This year I broke down and agreed to let Plumpton prepare the Thanksgiving dinner. Â Here he is following a recipe and stuffing the turkey. Â Are those empty tuna cans I see? Â What’s he putting in that stuffing anyway? Â Maybe this was not such a good idea after all. Â Â Looks like peanut butter sandwiches for Thanksgiving dinner this year!
Plumpton wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving no matter how you stuff your turkey.
I’m trying some new things this year. Â I decided to try making armatures out of compacted newspaper wrapped with aluminum foil. Â I could have used all foil but I wanted to recycle. Â So far, it’s worked pretty well. Â Nothing I’ve covered and baked has cracked and it all seems pretty solid. Â I’m not sure how I am going to hang these ornaments when they’re done. Â I’ll figure that out later.
 Three birdies dancing.  These are the armatures covered with scrap clay, painted and baked.  I am going to add some more clay features and bake again.  The crooked beaks are intentional.  I  want the birds to have personality.
One Birdy Baking
I added a drop of the ink to about two tablespoons of  liquid clay to paint the bird..  You don’t need much ink; a little goes a long way
I like the translucent look of the tinted liquid clay. Since my scrap clay was mud colored, I painted the bird with white acrylic clay before I baked him the first time  to get the full effect of the translucent clay.   He gets a second baking for the blue layer.
One sea turtle swimming. Â This guy has the same newspaper and foil core. Â I painted the fins with liquid clay tinted green to test the effect. Â He still needs a lot of details added and a proper shell.
This ornament will be a pussy cat. Â It’s baseball sized and built around a newspaper and foil core, Â
It’s starting to take shape. Â I haven’t decided whether to give him crazy feet or put feathers in his mouth.
I’ll ask the model what he thinks.
Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark, which is supposed to be the happiest country on earth. Now I had always heard depression is more prevalent in places like Scandinavia where the winter days are short and cold. But as I grow older, I have come to realize that happiness is not having what you want; it’s being grateful for what you have.
What the residents of Copenhagen have is a city dotted with consignment shops, resale stores and thrift shops. And it’s not considered gauche to be seen patronizing these establishments. I don’t know about you but if I lived in Copenhagen, that would be enough to make me ecstatic.
I was determined to find some of these places. My quest led me away from the tourist traps and into a the residential neighborhoods of the City. Along the way, I found an area peppered with vintage and antique stores which were perfect for buying gifts and souvenirs. Here’s what I found:
Bla Kors Gebrug is located in a residential neighborhood near the Danish Museum of Art and Design. This is a charity shop meaning that it is a non-profit and less pricy than consignment shops.
The space was large but there were not many clothes at the time I was there. No matter; what they did have was quality and in good condition. I bought a striking lined felt merino wool shell and a long, wide silk-blend scarf–and I found two pair of circular knitting needles. The cost for everything was under $15.00 US. A visit to the Design Museum rounded out the day.
The next day, we spent the morning at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek and then headed West on Vesterbrodgade in search of more treasure. I was not disappointed. Â I checked out two resale shops: Genbrug where they sell most items by the kilo, and and Kirkens Genbrug. Both of these are also charity shops.
If you are into vintage, don’t miss Genbrug. Besides womens’s clothes (grouped by decade – 60’s, 70’s and so on) they sell accessories including a wide range of purses and pocketbooks. Not everything is in top condition, so it is advisable to examine before you buy. The store is crammed with clothes and very popular so I would bet there’s a lot of turnover.
Kirkens Genbrug sells women’s and children’s clothes, books, tchotchkes, accessories, housewares, small appliances and whatever else anyone donates. The inventory was in good condition. Their clothes were a little less retro and more to my taste. I didn’t buy anything here, but I wanted a sweater the cashier was wrapping up for someone else. Isn’t that always the way?
My big surprise was finding a cluster of curio and curiosity shops around 170 Vesterbrogade. When I started out on my shopping exploration, I did not expect to find so many interesting antique shops. Most of the items they sold fit more into the vintage than the antique category meaning that they were charming and affordable. It also meant that my gift recipients would not be getting T shirts, refrigerator magnets or Viking statues. Ok, maybe one Viking statue but that’s a special case.
I stumbled into a little place called Antike Kate at Vesterbrogade 177. The store was stuffed with china and crystal and jewelry and trinket boxes, ornate frames, vases, silver candlestick holders and vintage picture frames. And more. I bought an amber pendant on a silver chain and a vintage picture frame for gifts and a small old-fashioned flat iron that I will use in my metal work. I wish I had bought more things; I could have done most of my Christmas shopping.
Antike Kate was only one of many curio shops on that stretch of Vesterbrogade. Many of them had merchandise out on the sidewalk to lure customers. A waiter back at our hotel said that tourists routinely complained about how expensive things are in Copenhagen. And they are. So he was surprised when I told him that I found some cool stuff at a good price.
I enjoy exploring antique and curio shops when I am outside the US because the stock is different than what I’m used to and, if you ask, there’s always a proprietor to tell the story that goes with an item. I always learn something even if I don’t buy.
And looking is free.
I’m writing this on my last day in Prague; we leave tomorrow for Copenhagen. Prague as you may well know is in a part of the Czech Republic called Bohemia. To my husband, that means Bohemian
Rhapsody and every corny joke that goes with it. To me, that means Bohemian crystal. The souvenir shops are full of Bohemian crystal, both cheap and expensive: goblets, vases, candy dishes and figurines like your Grandmother used to display so proudly in her china cabinet. These don’t do a thing for me. Â I came for the Czech crystal beads.
Before I left the U.S. I scoured the Internet in search of bead retailers who would be convenient for me to visit during my trip. I found Robinson Beads without much trouble. It’s a small store with a large selection of Czech crystal and glass beads at reasonable prices. I didn’t buy much because I have a large collection of Czech beads already and I was in search of something new. I did buy a copy of Perlen Poesie and read through several more issues. This is a fabulous beading magazine out of Germany that I’d heard of but I never got to leaf through an issue. Now that I have, I will subscribe. I also picked up a few issues of Koralki a Czech magazine with much simpler projects. I always like to get at a copy of at least one beading magazine from each country I visit and Robinson’s Beads is the only place in Prague where I saw any beading magazines for sale.
My big find came by chance. While trolling the open Market on Havelsky Street near Old Town Square in Prague, I saw a stall crowded with customers looking at beads. Â Did someone say beads?
I ended up buying some attractive and different looking (to me) crystal beads, some old favorites and a few glass beads. The prices were good. An example: I paid $5.00 U.S. for a bag of 300 very sparkly 6mm round faceted crystal beads.
The proprietor (and I am sorry I didn’t get her name) explained that her son ran the business and sold beads on the Internet. I took her card and looked up the site: http://www.koralky.cz and saw that they run five bead stores (not including the stall) and that three are in Prague. By the way, koralky means “bead” in Czech.
The koralky.cz site is in Czech and it will likely stay a Czech language only site because they get so much new inventory that requires frequent page updating. They do speak English, however, and will be happy to answer questions if you contact them.
Here’s another tip: if you want a good tasty Czech meal that’s not over priced or swimming in grease (with vegetarian options too!) try Blatnice, Michalska 6-8/511 Prague 1.
Ornamento 