How to Build a Totem

  Why and how I create my TeaPot Totems.  A question I get asked quite often. Why has to do with passion.  I need to be creative.  So, let's get on to how....
 First, one needs ready access to the teapots themselves and tea related bits and pieces.  A good working drill helps.  And a hammer and a space to make a mess.  
  I start first with Home Depot, my home away from home.  I realize quickly the need to find a clerk who actually knows of what they speak.  Being female in what is a male dominated candy store, I have more times then I can count, been subjected to "off the top of the head answers", so the (male) clerk can move on to give real help.  
  In luck, I locate an elderly male clerk who understood my request and took me straight to the right drill bit.  Didn't look like what I wanted, but then, that's why I needed help. He also pointed the way to the stores rebar section.  A (female-young, not dressed for her job), apologized when I brought several pieces of rebar to the check-out.  "Sorry about the dirt on these things", she said.  "Hope your husband can use them".  Well, yes....but they are mine!
  Next stop Goodwill:  In my neck of the woods, Goodwill declares every-other-Saturday, 50% off day.  Woo-Hoo.  Teapot Heaven.  Tea Bits.  Pieces of Heaven.  I find Teapots in every color, every shape and every size.  And, if that weren't enough, I see...I visualize the bits and pieces that will work, too.  Small creamers, candle holders, salad plates, pint-size vases; I look for shapes and colors as I (literally) fill my shopping cart.  
  Goodwill in this big city is close by...close by just about everything and everywhere I go.  I can easily count 5 stores within 5 miles.  Depending on how big the crowds are on 50% day, the parking situation and how tired I get standing in line, I manage to hit two or three shops.  I can see people groan when they note all the china in my cart and are stuck behind me.  I assure the clerk that I don't need fancy (paper) wrapping.  Just sticking them in a bag works for me.  That makes the clerk happy, as well.  Now to start on the actual building....these are ART, after all.  Short of dropping the entire bag, speed to get started is my push.....

My first TeaPot Totem Posting!!

My first posting!  I've created these unique pottery and porcelain sculptures as both outdoor garden and indoor business décor, after seeing a similar type of 'crafting' at a local public park.  My TeaPot "Totems", (I'm a 3rd generation Alaskan), are stable and well supported and personally installed by the artist.  I work with color, themes and textures in putting together this unique art form.  I try hard to blend pieces so they look as if they naturally meant to go together, using little plates and various pieces of tea related items as well as a wide variety of tea pots. 

TeaPots, I've come to discover, come in a wide range of options.  They are made to look like trees and cats or with strangely shaped handles or spouts; to commemorate  an event, (ie: the cornation of King George VII in 1906); be paired with accessories such as creamers and sugar bowls.  Fun teapots; meant for Easter Sunday Morning celebration;  or Christmas Eve; as part of a child's (or adult) Tea Party; in the shape of your favorite pet, they are out there, waiting to be found and repurposed. 

Enough for today.  Gotta get back to work





Gotta Tell you about.......

