It's finally that time of year again, when people start mucking out their basements and garages and put their unwanted goods out on their lawns and into their carports for sale! I love garage sales. The hunt is fun, there are usually good stories and there is occasionally good banana bread and hot chocolate (that saved me last Saturday).
I was out looking for display furniture for the Vancouver shop when I came across this fascinating garage sale/personal art installation. It was really difficult to tell what was for sale and what was part of the permanent "exhibit". The back yard was littered with decaying furniture and odd relics. Rust and chipped paint abounded - gorgeous, odd and ever so slightly creepy. I managed to sneak a couple of discreet photos of some of the goodies, not wanting to disturbed the owner who was parting with his collections with some difficulty.
I spied this printer's tray loaded with weird bits and pieces and was instantly drawn to the top center cubbies...
mini doll hands!
which I quickly scooped up, knowing that they could be used in the shop for something...
I took them over to the owner and asked how much they cost. My guess was $2. To my surprise he said calmly, with a knowing undertone, $10. Ten dollars! Did he sense my excitement?
I told him I was purchasing them for a shop and didn't know if they would want to spend that much (would Trish ok a petty cash purchase of $10 for some dirty baby hands whose final use was as of yet unknown?). His reluctant reply was "well...give me two and you can have them for five". It took me a moment to realize that he wanted me to give him two of the hands in order to get a reduced price. This was the first time I had heard this bartering technique, but it worked. I happily gave him two of the hands and paid $5.
I will be mounting the hands onto drywall screws and using them to hang jewelry. I wonder what the garage sale guy will be doing with his?
Oh yeah, and this is the house next door!
Yup, I love garage sales. See you out in the back alleys this summer!
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