Other vintage thoughts, memories and things...

So after writing my article I have started to thinking about other vintage things I like (and have) and the ones below came to mind...

Pears soap - it was the only kind of soap - other than Dove - that my mom used when I was growing up. To this day, there is something about transparency -(it was the first transparent soap ever) that I really like. It looks clean and pretty. I love the touch, the smell and the look, or it. There is something very nostalgic (and vintage) about it that I gravitate towards. It is a fairly old soap and has been around since the late 1700's. Pears Soap was the very first registered brand and is therefore the worlds oldest existing brand ever (holy cow!) and currently the brand is celebrating its 200 years of rich heritage. Check out the vintage website here

Fragglerock - Now honestly, who doesn't love Fragglerock. It is definitely something classically vintage. It began in 1983 and well the 80's wouldn't have been the same without them. We can all bow down to Jim Henson a children's programming wonderman who made our childhood memories full of caves, puppets and song. The many crazy creatures taught to accept our cultural differences, embrace high energy and taught us allegory before we even knew what the word really meant. Thank you for grade 10 english where you learn all about it and the meaning of life in Fragglerock is ultimately revealed. Who am I kidding. All I am saying is that now a T-shirt with these characters on it seems cool and well, vintage. Thanks to the co-productions of the 80's we had Fragglerock!


A glass wine fermenting jar. Growing up my parents always had one of these that was filled with coin. We rolled it all once for our trip to Florida. That was quite a feat - thank God there were 4 of us to do it. I now have one in my loft where all the extra chance goes (it isn't as full as it should be), however, I am not looking forward to trying to count all that coin - I have a feeling it mostly nickels and pennies. This type of jar is actually used by my Grandfather when he makes his own wine. I believe he has two of them and he makes great wine. I bought mine at a winemaking place on Ossington a few summers ago.



TV. To me this definitely looks vintage. I have a vintage yellow TV. I bought it at a very small used stuff stor for cheap and I love it. I don't really know why, it doesn't do much. You can't event connect it to cable - or if you can I really don't know how - so it doesn't actually provide any content programming but it like it as an accessory to the rest of the loft. Sometimes during parties -like Nuit Blanch - we put on the static to add to the creative atmosphere. I grew up without cable and trying to finangle rabbit ears to get reception... How I ended up in the media world and loving it, without ever having it in my childhood, I will never know


Berndardin Jars. I remember boxes and boxes of Bernardin Jars. in the garage (and basement) as a kid. Sometimes we used them for Dad's pasta sauce leftovers and other times Gramma used them for pickling cucumbers - that we grew - or for storing pickled eggs (one fo my absolute favourites things to eat). I could barely find any information on Bernardin Jars online. It may be because they think their customers are all 70-90 year olds who don't know how to use the internet (no offense if you're in that age group and do know how to use Google), but I would like to tell them that they should start marketing to a different demographic and online would be a great place to start. Hell, I use them to showcase my herbal tea's so they must be coming back in style. My dad also currently uses them as he has learned to perserve. He makes jams from all the fruit trees in his backyard and as far as I know he uses Bernardin Jars because well, they are the best. And they are in this list based on the fact that they have been around forever. They need to be introduced into our current culture and the art of preserving is one integrating into and definitely worth learning even if just for our own health and future.

Gramma's slippers. Growing up in the country there is something about Gramma's slippers that just have that extra bit of coziness to them. My sisters and I used to create electric shocks with our slippers. We would slide across the living room carpet and touch the stereo's volume button and BAM we would get/give a shock. it started to become a bit of a competition - who could slide and shock the fastest! I currently have a pair of these, however, am in need of a few more pairs as they are slowly falling apart from my over use. I am sure making Gramma's slippers would be a very fun activity - However, don't really know how to knit. In my research on Gramma's Slippers I came across a website (where I also got this photo) and found step by step instructions on how to make them - anyone willing to test it out? click here to read

OK so there you have it. Some other great vintage finds (and personal treasures) to add to my vintage collection.

Cheers,
Ange