They were stuffed in a bag with some other ugly (new) beaded garland but when I flipped the bag over and saw these I think I might have gasped out loud! This might be just the prettiest vintage glass bead garland I've ever seen and certainly the most elaborate in my small collection. Wow! What a treasure.
Vintage glass bead garland is one of my Holy Grails of thrifting. I find it so rarely that every strand I've managed to turn up is absolutely precious to me and I hoard it jealously. The problem is that I don't have a good way to display it--it doesn't work on my tree and when piled in a bowl or on a cake plate it just looks like sparkly spaghetti. I've seen so many neat handmade items embellished with these glass beads that I'm trying hard to get over my hoarding tendency and my fear of actually *using* it. I'm trying to remember that I'd get a lot more enjoyment out of the garlands if I used them (even if that requires cutting them apart) as right now they're just tucked in a plastic tote out of sight. I did manage to unstring a few beads from one to use on a project I'm working on right now. Baby steps!If you still have time to waste after yesterday's Betamaxmas link, how about checking out this very cool online compendium of old Christmas catalogs? The earliest is from 1940 and the most recent is 1988. I've been loving the 1986 Sears catalog..I was 8 that year and I've already found several of the toys that I remember hoping Santa would bring. Just the Barbie pages alone have me squealing!
Wow! Love that garland. I've only got a few strands of glass garland but I love it. I'm missing having it out this year. I rarely find anything at the thrift stores around here but then again I don't know if I've ever tried at this time of the year. I definitely should some time!
ReplyDeleteThat catalog site was amazing! Can you imagine the effort to scan all that! I used to pour through the "Wards" catalog at my grandparents. Some of those covers are vaguely familiar.
ReplyDeleteAs for the garland...I want to go thrifting in Colorado!
I totally have the same "using" problems.
ReplyDeleteAnother one with the problem using those strands of mercury glass beads, so I've hit upon a weird solution. If a certain percentages of the beads are broken on the strand, it's okay to take it apart to use.
ReplyDeleteIt's on a strand by strand basis too. I think it's my odd way of bargaining with/apologizing to the beads.
And where are you shopping to find any beads like this? I have only been able to snag them at auctions. Never a thrift store, you lucky chickie!