Hobbies

[Allen]

Not only am I a history buff, but I am a sucker for antiques. It doesn't matter what it is. If it's old and looks interesting, I want it. I have razors, rug beaters, coal hods, books, baby furniture, crates, oil lamps, eye glasses, wooden rain gutters, irons, toys, cooking utensils, toasters, bed warmers, mourning attire, even an antique wooden leg.. etc...etc...Am I the only one with this addiction? I would be interested to know what sort of things other members of the forum enjoy collecting/do for hobbies. Not a Lizzie Borden topic I know. But something I thought might be an interesting "Stay to Tea" topic to discuss.

[twinsrwe]

Well, I enjoy collecting small rocks and collector spoons from places I have visited. I then display them around the nick-knacks as well as pictures that I have. For example, I have a picture of a cottage in the woods, which has a pond with two swans swimming in it, and some flowers surrounding a rock walkway leading up to the cottage. So, I put a shelf up just below the picture, and then put a flower vase swan on it with the same colors (as in the picture) of artificial flowers in it. I then covered the rest of the shelf with the rocks I have collected from varies places. These added items really draw out the picture.

As for hobbies, I enjoy reading, playing on my computer, and taking long walks in a wooded area, particularly if the woods have a lake or pond in it.

I also enjoy creating search-a-word puzzles which have a hidden picture within them. These puzzles contain 200 words or more and the hidden picture becomes visible once the puzzle is worked and completed. In addition to these puzzles, I also create letter-interlock puzzles. My favorite letter-interlock puzzle contains the basic colors of red, blue, yellow, orange, green, violet, pick, brown, white, black and gray in six languages: German, French, Spanish, English, Hawaiian and Greek.

I am currently working on creating a combination puzzle consisting of two puzzles in one. When I finish this puzzle, it will be a letter-lock puzzle with a hidden maze. Hopefully it will turn out the way I envision it.

[SallyG]

I build dollhouses, knit, and crochet. I used to quilt, restore antique dolls, sew designer doll clothing for 18" fashion dolls...but there is not enough time to do everything I enjoy. I've been knitting and crocheting since I was 5, and building dollhouses since I was 22....although I'm not telling how many years I've been doing it!!

[Allen]

Those are very creative hobbies. Very cool stuff! I could never get the hang of crochet. I have seen some really beautiful handy work though. I enjoy a good word search as well. The hidden picture is a nice added bonus. Both of you must have a lot of patience and imagination.

[mbhenty]

Yes:

Great thread ALLEN.............and cool posts.

In this month's HATCHET there's an article about collecting LIZZIE BORDEN..........books, that is.

Discussing the article with Stefani, we were of the mind that it would be great to start a new department for the magazine on collecting, where contributors who were knowledgeable in their field of collecting could tell us something about what they collect, its use, value, and examples.

In collecting, we collectors at times get so taken up by the finding, purchasing and stockpiling, that we don't do our homework to investigate the value and history of our collectable. Of course the valued collectable is one that is desired by many, of which there are few, and which sits on your shelf.

At one time I collected old Victorian Photographs. Large ones. Portraits of wife and husband, marriage portraits, children, all taken in the 1800s. Though at the time I was collecting the image, little did I know, that it was the "frames" which were the real collectable and held most of the value.

I can sure appreciate what you like to collect Allen. At one time I loved collecting Antiques. Of course I have none, now. When I was younger my apartment was made up of Old oak dressers, dry sinks, brass beds, old ice chests, round oak claw foot table, antique tiger oak sideboard, brass hall coat trees, worn oriental rugs, banjo clocks, etc. As a man of 21 my apartment was completely different from all my contemporaries.

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So if there are any collectors out there who specialize in a certain field, and who either have a valued collection or knowledge in a certain field of collection, and would like to teach us something about their collection or expertise in a field of collecting, the HATHCET would like to publish it.

[SallyG]

I'd be happy to talk about dollhouses/miniature houses...both the building AND collecting.