  I just have to tell you about my very favorite ah, what shall I call it?  Thrift outlet?  That picking place?  The cheap, cheap, cheap place to shop?  Actually, it is a Goodwill Store.  But not just any Goodwill store.  This one does not have shelves filled with china and crystal; no racks and racks of cool clothes; no stacks of books....well, maybe the book thing.  But nothing neat or highly organized.
  First, I'm telling you about shopping on the cheap in Phoenix, AZ.  At a Goodwill not highly advertised, more a word of mouth place.  And NOT a place you want to take your mother-in-law or friend who looks down on thrift store shopping.   Instead, what you find is a warehouse like room filled with rows and rows of bins.  That's right; large 4' by 8' by 2' bins filled to over flowing with "stuff".   And by stuff I mean books, clothing, shoes, electrical gadgets, and STUFF. 
  Little or no furniture; not much in the way of pots 'n pans or complete sets of china.  But beyond that, finding about anything is possible in that large room. 
  Working air conditioners; most of a set of encyclopedias, clothes, christmas ornaments, cowboy boots, kitchen utensils, board games, vases, clothes, back issue magazines, tools, clothes,,,,,are you getting the idea?  Bins filled with stuff.  AND, to make it a bit better, they sell the stuff by the pound!  The more you buy, the cheaper it is.
  I like to call 'my' store EOTR or End Of The Road (store), because it the very last place stuff goes before it goes to the dump or the recyclers.  The VERY last-get it now- store.  I have seen folks grabbing out of well picked over bins, walking along beside the bins as they disappear into the back room.  Now or never.
 Yesterday, as an example, I picked up a Bible.  Not much to crow about there and Bibles not being a hot salable item.  But this is special.  It is a leather bound Navajo Bible, entirely translated into Navajo, well tabbed and well careful for.  Which is another ah, plus, as by the time 'stuff' gets to EOTR, the condition of said item is not always wonderful. 
  On another day I found Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking, fifty cents, (as it was hardbound, not paperback), and again in great condition.  That sold for $20 within a week. 
  I've found vintage (and complete) board games; I've picked up just the board (from the game) by the handfuls to resell as wall decor.  I buy a lot of needlework related books and magazines; even find needlework kits and patterns.  And yarn.  Chenille, acrylic, silk ribbon....
  Better stop now....I hear my 'stuff' calling.  Now that it's at hand, it needs a good home.  Not mine; this is just a stop over to someone who will dearly love what I have so carefully rescued from the end of the road. 
  Anyone looking to shop at this particular Goodwill can find it by looking on the Goodwill website or by driving to 51st Ave just north of Van Buren in  the southwest corner of Phoenix.  I caution women that not taking a purse is a great idea.  You will need both hands free to 'pick'.   Use a fanny pack or stick money and an ATM card in your pocket.    A bottle of water in Arizona is a given. 
  When you enter, grab a shopping cart, (as you will see all others do), find a place to park that cart, rather then haul it with you.  This store can get very crowded at times.  They store personnel "rotate" the bins about every two to three hours, which means, an entire row of picked over bins goes out one door, while another row comes in.  Good luck hunting....this place can become addictive

The Roots of My Picking

How does one become a picker?  What exactly is a picker, anyway?  I used to think it was a not so nice word for antique dealers.  Now I realize there is nothing wrong with the word and picking is exactly what dealers of all sorts actually do.  They pick (over) items offered to them, whether in an actual store setting or by hitting all the neighborhood garage sales. 

  I became a picker in another way.  It is a long standing family tradition.  It's in my blood.  My grandfather headed north to the gold fields in the late 1800's.  While he didn't find gold, he was one of the few folks to locate tin ore in the continental United States.  Essentially he was a picker, a miner, always on the lookout for the next big find.   He and my father mined the area of Alaska known as the Bering Peninsula, the "nose" of Alaska.  In a family history book my father wrote, is a small piece of paper with the tin claims sketched out in pencil.  One I remember was named The Yankee Girl.  (Hummm, I wonder if that piece has any value?)
  Alaska contributed much to our family's picking efforts.  In the 1940's, you didn't run to the mall for the next new thing.  Your choice was to order from the Sears catalog and wait six months.  (It came by boat).  Or you found a second hand store. 
  When we moved outside, (leaving Alaska term), my parents struggled to feed and clothe four kids on little income.  (Mining doesn't always pay good).  So second hand it was. 
  I picked later as a young bride with two children and a husband in the military.  Mostly walked to the one possibility in town with the kids in a well used baby carriage; plenty of room for two active children AND stuff. 
  At one point, married to a man who occupation had been as a clean up guy.  He'd come to your house and clean out your attic or garage.  This before so many folks out of work took it up as a profession.  This husband was a saver; a collector of sorts.  That's when I discovered eBay and what to do with all the stuff I (and that husband) had been saving and collecting over the years. 
  When I moved to Arizona my daughter suggested I may need to find another hobby, as there was little to "shop", (my daughter is a mall person), in Phoenix.  Little does she know.  I think I could easily set up a map, much as those maps of the stars homes, so popular in California. 
  I pick to stay active; because I like knowing about stuff and as a second income.  Though at times the 'stuff' threatens to take over my home, I still love to shop, to pick in the odd corner or dusty shop.  It's who I am. 

