Collections: Analog Cameras

This guest post comes from one of our customers, Meghan Hollister. We are so excited to share her collection, analog (film) cameras with you!

Hi everyone! I'm Meghan and I'm here to share my budding camera collection with you. My love for photos began when I was young--when I started collecting old pictures to make a family tree. I knew I wanted to start capturing my life and what I see/do/experience, so I started studying photography in high school while living in Southeast Asia. I moved to SLO to study Art at Cal Poly, and have lived here ever since taking photos working mainly as a product photographer. I am constantly fighting off (but usually giving into) the travel bug, something I get from the fact I moved every couple years growing up. I lived in Ecuador, England, Thailand, and Malaysia--often traveling to other countries capturing what I saw through a lens. 

I started taking photographs about 11 years ago while living in Malaysia. Our family friend was my photo teacher and he would take me out to local markets to photograph the buzz of the early morning produce hauls. Because of him, I shot a lot of film in the beginning. I lived in the darkroom and was hesitant to start shooting on digital cameras. He always had some “new” camera for me to try out, and I loved them--so I started collecting them.

Actually, I didn't even realize I had a collection of cameras because I’m never looking for a specific camera to add to a collection. Some of the cameras work (or sort of work) and some don’t, but I don’t mind because part of my collection is adding something cool to put on my shelves, and the other part is exploring a fading art form through the evolution of film cameras.

I was given a Pentax ME from my uncle, a Minolta Hi-matic from a friend, and a Polaroid LMS Sun 600 from my mother. I bought a Kodak Automatic 8 movie camera at a flea market, and the Cambo Calumet 4x5 at Jim’s Campus Camera. I found the Brownie Starflex at a thrift shop in Chicago and bought the Polaroid Highlander from Ruby Rose!

I’ve only shot with a few of the cameras, but I look forward to experimenting with them soon and adding more to my collection!

Collections: Night Lamps

This week I was asked to share one of my collections and had a hard time making my decision. Should I show my collection of vintage lingerie, edwardian dresses, white ceramic woodland creatures, ray bradbury books, random cross-stitched/embroidered pictures, vintage hats....at which point I realized that perhaps I hoard...er, collect too many things. Well, rather than come to terms with that notion I decided to just go with my night light collection...a collection I didn't even realize I had until asked to share on the blog.

So here you have it. My night lights, or night lamps...I'm not sure what to call them exactly. Nightlights always make me think of things plugged directly into the wall, and these are a bit brighter than those little glimmerers, so I call these night lamps. Not bright enough to light the room but bright enough to make it cozy.

This collection is the culmination of a wish and a gift. The wish was something I possessed ever since "While You Were Sleeping" came out in 1995 and ever so briefly showed me the wonder of a light-up globe (It's in a tiny little scene in the very beginning of the movie). Well that did me in and for YEARS I pined for such a beauty but to no avail. I never came across one in all my thrifting adventures. 

Fast forward 11 years to my first wedding anniversary when several girlfriends gave my husband and me a perfectly lit sea urchin. Over the years, through multiple moves and being in the same house as a clumsy me and a growing bebe, it has shattered several times and I've faithfully (and imperfectly as you can see) glued that little darling back together again. (There's a metaphor in there somewhere, I'm sure.)

So, how did a single sea urchin light and a teenage dream of a lit up globe turn into a collection? First, I started working at Ruby Rose over a year ago and was lucky enough to go with Stephanie and Stacy on my first adventure to the Alameda Flea market. There I found the answer to my glowy-world dreams and toted that baby home as gleeful as can be.

Since then I found another sea urchin, (Castaways in Morro Bay) 

the frog (Revolve in Morro Bay) the snail (random antique store in Fresno) 

the rabbit (Anthropologie CLEARANCE!!! in Fresno) 

the salt rock (Sedona, AZ) 

and the shell lamp (Achievement House, behind Cuesta)

So there you have it, most of this acquisition wasn't thought out. I saw it, it glowed, I liked it! 

Well, I've been thinking about it and I believe I found the metaphor. Life is imperfect. Life cracks, chips, and even wounds us sometimes. But Life and we ourselves can still be a light to warm those around us. Perhaps we give off more light the more cracks we have in us. We can let the lines and shattered spots leave us fragile or we can let the broken parts of our lives make us more compassionate and understanding and careful and kind to those around us. We may be small lights, but we can be lovely lights. 

