Wednesday 9 September 2015

It can surely be little shock.

Surely it's no surprise that I shop in a secondhand shops. I think they can be a great source of books, and on topics that I'd never actually buy in a bookshop. Today I visited a place nearby and found they were selling holy pictures. Virgin Mary, Padre Pio, Pope Benedict and so forth. These images have never bothered me all that much one way or the other so I wasn't really looking at them as pictures, but for the frames and that thin glass that surrounded the pictures.
Earlier this year I made a goodly number of frames and I was thinking if I got ready-made ones I'd be ahead of the game for next time. But the truth is while OK they aren't the same. They don't have that something, even as simple as I made my ones. I may well have to rethink and go more expensive. 

12 comments:

  1. Good idea of looking at second-hand stores for frames! However, homemade frames of old wood is quite nice, too.

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  2. I agree. You may come upon a real find in a secondhand store, something really well made and unique for your photos. But in lieu of that, your frames are much nicer than anything you can get at a regular store in both quality and looks, plus the personal touch is nice. :)
    A used bookstore is a special place, but one that is losing its footing some with technology . There was one quite close to me which closed up a couple of years ago. There are more closer to hollywood and downtown, but nothing close enough to just pop in regularly to browse. I miss that.

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    1. It's a pastime way more orientated to women. If the 98% of women's stuff in them is anything to go by. But they do have a books and bric-a-brack corner.
      One f the real things I miss from the UK was the car boot sales. A mobile version of your yard sales.
      I'm never sure what they indicate about the economy.

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    2. Browsing a bookstore is something woman do more than men? Dust magnet knick knacks I'll give you, but books? I might have to disagree with that. :)

      Yard sales or flea markets are one of those things you can't go to in search of something specific. Whenever I do, I never find it. But if you go with low expectations, there are always good finds. Those home remodel/redecorate shows always go to them and find treasures. It often looks great, but it's a fine line between pretty and cluttered.

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    3. Ohh, I'd say it's 15 years since I say a fully fledged second-hand book shop, other that Charlie Byrne's in Galway. But all the 2nd hand places, usually attached to a charity group as a money spinner have a few shelves of books stuck in a corner.
      But 98% of the contents of the shop would be women's clothing.

      Once my notion of comfortable house design would've been nick-nacky. Now, if I could clean with a 1 yard wide brush I'd be a happy camper.

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    4. Ah, got it, yes 2nd hand shops in general, are probably shopped at more by women. They are most likely the shopper for the family in general, no, so that would make sense.
      The shop I was referring to that closed here was a used bookstore, and it was shopped probably 50/50. I wonder if the demise of the used bookstore is due to people no longer coming in because of the ease of online books or because people aren't buying the number of books and passing them along due to tech which leaves fewer used books to sell. Probably a combo of both, although people who shop used books are pretty loyal to book books, so it could be the latter. There just might not be enough used books out there to sell.

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    5. Oddly, I'd say no. Here anyway.
      Every town of 20,000 had a bookshop and 2nd hand bookshop, now if one in 10 towns has a bookshop that's it. And no shop devoted to 2nd hand books only.
      I shop books differently when new and when used. I won't buy from a bowse in a bookshop but that's the only way I do it in a 2nd hand. Once I found a book on how to use sliderules, both linear and round. I would never have bought that unless I needed it.
      They were fun, now they aren't.

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  3. I loved used book stores! We use to have several here, but I think the last one closed a couple of years ago.

    We had boxes and boxes of old frames in our craft room back when my church had its annual bazaar. It always amazed me how many ways they could be repurposed, both the frames and the glass within them.

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    1. When for pennies you can have any book from Amazon. But, I remember when Amazon was first out. Sharp 2nd hand booksellers would price their product to Amazon. But they forgot the why people went into such places, fun. They took the fun out of going to purely 2nd hand bookshops.

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  4. I have bought quite a few pictures for their frames at estate auctions here. Pictures are almost always cheap as nobody wants something that doesn't mean anything to them. Occasionally I find another frame hunter and the price goes a bit higher but still way cheaper than brand new and a lot easier than making them. But like you said, you have to find the right one.

    I used to frequent used book stores but most have since closed. I'm not sure why. Perhaps more people willing to spend for brand new or less people reading or a combination of both. The few that are still open I rarely frequent because they are mostly full of pulp fiction. For somebody like me who likes non-fiction, the pickings are slim indeed.

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    1. That's exactly what I was thinking myself. There is an auction house about 40 miles away that I'll attend to poke about next time they have one.

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