on october 30, 2012 gearbender & rustmorte hung out their shingle & opened shop.
‘gearbender & rustmorte’ was born of a yen to find homes for their beloved stuff. of a certain age, g & r are asking the big questions… how do you put this little pocket knife in your will?
or a beater wwII leather flight jacket, kimonos, a blow torch, hubcaps, wife beater undershirt, rusty square nails, 50s lingerie, 40s dresses, crocheted potholders, kitsch knick knacks… or this bird?
grandma’s 50’s parrot (or is it a cockatiel?) in her new home with ‘les & her frozen featherheads’, happy in the collection of the birdwoman of minnesota, sweet leslye erickson. thank you, leslye. (latest news from leslye, grandma’s bird is called ‘goldie’.)
nic bought this vintage dress for yours truly. it had hung in a wonderful exhibit at the hallie ford museum in salem, OR with the vintage dresses of a veterinarian, several of which nic bought & brought home for me. wish i could remember the vet’s name or the woman’s who curated the show. check out those cabbage roses & paisleys. before laser printing!
& here it is now on the beautiful bridget stanford who lives across the pond in the UK. WOW!
the vet is happy, the curator is happy, g & b are happy just looking at bridget glammed up & smiling in that museum worthy dress now in its 70th+ year.
finding homes for favorite vases proves possible too. the blue green painted glass vase perches at jim little’s & michael owen’s well-appointed pad in edmonds, WA.
& a convo (etsy talk for conversation) is sent to Gearbender & Rustmorte with this picture of the vase with a lovely bouquet of glads. glad to be glad guys. thanks!
o yes… an ample collection of midcentury lingerie items once called underslips. a slip is maybe one of the sexiest & most serviceable items of women’s clothing ever made. remember elizabeth taylor, langorous & sultry, in her underslip & high heels on the bed in ‘cat on a hot tin roof?’ hot hot hot.
hello mariclair werrmann in new jersey! thank you thank you for convo-ing your picture in the mirror in this 50’s black vassarette slip with lace & antron nylon tricot. nothing can beat antron nylon tricot for that slinky, silky feel. love the beads, mariclair! way to rock midcentury lingerie!
nic’s grandmother’s ferocious hen & rooster. beauties. signed brad keelers. a little research on the web turned up keeler’s granddaughter, cati porter, a poet herself, who has been collecting her grandfather’s work with plans of opening a museum/exhibit in his name. we communicated & eventually packaged up these birds & sent them off to california.
top shelf of cati keeler’s collection. that’s the answer, how can you do it? to paraphrase poet james dickey, to be an american poet you have to be willing to sell your grandmother downriver.
letting go is never easy, especially if the rooster & the hen have been in the family a long time & you’ve bathed & dried them ogling the artistry of their tail feathers or the mean look in their eyes.
a vintage silk kimono with hand stitching & a beautiful pink silk lining all the way from japan. it once belonged to takako’s mother. takako is a good friend who gifted gearbender & rustmorte with several lovely kimonos some years back that she wanted no more having inherited an abundance.
from the island of japan to the state of colorado, fabulously modeled here by sherry beck. WOW! looks out of sight on you in the foreground of firs, mountains & sky, delicate sherry in a POW of abstract floral silk. thank you, sherry! it’s a lovely variation on a caftan around a pool & you look great!
more green than blue, a 40s miniature vase with no maker’s mark. no mccoy, but rustmorte relished it anyway. lo, another relishee thus loved it too & added it to her collection.
valerie fergusen in california convo’d this picture of the happy noname happy as a clam with valerie’s collection of treasures. it’s taken me a long time to thank you for your kindnesses. maybe you too know the attachment to things.
