LJ Idol Season 9 Week 20: Intersection - Success is Survival
o/` "With rattlesnakes and keepsakes
Old boxes of cornflakes
gramophones and gemstones
and three unclaimed door frames
and bleached bones and rocks by the ton" o/`
-- "Goodbye, Old Desert Rat" performed by Michael Martin Murphey
My family comes from pioneer stock and, as such, I grew up in a thrifty environment. The practical items of every day living had to be durable because not many could pay for a second...or a third...or a fourth...if the first item broke. Most, because we had to look at and use them every day, also constituted items of beauty. The best things --- the earthenware dishes made by my great grandmother from the clay deposits on the banks of the river edging their homestead; the cast iron pots and baking pans (still in use in my kitchen, incidentally, and not as a decoration); the quilts and aprons cobbled together from generations of family clothing too far gone to wear; and, of course, the furniture --- had a special kind of beauty.
People die and families grow apart or move away. When my grandmother died, all those things went with her. The other family members, thinking to find wealth and never realizing the real treasures, fought over her belongings. A few items survived their penury but my own Ma keeps them in trust for me. When she passes, if I do not predecease her. they will become part of my home. My little ones may not be mine by blood, but they'll have a heritage and they'll see to it that these things stay in the family for as long as they last.
Lacking such items does not alleviate the desire to have them. In these modern times, I could not at reasonable cost simply commission a woodworker to create such finely crafted furniture nor could I go to the store and buy the cast iron and other utensils. I did eventually learn how to craft my own quilts and crochet my own household items. As for the rest....
I became an avid antique hunter. Most of the old kitchenware works just fine once you gently strip it of its rust and oil it. The dresser, my favorite piece of furniture in our home today, came with my husband. His parents also had an interest in antiques. True, it had been more of a "Martha Stewart meets Southern Country magazine" type of thing but they did manage to pick up a few nice pieces. When their son moved away to make his own home, the dresser came with him and, through him, to our home.
This particular dresser, so old no one could estimate the date of its creation, had been put together from heavy hand sanded pieces of mahogany. I don't think anything other than a light protective stain had ever graced the natural wood; over the decades, skin oils from generations of hands had lightened and polished the wood in places so that it shown gold and satin when the sun chanced to illuminate it. At the enter of the thickest pieces, the true dark red to near black features of the wood grain became visible. No matter how many times I stopped in the course of my day to admire the set of drawers, I always found new colors and patterns. It lent a quiet, solid dignity to a bedroom filled with all manner of books, stuffed animals, jewelry, and cat toys.
A thing need not be perfect to retain beauty. The top left edge of the piece bore a beveled gouge, as though a tired or inexperienced hand had slipped when planing the dresser top. The same side has two sets of tiny claw marks running the entire length of that panel. The marks were made by a small kitty, dearly loved and long since passed, who enjoyed sliding down waxed surfaces. We never managed to find time to sand them out, we loved her so. The front right leg has an odd set of scratch patterns reminiscent of rope fibers. Our old dog Anubis sleeps chained to the bureau at night because if he's let to roam the house, he gets lost and howls pitifully until we go and get him. We'd tried crating him but he seemed terrified of that as well and only the mahogany dresser had enough mass to keep the shepherd/lab mix in place.
One might be tempted to consider the angles too blunt were it not for the unexpected curves built into the design. The legs on this piece of furniture predate the clubbed feet of the Victorian era. Composed of a thick oval atop a perfectly carved ring and round, it more resembles the type of work you would expect to see on a four poster bed of the same era. The same creator carefully carved the large round knobs on each of the four drawers as well. These feel good in even the most arthritic of hands and yet they're small enough for a child to use. The top drawer had a hand forged brass lock, large enough for one skeleton key. The lock long ago seized some time in the dresser's illustrious history so we don't use it; the large matching key, another flea market find, is just for decoration. Each drawer has hand carved dovetails to fit them together; no two alike and slightly rounded!
Recently, my husband measured the dresser top for a doily I wished to tat in order to protect the top. To our surprise, we found that its measurements were perfectly symmetrical --- 50mm across by 150mm long!
