Collections are strange things. From teacups to dresses, things with giraffes on to branded pens from the publishing world. You probably all know someone with a collection if you haven't got one yourself. They're fascinating things, and often only completely understood by the collector themselves. And of course, the Domestic Sluts are little hoarders too...Siany: When I was a kid, I used to collect antique silk embroidered postcards (I was a strange girl). They usually had Flamenco dancers on and their costumes would be embroidered in bright silk. So pretty, and probably worth quite a bit now - some of them date back 100 years. These days I collect compliments and kisses.
Sarah: I'd say I don't collect much apart from cute frocks, but, as I live atop a mountain of glossies, this is patently untrue and I've been collecting magazines since about 1994. I have a 50's music note magazine rack in my bedroom with a few of my favourites, the boxes under my bed are heaving with Elle/Vogue/Lula/Nylon and, if you went to my parent's house, you'd find neat stacks of the NME and Select magazine dating back to the infamous Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Nik Naks and cardboard box issue. Please don't believe me when I claim it is 'research' for work. It's really not.
Frances: I've got two main collections. The first, for my vintage loving ladylike side, is a collection of teacups. Dating from the early twentieth century, they live in my glass-fronted 'granny cabinet' in our living room. The second collection, for my kitsch adoring side, is my badge collection. Amassed since I was a kid, these celebrate exciting Ambler-family excursions to places like Cleethorpes, Skegness and Blackpool. The collection goes right up to date with badges from some of my favourite indie bands. I am sufficiently obsessed with these to have organised them by colour and have arranged my favourites within frames. Yes, really - if you fancy popping round for a cup of tea, I'd be more than happy to show you.
Alex E: I have a truly awe-inspiring collection of cookbooks. From my mum's old castoffs, to charity shop finds, to French language books from the eighties that I need to translate with a dictionary, my shelves are stuffed with foodie tomes. My collection is ever-expanding and my poor husband thinks they are breeding. I've tried to go cold turkey, I really really have, but I just can't pass a secondhand bookshop without popping in for an out-of-print bargain.
Michelle: I tend to think of myself more as a hoarder than a collector, as anyone who has ever seen my fabric stash would no doubt attest, but I do have a pretty impressive collection of vintage china and glassware, Día de los Meurtos ephemera and 1950's gentlemen's magazines.
Gemma: I have a few accidental collections (dresses, nail polish, shoes I never wear...) but my proper collections are really naff glassware (pink Flamingo wine glass from Vegas? Yes please!) and hair combs - I like vintage tortoiseshell ones the most. I used to collect things with butterflies on, but eventually had to stop as I'd ended up with so much fluffy tat.
Gemma: I have a few accidental collections (dresses, nail polish, shoes I never wear...) but my proper collections are really naff glassware (pink Flamingo wine glass from Vegas? Yes please!) and hair combs - I like vintage tortoiseshell ones the most. I used to collect things with butterflies on, but eventually had to stop as I'd ended up with so much fluffy tat.
Gail: All of my recent birthday and Christmas presents over the last couple of years seem to bear out the fact that I collect spotty things. Specifically, red with white spots. This includes cake stands, dressing gowns, shower curtains, plates and even the candles on my last birthday cake.
What do you guys collect? Tell us in the comments!
Flickr image from ellen benton's photostream.
What do you guys collect? Tell us in the comments!
Flickr image from ellen benton's photostream.
I collect matchboxes from the places I go to. I have loads of them! And tea. I collect tea. Which I also have loads of. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm the same as Sarah, most of my room is covered in issues of Vogue. They're in month/year order too - yikes.
ReplyDeleteI also collect 'special things' to put in my memories box. There's cinema tickets from dates, the cork from my graduation champagne, a raspberry ruffle chocolate from my grandfather's funeral (they were his favourite) and postcards from a swap-box I did with some people all over the world.
What people like to collect is fascinating!
I collect - red crockery(often patterned), teapots(so far also all with a red element), chunky necklaces, glass candlesticks, Emma Bridgewater stuff, wooden boxes, buttons and haberdashery, and books. All of my collections make me happy and are loved and used.