- Kendra G. - The Body Electric 

Collections: Copper

This week, Stacy shares her collection with us! This is a mere sprinkling of the many beautiful things she collects:

My grandfather made these copper leaf vases before I was born. It was the first time I noticed copper, when my mom would use them around our house. I guess I got my start there... 

The cool thing about collecting is you can mix and match with high and low, and they go together. For example, an item that costs one dollar can go with a rare, handmade piece.

The utility of things fascinates me--wondering who used them and what they did.

I particularly like this copper trophy, apparently never won, though we know who would have presented it.

I grew up much like Ruby, traveling all over and frequenting flea markets. Many pieces I own now are passed down from my mother and grandparents. My grandpa and grandma actually stayed at the old Paso Inn on their honeymoon years ago!

Collections: Pigs, Clocks & Hankies

This week, Kim shares her collections with us! (Looks like we are not the only ones who love to collect, either! We are drooling over Design Sponge's Great Collections and Ways to Display Them!)

Collections are really a reflection of your personality.

Having said that, I think I must have multiple personalities, as I like to collect lots of different things.

 

I collect Pig Cutting boards, because I love all things pork.

 
Clocks, because they remind me of certain places and times.



My Grandmother collected handkerchiefs, so I am collecting them, too. I am partial to the ones with scalloped edges. 
I also collect silver candlesticks, glass pitchers, antique keys, cookie cutters, silver spoons, vintage etched glassware, crochet tablecloths, embroidered pillowcases, buttons, bird pictures and donkeys.

Oh, and my latest collection is old dice. I found the green celluloid at a flea market and I’ve already added some red celluloid that I purchased at a garage sale.

If you shop at Ruby Rose, you may have gotten to take advantage of one of my many collection purges. In order to keep things under control, I occasionally sort through my stashes and part with some of the bounty. That is part of what makes collecting fun for me, is knowing when it's time to let it go . So when I find something I never knew existed, but love instantly, I know it can go home with me. 

Collections: Tea Traps

Mesh infusers are great for teas with very small leaves-japanese greens, rooibos, some black teas-they keep the strays locked up safe!

One great accessory can add just the needed zest to your closet needs. They can also add a lot of joy to anything you like to do: reading with just the right pillow, a great lamp in your camping gear, a sentimental ornament hanging from your rearview mirror, or a handy basket on your bicycle. And when it comes to tea, just the right infuser for your loose leaves.

I have over twenty.

Hello everybody, my name is Betsi Clark- I work with Kendra Aronson doing behind-the-scenes biz work. Collecting is also in my nature, I can't help myself! I am a tea enthusiast and tea trap collector. My grandma fueled this particular collection when she handed down a tin-full of vintage tea infusers to me a few years ago.

These long-handled traps are great for stirring, & work great for tea you like to add honey, milk and/or sugar to. Save a spoon, use a tea trap.

When a friend recently visited our home, we pulled out an infuser to make her tea. She had never seen anything like it and excitedly exclaimed, "Well that's a fancy tea trap!" What a perfect name for them! If I feel like drinking my tea with my pinky out and practicing my British accent, I will continue to refer to them as 'infusers'. But for every other tea-related moment in my life, I will forever be referring to them as 'tea traps'.

I have been drinking tea on the daily since I can remember (five years old? four??). When I discovered loose leaf tea somewhere along the way, my tea drinking took on a life of its own. There are so many ways to brew a cup of tea (just as there is for coffee)-full of ceremony and tradition-and I am on an eternal quest to find the best methods and teas to accompany them.

Each of these sweet infusers has their own saucer to accompany them! No need for you and your tea-drinking buddy to drip through the house once your tea is done steeping.

These ones remind me of acorns! Their caps screw on, ensuring the tea stays safe inside. So you don't burn your fingers fishing for the trap when its ready, hook them on the side of your tea cup before you pour the water!

There are loads of different tea infusers available nowadays, but I have my eye on one in particular to join the others in my tin. I also have a couple of bag presses and a quiver of strainers-here are ones my favorites pictured below.

I love hearing people's personal way of making tea, the many ceremonies surrounding this delectable beverage, and discovering new ways, too! If you have a tea I must try, pretty please leave a comment with any and all recommendations!