I wonder what else this marvelous piece might reveal in time. I'm certain it has secrets yet to tell.
Old boxes of cornflakes
gramophones and gemstones
and three unclaimed door frames
and bleached bones and rocks by the ton" o/`
-- "Goodbye, Old Desert Rat" performed by Michael Martin Murphey
My family comes from pioneer stock and, as such, I grew up in a thrifty environment. The practical items of every day living had to be durable because not many could pay for a second...or a third...or a fourth...if the first item broke. Most, because we had to look at and use them every day, also constituted items of beauty. The best things --- the earthenware dishes made by my great grandmother from the clay deposits on the banks of the river edging their homestead; the cast iron pots and baking pans (still in use in my kitchen, incidentally, and not as a decoration); the quilts and aprons cobbled together from generations of family clothing too far gone to wear; and, of course, the furniture --- had a special kind of beauty.
People die and families grow apart or move away. When my grandmother died, all those things went with her. The other family members, thinking to find wealth and never realizing the real treasures, fought over her belongings. A few items survived their penury but my own Ma keeps them in trust for me. When she passes, if I do not predecease her. they will become part of my home. My little ones may not be mine by blood, but they'll have a heritage and they'll see to it that these things stay in the family for as long as they last.
Lacking such items does not alleviate the desire to have them. In these modern times, I could not at reasonable cost simply commission a woodworker to create such finely crafted furniture nor could I go to the store and buy the cast iron and other utensils. I did eventually learn how to craft my own quilts and crochet my own household items. As for the rest....
I became an avid antique hunter. Most of the old kitchenware works just fine once you gently strip it of its rust and oil it. The dresser, my favorite piece of furniture in our home today, came with my husband. His parents also had an interest in antiques. True, it had been more of a "Martha Stewart meets Southern Country magazine" type of thing but they did manage to pick up a few nice pieces. When their son moved away to make his own home, the dresser came with him and, through him, to our home.
This particular dresser, so old no one could estimate the date of its creation, had been put together from heavy hand sanded pieces of mahogany. I don't think anything other than a light protective stain had ever graced the natural wood; over the decades, skin oils from generations of hands had lightened and polished the wood in places so that it shown gold and satin when the sun chanced to illuminate it. At the enter of the thickest pieces, the true dark red to near black features of the wood grain became visible. No matter how many times I stopped in the course of my day to admire the set of drawers, I always found new colors and patterns. It lent a quiet, solid dignity to a bedroom filled with all manner of books, stuffed animals, jewelry, and cat toys.
A thing need not be perfect to retain beauty. The top left edge of the piece bore a beveled gouge, as though a tired or inexperienced hand had slipped when planing the dresser top. The same side has two sets of tiny claw marks running the entire length of that panel. The marks were made by a small kitty, dearly loved and long since passed, who enjoyed sliding down waxed surfaces. We never managed to find time to sand them out, we loved her so. The front right leg has an odd set of scratch patterns reminiscent of rope fibers. Our old dog Anubis sleeps chained to the bureau at night because if he's let to roam the house, he gets lost and howls pitifully until we go and get him. We'd tried crating him but he seemed terrified of that as well and only the mahogany dresser had enough mass to keep the shepherd/lab mix in place.
One might be tempted to consider the angles too blunt were it not for the unexpected curves built into the design. The legs on this piece of furniture predate the clubbed feet of the Victorian era. Composed of a thick oval atop a perfectly carved ring and round, it more resembles the type of work you would expect to see on a four poster bed of the same era. The same creator carefully carved the large round knobs on each of the four drawers as well. These feel good in even the most arthritic of hands and yet they're small enough for a child to use. The top drawer had a hand forged brass lock, large enough for one skeleton key. The lock long ago seized some time in the dresser's illustrious history so we don't use it; the large matching key, another flea market find, is just for decoration. Each drawer has hand carved dovetails to fit them together; no two alike and slightly rounded!
Recently, my husband measured the dresser top for a doily I wished to tat in order to protect the top. To our surprise, we found that its measurements were perfectly symmetrical --- 50mm across by 150mm long!
I wonder what else this marvelous piece might reveal in time. I'm certain it has secrets yet to tell.