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Monday, November 11, 2024

What the heck is that anyway?

 

Not all things I find in thrift stores are easy to identify. Take this thing:


When I first found it, I thought it was some kind of sculpture. It looked like it could be an arm or leg of a statute. It was made out of stone or concrete. This was reinforced by the tag I found with it that I assumed belonged to it, but it wasn't attached so I was making a leap of faith.


I went to Kheops International's web page. They were still in business, but there wasn't anything that resembled this. So I wrote their customer service and sent them some photos of the thing.

In the meantime I kept using Google Lens to try and identify it. If you haven't used Google Lens, it is an option to have Google search for an image you upload to try and find similar things. Some times it is spot on. Other times it is random. But after a few searches, I thought I found something that resembled the weird stone arm or leg.

It came up several places looking like a traditional Indonesian pestle called an ulek-ulek. It is typically used together with a mortar called a cobek to grind and crush spices, herbs, and other ingredients into pastes and sambals (chili sauces) that are essential to Indonesian cuisine. The ulek-ulek is usually made from stone or wood, and its shape allows for an effective grinding motion to release the flavors of ingredients such as chilies, garlic, shallots, and ginger.

Sure enough, the customer service people at Kheops International confirmed that it was indeed a traditional Indonesian pestle sans its mortar.
Go figure. I search Goodwill the next few days hoping to find the cobek to my ulek. But alas, either someone had snagged it or it got broken or tossed by the original owners and they threw the ulek into the Goodwill donation pile. Thing is, together, the traditional Indonesian Mortar and Pestle would be worth about $150. Who knows what a lonely ulek is worth? I figured it had to be worth at least a fourth of what a mortar and pestle would cost together and listed it on eBay for $45.  Maybe there is someone out there with a cobek just dying to find an ulek.

You never know.


Sunday, November 10, 2024

I dig thrift store archeology

 


I hit two Goodwills, Value Village and a couple of antique malls this weekend.  I had some pretty amazing finds.

This one was a super cool Zen Buddha sculpture that I'm not sure I want to sell.


And speaking of Buddhas, I also found this one (that I'm also not sure I want to sell).


Talk about enlightenment. But to give the Christians some love, I found these items.


There is just something about a Crucifix I can't resist. Maybe it is because the church I was raised in didn't have any symbols other than the cross and the crown. 


Now this one was truly an anomaly. It was an odd reproduction of the Great Chalice of Antioch from the 1970s that was sold as a candle holder. 

No I knew nothing of the Great Chalice. So ChatGPT enlightened me. 

"The Great Chalice of Antioch is a notable silver chalice that was initially believed to date back to the early days of Christianity, possibly around the 1st century AD, and was thought to have been used in early Christian rituals. When it was discovered in the 1910s in Antioch (modern-day Turkey), it stirred significant interest due to the belief that it might even be the legendary Holy Grail.
However, after extensive scholarly research, it was concluded that the chalice was likely created in the 6th century, making it a later artifact than initially thought. Despite this, the Great Chalice of Antioch remains an impressive example of ancient Christian liturgical art and is now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is considered a valuable historical and artistic treasure."

 Today I took my daughter to a nearby town called Snohomish. It has several antique malls. Here was my haul.


I was truly enthralled by this Bakelite ash tray from the iconic Cunard Line steamship company.


I Found this Chinese figure in a booth that was selling everything 50 percent off. 


And this amazing African wood carving was in one little booth for $2. 


It was right next to this interesting wood carving of Moses and the tablets. The staff is supposed to be the one that changed into a snake. 


And at another mall I found these two reverse painting Mexican trays. 

I love being a thrift store archeologist. 

Saturday, November 09, 2024

It's scrapple time

 


It's National Scrapple Day.  I'm sorry, it pretty much looks like head cheese to me and nothing I want to eat. But it does rhyme with a certain board game that you play with tiles and spell words. So I tried to have fun with it.  It started out looking like the game board of that word game, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't violating any one's intellectual property. We'll see how Zazzle reacts to it. 

It's also National Louisiana Day and Microtia Awareness Day. Neither inspire anything humorous or entertaining to me. I am not happy with the South for rising again to reelect a racist buffoon.  Microtia is a congenital disability of the ear. Even I know that isn't something you put on a t-shirt.

Tomorrow is National Civic Pride Day (which I have none), National Vanilla Cupcake Day (which is low hanging fruit when it comes to humor), National Forget-Me-Not Day (which seems redundant to Veterans and Memorial days) and the birthday of the United States Marine Corps (hoo-ya).

