeleine De Rosamel released these collaboration pieces with anthropologie and just had to get them. 

Some random toys that's been sitting in their boxes for awhile...

No room to put big pieces so they're all sitting on top of my shelves!!

  

Wooden worm designed by bubi ai yeung. 

Bought this Big Hero poster with a coupon! Really liked the colors and design. I'm too lazy to hang it up though since I'll need to drill holes into the wall.

Gave felting a try since I haven't done anything crafty in ages. Takes a loooot of patience but it was pretty fun!! 

Had a lot of extra felt so I made a baby too.

Horrible photo but I got this screen printed poster from Linework art fair a few months. It's made by a Norwegian artist. Still need to find a frame for it though. Hopefully I'll get a much better picture of it later...

Same old same old

Okay another final (ish) toy post since I've been holding back on buying toys and decided to invest in more art related things. I thought I blogged not too long ago but apparently I never posted all the pics I thought I did...

Lazy to filter and edit pics so forgive the drop in quality...

Finally got my hands on those rilakkuma bearbricks!! Got them for such an amazing deal on kidrobot forums. The white bear is a chase figure so I really lucked out this time.

 

PandaZ figure won on eBay for an amazing deal as well.

Got this on Amazon for like $6 shipped? Thank god I didn't buy them for $15 +shipping when they first released. 

Tomica Rilakkuma cars! Amazed by the quality (then again, it IS tomica). Also got the pirate Sorry Angel thanks to the amazing Rotofugi who were willing to sell me their displayed one!!  

 Glass head made in Italy from 100% recycled glass! Got for $8 and she looks awesome in my studio.

 Price on Amazon...crazyyy

A Toyful Winter

Not the most beautiful or tasty turtle buns but they were fun to make! For the shells we used something like a green tea sugar cookie dough. 

Matcha cupcakes with powdered sugar. Made the stencil hearts with a covered cookie cutter and then sifted powdered sugar over. Didn't work out that well, the rest of them looked like fat upside down raindrops.

Sooo many cute xmas ornaments at Target this year!! I literally could not leave the aisles and was tempted to buy everything (I walked away with...nothing! *miracle*) 

Went to KiKiKaiKai exhibit at the Seattle Asian Art Museum! I thought it was a Murakami solo exhibit but turned out it was actually the works of other artists within his studio. I studied Japanese pop culture during my two years of IB Art back in highschool (ahh the good ol days). One of the artists I focused on was Murakami and his KiKiKaikai crew so I was super excited to be able to see some of their pieces up close. The exhibit was awesome!

Ugh blurry photos drive me nuts but these were too awesome to not share!! I went to screaming sky art gallery for the first time (finally, after like 3 years!). They happened to be showing this artists work (unfortunately I can't remember atm but I'll look it up later). All hand made with fabric! These horrible photos don't do them justice at all :( 

Cool trash can on Alberta decorated with old street signs. Was waiting outside in line to grab a lunch at Tin Shed (SOO delicious and worth the wait!)

Hehe cute chicken game I came across at toy store.

 Tsumtsums at Disneystore!! So excited to finally see them irl I just stood there and kept taking pictures...

My purchases (a few were gifts).

Gushed over fabric designed by Nate Burkus at Joanns...was thinking of picking one for the curtains in my room but i realized they're probably too fancy to go with my ugly plain room. Maybe someday :(

 

SUPER delicious macaroons from workplace for my birthday! I'm not a really huge fan of macaroons even though I like the way they look. They're usually way too sweet for my taste, but these were delicious!! The best I've had so far! Cream was fresh and soft, shells were light and crispy on the outside and soft and slightly chewy in the inside...

Made an order with Rotofugi (their customer service is seriously amazing). Highly recommend buying from them!! Got the Balloonicorn that I've been eying for ages...and got it for an awesome deal!! I also went ahead and bought a few other things since I had to pay for shipping anyway. They mailed my order within a few hours after I paid and shipping was ridiculously fast (2 days!!). Not only did they pack the box with packing peanuts but they also individually wrapped ALL my boxed toys with paper so it was literally like unwrapping presents!! I don't even get to unwrap presents during xmas or bday anymore! Such a great experience!!

Sorry gee Angels (they're like the parody boy version of Sonny Angels). Love that they've got that trololol face and they have some ridiculous/funny costumes. I really wanted the pirate or scribbled one but I ended up getting the original completely naked one HAHA

GUMDROPS! At longgg last!! 

And then for the grand finale....balloonicorn!!!! They sold out on their site but they offered me this displayed one they had in stores. It was in perfect condition and even had its original box. Got it for a discount! 

O and here's the rubber duck I bought on impulse at a local toy shop. I've never seen a rubber duck in that shape and  it kind of inspired something in me...

And then there's my danbo xmas present ! My first authentic danbo (yes I have a knock off one) and the eyes actually lights up! 

Current obsession- gudetama!! He's the new "lazy egg" character created by Sanrio. Such an amusing little guy who reminds me of my lazy self. Hes almost impossible to find online or in stores here so I asked my cousin in HK to look for them. Today was her first day searching and she found this small selection! She sent me this pic and asked if anything caught my eyes. I ended up asking her to get me that little plush on the left that's sitting on an egg white : D

That was all the up-to-date photos I've got on my phone...although I have a lot more new toys that I haven't taken photos off *guilty spender*. But honestly, I haven't been buying toys recently...at least not as obsessively as I used to. I still have quite a lot of unopened toys in my studio garage that needs to be displayed (case is fulll and needs to be reorganized). The designer toy scene is unfortunately not what it was a couple of years ago. All good things must come to an end I guess... but that means less spending for me! Ha!