ReplyDeleteAnything butterfly-related. Especially if I can wear it in my hair.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I appear to have built up a collection of diet plan books. Which doesn't have quite the same charm.
Books. Any type of book really, but specifically inter-war crime fiction (esp. first editions) and anything with a brilliantly silly cover/title will do. My flatmate thinks that our cat will be squashed under a collapsing bookcase and when I mvoe in with The Boy it'll only get worse as he has a similar affliction (but his centres around bad sci-fi)...
ReplyDeleteI collect Hornsea tableware, specifically the Heirloom pattern. It's not worth much because it was so mass-produced and, to most people's eyes, it's quite ugly. But I love it! A friend recently gave me a few pieces in the Saffron pattern so I may start collecting that too. You could also say I collect mugs because I love them and there are more mugs than anything else in my kitchen cupboards :)
ReplyDeleteOh! And I also collect Virago paperbacks. I have a particular interest in the green editions but I like the more modern ones too.
ReplyDeleteI have a frightfully common collection I'm afraid. Postcards and postal stationery. However, when I think about it I'm not sure whether I collect them for the physical item itself, or the more abstract memories it holds.
ReplyDeleteI also collect chocolate from different regions and countries, however all evidence of that disappears quite quickly...
Mismatched vintage blue plates, tea sets, kitsch floral pictures & 1950s mirrors. My house looks like steptoe's yard.
ReplyDeleteMusical instruments and gecko adorned items.
ReplyDeleteIt's more a case of if I see it and like it, I buy it!
Mirrors. I love to collect mirrors. Old ones, new ones, big ones, small ones. I have loads. And it has nothing to do with my vanity... :-s
ReplyDeleteIt's a little crazy but I have a collection of snow globes (glass kind, no plastic ones allowed) It mainly comprises of the little tacky ones you find in souvenir shops and the odd musical one.
ReplyDeleteCookbooks and costume jewelery. One day I hope to remove the word 'costume' and collect a vast mountain of gems and gold!
ReplyDeleteMy nan collected bells from every place she ever travelled. After a while people started to give her bells when they went travelling too. She ended up with well over 100. Now my mum is the steward of the bells, and continues to add to the collection occasionally. In time, they will pass on to me. They're all so varied, from a blue glass bell with Mickey Mouse laser cut into the surface, to a metal bell with a spaceship moulded on the side, bells shaped like ladies in dresses and a huge school bell.
ReplyDeleteCookbooks. I'm especially fond of vintage cookbooks...anything pre-1960 or so. In recent years, I finally cleaned out and eliminated quite a few, but I still have way more than I could ever use. There are plenty of I have, not because I plan to ever cook from them, but just because I like having them.
ReplyDeleteI'm another hoarder of old Vogue issues, perfectly stacked in date order. (Highly annoying when you want to look at an old issue, those things are heavy!)
ReplyDeleteAlso have an inability to part with empty perfume bottles means I'm growing a little collection on my bookshelf.
I unintentionally collect bombshell red lipsticks! I have no idea how many I have! I also love vintage glasses - i have loads of those. But my main collection is of religious icons - I have a huge shrine in my hall. I'm not religious - just love the imagery!
ReplyDeleteButtons! I can't say I've added to the collection much recently, but I became obsessed from the age of about 10 (weird child) and can't bear to get rid of any of them. My favourites are ones still sewn onto the original card from the 50s/60s, and my most sentimental ones are my grandfather's naval buttons from the second world war.
ReplyDeleteFor me it is wine corks. I label them with a Sharpie marker if they come from an especially important time or place in my life. Unfortunately, they do take up a lot of space and I do have to thin the herd every so often.
ReplyDeleteMy other collections are brooches, shoes, and recipes. I am so boring. :)
I collect all sorts of things, but probably one of my most prolific collections is that of Bunty (and other retro girly comics)annuals of which I have many.
ReplyDelete