Somehow I will try and create something out of that hodgepodge to tweak Teepublic on Social Media. Then I'll be:



Friday, November 08, 2024

Banging your head into a wall

 


It  is National Harvey Wallbanger Day! And I couldn't resist posting this on X:

It's National Harvey Wallbanger Day! #NationalHarveyWallbangerDay zazzle.com/national_harve Why should you bang your head against a wall? Because you tried selling art on TeePublic
Petty yes, but it somehow makes me feel a little better knowing that I may be irritating the people at Teepublic. They never respond. And neither does anyone else, but it feels good to be an annoying gnat to them.

Thursday, November 07, 2024

It's almost time for Happy Hula Days!

 


I figured I needed to get some holiday designs up for people to buy for presents. So far Zazzle has been a bust as far as selling any of my designs. Something tells me they don't do much to promote individual storefronts. They leave it up to me to promote my stuff. Maybe now that everyone isn't distracted by the election, they can concentrate on important things like buying clever t-shirt designs.


I wish I was on a tropical island, right now. 


Wednesday, November 06, 2024

Anything goes

 

This is ChatGPT's interpretation of the phrase "Anything goes." Chatty is a bit more upbeat than I am. I was more thinking along the lines that if we put the lowest form of pond scum into one of the most power executive positions in the world...twice...than we are stating that it doesn't matter what vile things you have done or are going to do, we think you should be our commander in chief. 

I must say, that compared to Trump, there is nothing I have ever done in my life that comes close to being as vile as the stuff he says and does on a regular basis. So on the positive side, I feel better about my lackluster life. 

Conversely I am firmly convinced that Trump being elected for another term as president despite being evil incarnate proves there is no god and more than 50 percent of the population of the United States are barely functioning idiots and are to blame for whatever that madman does in the next four years.

You heard it here first...but probably not last.

Tuesday, November 05, 2024

There is not a lot to say

 


The early returns are not looking good. It is a sad state our country is in. I was in a restaurant an hour or so ago and listened to a man bemoaning that Americans didn't seem to have any problem voting for a convicted felon and rapist. 

That just about sums it up. But we lived through one term with the idiot and I suppose we can survive another. I also lived through Reagan, and both George Bushes. 

This too shall pass.

Monday, November 04, 2024

Tote that bag

 


Now wouldn't you want to carry this tote bag? I know you could post one design on Teepublic and people could order it as various different things including tote bags, but it seemed like you were putting too much pressure on the buyer to think for themselves and pick things to order. Zazzle forces you to buy specific things. If you want a t-shirt, you just see a t-shirt. If you want playing cards, you just see playing cards. And if you want a tote bag, you just see a tote bag. 

Not that it really seems to matter. I haven't sold a single thing on Zazzle even though I've posted umpteen things. But the holidays are coming up and I imagine millions of my t-shirts, tarot cards, poker cards and now tote bags will go flying out of Zazzle making me a multi-dollernaire.

I can dare to dream.

Sunday, November 03, 2024

I voted tonight

 


In addition to voting tonight, I also celebrated National Sandwich Day by surfacing my Submarine Sandwich t-shirt design on X and Instagram. And since X is simply a cesspool of back and forth between Trump Haters and Harris Haters, no one paid any mind to my images of a baguette that can fire torpedoes.

I also created my first set of Tarot cards to sell on Zazzle.


So stick that in your terms and conditions Teepublic. I see failure in the cards for your company. I'm not bitter though. But I do fart in your general direction with my King of Farts playing cards.




Saturday, November 02, 2024

Egg on my face

 


It's National Deviled Egg Day. And again, I find it easier just to use designs I've already created rather than just shilling for some National Something proponent. 


Anyway, who needs new yolks.


Friday, November 01, 2024

Written in the cards

 


I discovered that in addition to t-shirts (which no one is buying so far on Zazzle), I can sell playing cards like this one of Opossums Playing Poker while Playing Opossum (which I think is genius if I do say so myself). So I now have a whole collection of various creatures playing poker on actual playing cards.  How cool is that?




So pick a card, any card!

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Ding dong

 


Okay, it's Halloween, but more important it National Doorbell Day. And guess who is calling? It's the Grim Reaper moonlighting as a Fuller Brush Salesperson. It's a brush with death.


Happy Halloween!