Nothing New Treasures

Blog // 2011 // November

Countdown to Bazaar Bizarre

My living room is covered in little lace flowers, bits and scraps, thread, stamps, slivers of cardboard and boxes upon boxes of clothes.  I have been working hard.

I keep meaning to chart my progress, snap some photos, but the time!  Oh, the time!  I’ve been working from dawn until dusk to make sure my booth is jam-packed with upcycled goodness.

This is my first presentation of my goods anywhere, save my etsy shop. I was floundering for a while, trying to decide what the theme of my ‘line’ would be.  And at the end of all my preparation, I would have to say lace. I’ve been cutting, dying, sewing and breathing lace.

And somewhere along the line I got sick. Not feeling so well but the show must go on!

Are you ready for Bazaar Bizarre?

Down by the River

Here’s a river check-in.  It’s been sprinkling here and there, and the river rose a bit the other day.  It didn’t look like too much to me, but now that I compare the pictures from last time, the difference is more evident.

Before

After

The rainy season hasn’t even begun!  I’ll check back in with more.

Back Pedaling – The Last Order

I was reviewing the pictures on my camera, and there are a lot of posts that I missed out on…and I think they’re too good to pass up.  So come along with me and take a few steps back to the future:

The Last Order

Nothing New started a little over a year ago.  Last year, I was working as the Card and Gift buyer for a local bookshop.  Before the holiday season, the owner had asked me to get in some e-reader covers.

I looked around, but everything was plasticy, leathery and black.  I was pretty unsuccessful in my search, so decided to whip up a batch of them myself, made out of recycled fabric.   So Nothing New started as e-reader covers.

I sold them to a few other bookstores, and they did great.  So before I left my job at Bookshop, I delivered one last order for the holidays:

Along with my order I included some vintage ties.  I gave them a good clean, some mending, and plenty of TLC.  See how happy they are to be liberated from their boxes and into the great outdoors?

Bike Love

James and I found our bicycles at a small shop in Christchurch, New Zealand.  It was nestled between an op shop and a dairy and from the outside, it appeared to be an ordinary bike shop.  Upon entering, we were greeted by a rainbow of shiny new bicycles with frightening price tags stapled around their handle-bars.

James and I needed bikes, but our pockets were empty.  One of the shop workers saw the panic in our eyes and led us out the back door and into a well-kept shed in the yard.  The bikes in the shed had a few rust spots, and many were beautiful vintage pieces.  We did not find our bikes in the shed, they were still too pricey.  After an excessive amount of pleading to the salesman, we were finally led into the belly of what turned out to be a quite expansive operation.

A whole garage was filled with piles and piles of bikes, some whole and some in bits and pieces.  They were all covered in dust, rust and cobwebs.  Our entering the garage must have set off some type of abrasive vibration in the shop, because our reluctant host was joined by a larger, rougher coworker.  Throughout the next half hour, they both kept trying to coax us out of the garage.

I found my bike covered in spider webs about a quarter of the way in.  The back tire was misshapen and the front one was flat.  Nevertheless, I rode it out into the sun and around in circles, pleased with my find.  After a bit of time lapsed, I began to lose hope that James would resurface with a bike.  But at the very back, under a pile of rejects, James spotted his baby.  We wheeled out quite a few bikes before we got to his, and for him it was love at first sight.  The two shop workers were very reluctant to sell us the bikes, but eventually we got a killer deal and one of them even swapped out my bent tire.

James and I spent the next few weeks scrubbing, polishing and tinkering with our bikes.  After a few beers and a bit of elbow grease, they both rode like a charm.  And after a four month love affair with our vintage beauties, we just couldn’t part with them when we left for the States.  They were packed away and now live at our house in Boulder Creek, California.

James’ dad Graeme took these beautiful photos of my bike shortly after we polished it up.  I can’t wait to put one on my wall.

New Branding

Things are stirring…

In with the new, out with the old; Nothing New has been rebranded.  My talented beau James from Octopus Creative mocked me up this fancy logo.  And guess what the best part is?  That’s my bike!  James and I both bought bikes from the 1950′s from an old junkyard in New Zealand.  We spent the summer cleaning off all the rust and tuning the bikes to perfection.  When it came time to return to the US, we took apart our bikes, packed them up, and took them with.

Riding our bikes in Christchurch.  Helmets on, safety first!  James made me wear a really goofy one that his parents had had around the house forever.  It was very 90′s.

James’ dad took some amazing shots of my bike, I’ll try to show you a few of those in posts to come!   As far as branding, you’ll still see my little mushroom here and there…until the bike has a stronghold and takes over!