[mbhenty]

yes

sounds Great Sally. I dropped a note off for Stefani, the editor of the HATCHET, and she will be in touch.

You know, when I was working, my job took me into literally thousands of basements and cellars, including a healthy share of crawl spaces.

In these basements were people's lives. Especially if they were a well established family in the same building, for any extended amount of time.

In some cases I would find old dinner sets, outdated or just worn out.

Sometimes it would be golf clubs, also very outdated. I would ask. "Oh, those belong to my father. He died many years ago."

Another commodity I would discover were baby things, cribs, chairs, etc. Placed there after the baby had become nearly an adult, and forgotten.

But another thing I found were doll houses, miniatures. Some were crudely made, some small, some large, and some had incredible detail. Especially the furniture, which I was told, cost almost as much as their full size examples. Some houses had the roofs which came off, and some the front wall, and still others all four walls, plus the roof.

But all these things had something in common, a reason why they sat in basements. They were memories people just could not sell, give, or throw away.

[SallyG]

Yes, doll houses have been around for a very long time. Sometimes they were simply rooms, such as toy kitchens...generally they were a house. I recently sold a very large house I had built as a replica of an ancestral family home from the 1800's up in Maryland. After much deliberation and agonizing, I sold it...as I have done with 35+ other houses I have built in the past 35 years!! My ex-husband has 3 of my houses in his medical office and last year when he built a new office and moved, he decided to stop displaying them, after almost 30 years!!! The patients made such a fuss about it, he brought them back in! I had been in the process of negotiating the return of the largest one and had arranged for son #3 to pack and ship it to me down here in FL. I was disappointed, but in the meantime we moved to a small apartment; hence having to sell the aforementioned dollhouse. I have now downsized to 1/2" scale, which is half the size of a traditional dollhouse, which is 1" scale. It's actually much more enjoyable to work in smaller scale!

[stargazer]

I love old dolls from the 1950's mostly, and weird stuffed toys, pot lids, Mid century stuff, Atomic style. Chunky lucite lamps. Majestic Brand lamps. Vintage clothing. Paper dolls, paper images, aprons, old linens, bedspreads, chenille, old rare things like candy wrappers we threw out. Hats, mismatched dishes, dishes from restaurants, glass vacuum coffee pots, macabre pictures, skeletons, Halloween, Old Christmas, and Valentine, Easter stuff. Vintage ceramics, flamingo things, weird home made lamps from plastic bottles, and colored lights, Carnival prizes, plastic toys, Tin doll houses, Chein toys, black light posters, coats, purses. Amusement park images, spooky houses, weird people images. You know, all the fun stuff. Weird novelties. Old talc tins.

I have way too much, but I love treasure hunting. I sell on ebay, and end up buying on there, too. I have no control over Vintage clothing buying urges. Victorian, Edwardian, and the 1940's are my favorite eras. I have no one to leave stuff to, so I will probably sell it, and enjoy life while I can. Next best thing : Visiting museums, and cruising online for images to save to my hard drive.

[1bigsteve]

I have been collecting old roofing hatchet heads, same type as Lizzie's. I put new handles in some and actually use them in my construction business. Also I use them to weight down large blue prints and I have one as a paper weight for my desk and another as a lifting wedge for my coin counter. The coins don't roll down too well so I wedge up one end with the hatchet head.

I also collect different editions of the book, "Island of The Blue Dolphins." I also collect old coins although I know nothing about them. Rocks were my thing when I was a boy but no longer. I also buy real old dumbbells now and then. Changing lyrics in songs is a hobby I have as well. That's about it.


-1bigsteve

[MysteryReader]

I love to study history as well but I'm not really a collector of anything. I love puzzles, the more pieces, the better

I find it fascinating to go through things people don't want or to learn their history but I'm not sure what type of job I could get doing that (cleaning out houses or stuff).

I enjoy poking around in antique stores but not really buying/collecting anything; however, I LOVE books. I have to be careful of what things I end up buying since my hubby has an E-bay business.