I pick, therefore I am-the A to Z Saga

  I call myself a picker, an urban picker, since I live in a large city.  I;m a little old lady who knows about stuff and is trying to keep herself busy and active by finding other people trash and turning it into treasure.  The plus side of being old is knowing about old stuff; what it might be and how it might be used.  I find a amazing variety of old things that folks no longer want and find another person who has been looking for that self same item.  Often I resell on line. 
  I'm trying to keep my brain active and my body functioning, though at times both tend to argue with the LOL factor.
  I realize I need to learn about stuff in order to describe it properly in a sales setting.  That is the brain part.  I know I need to keep moving, the physical part, so the slow walks through thrift shops and garage sales has a two-fold purpose.  And I'm stretching my income and having fun.   I find good stuff and great prices on ah, pre-owned items that I use or resell.  Sometimes the items go to family members....'Where did you get that amazing sweater?'  A: 'Ah, my grandmother knows this little ah, boutique'. 
  I live in northeast Phoenix and am within easy driving distance of eight or nine Goodwills, a St Vinnies, (St Vincent de Paul), two animal rescues thrift store, a church charity shop and a Savers.
  Depending on how I map my trip, I can easily hit a large circle of stores, all close to home, without driving any distance.  What I shop, I concentrate on specific categories of stuff; things I know about.  OR can teach myself about.  In addition to the thrift stores, there are a constant round of estate sales, garage sales, a few live auctions and the occasional church rummage sale. 
  Rule number one:  when shopping for resale: buy what you know about,
  Rule number two:  If it's a quarter or a buck, you probably cannot be hurt.
Memorize both!
  The good news about such shopping is that you are creating yourself a real job and one that allows you to work from home, as I do.  I recall the day, that with a visiting younger sister in tow, I located an estate sale, a very odd estate sale I discover, as sis asked what exactly we are doing.  Sis isn't big on used.  (Am I related to her?), as we walk through tables and tables filled to over flowing the pots and pans.  That's it.  Pots and pans: cookware, cast iron, stainless steel, enamel, frying pans, large and even larger pots; someone was a collector. 
  One of my passions over the years is for vintage Revere Ware.  My mother received a set as a wedding gift in 1939.  I bought my own pieces from the Rome, NY factory outlet store in the early 60's.  I love to cook in it.  I love to clean those shiny copper bottoms and hang them on a rack.  I like how it cooks and how it cleans up. 
  It was obvious, this day, that I'd found my pot of gold.  I told sis:  "Look for copper bottoms, anything with copper bottoms".  The woman running the sale kept an eye on our pile, as it grew and grew.   Good thing I drive a station wagon.  I filled the back that day.   I know about Revere Ware, it's history, how to identify the vintage stuff, how to clean it and when not to buy it.  I know some tricks to cleaning the copper; I even bought a polisher to make the copper shine.
  At the top of my (mental) checklist when out shopping is Revere Ware.  This weekend, as an example, I found two lids.  Last weekend, it was three pans without lids.  At fifty cents each, I did not turn any away.  

Find of the week:  Four Fujimori Humoresque 7 1/2" salad plates, $2.00 at Goodwill, (50% off day), sold for more then $100.  How did I know to buy them, (as I am not a china expert?)  The plates were in excellent condition, had a very unusual shape and design AND did not say, 'made in China, dishwasher safe'.  And they were two bucks!

Ruth K Greene sells on eBay to keep busy.  An award winning fiber artist, she divides her time between her studio and computer.  She gives the occasional workshop or talk relating to her art.  Her writing includes columns and on-line journal publications including MAM magazine and Find Woodworking magazine.  You may contact her at rkgreene8@gmail.com.