The Patina group on flickr.com is for images of anything that has “a rich, interesting, complex surface sheen due to age and use.” At this writing, 101 photographers have contributed close to 900 photos, gathering, IMHO, one of the most gorgeous collections on flickr. Read the rest of this entry »
by lockwasher
These delightful Robots are all made from gathered bits and pieces in the workshop of Lockwasher.
As you can see, each one is a work of art and has a unique personality. Read the rest of this entry »
by Nancy S.M. Waldman
This photo is one I took two days ago, after becoming inspired by Manu’s playground photograph.
I was, afterward, tuned into the sun coming through my windows, the play of light and shadow on objects and the transformative power of the sun.
This photo is of a group of objects that have gathered themselves on a shelf in my laundry/mud/back entrance room. I use the passive voice because that’s precisely what it is, an unintentional grouping. It’s not a true display, as no one sees it except whoever does the laundry (mostly me 
).
Most of the objects are things I’ve picked up while walking in the woods near our house. There are fragments of china that were thrown into a backyard rubbish pile decades ago. There are bottles and broken bottles and a perfect little teacup that my dog brought out of the woods. The wheelbarrow is not a found object, but is one I can’t remember acquiring, so it has the feel of something found.
These objects are outside things that have found their way into my house, but they are just barely inside the door. Because of this, I like the way the photograph shows the outside and the inside. They almost merge into one.
When we turn our attention to ordinary things in a creative way - whether by photographing, drawing, painting, or repurposeing them - we first see them in a new way and then we appreciate them anew or, maybe for the first time.
Today, choose to focus your attention on something - or someone - in a new way. It will alter the way you perceive them and you’ll be reminded that appreciation is its own reward.
Here’s an article on gathering and collecting
with links to the results of our Collectors Survey
Originally published in February 2006 in the Practically Creative blog
The following images were featured in the October 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: collections. Read the rest of this entry »
by Ben Shepard
Long ago
In a little boy far, far away… Read the rest of this entry »
Soy, in ad-dressing collections, we mustard somewhere and honey, you are going to relish this! Mayo we introduce you to a tiny taste of Chris Harne’s astounding preserve of close to 700 flexible portion-control Condiment Packets
…sweet, hot and saucy, eh?
by collector, Mikey Walters
All my life I’ve been a collector. When I was young, I collected action figures, bubblegum cards (only movie and TV show cards, no sports), and even stamps for a while. As I grew older I stuck with comic books, and sometimes made an effort to own an entire series of videos or books, but my favorite and longest lingering collection is my PEZ.
Just like everyone, I had eaten PEZ as a kid, but I don’t think I saved any of the toy dispensers. One Christmas, Mom bought a Santa Claus dispenser that are in the stores every year for my stocking (I get a stocking full of candy to this day!), and I thought it was great - it made me think it would be fun to pick up a new PEZ whenever I saw one at the grocery store, and that’s just what I did.
Soon I had around 30 dispensers, all bought randomly one at a time, and it started getting tough to find anything I didn’t own. I started looking for PEZ info on the web, and found tons of sites - I realized that PEZ collecting was a huge hobby, with some dispensers going for $1,000! At that point, I actually became a real collector, and started going to different stores to “hunt the heads” that I needed.
Soon I had every US dispenser in production, so the next step was to buy European and Canadian PEZ (which include other characters not available in the US). I started ordering PEZ from web sites and spending some real cash, and when I went to Canada I bought every dispenser I could find.
From there I could only move into “antique” PEZ, which slowed me down quite a bit, as the average dispenser goes for $25-$50 bucks! I haven’t bought one at this price in a long time, since there are several new lines of characters out (I bought lots of them while I was in Japan).
My PEZ are displayed on actual PEZ racks mounted on the wall. The best part of PEZ collecting is seeing how cool hundreds of little heads look all together! I now have well over 250 different dispensers. People always ask about my oldest and favorite ones - my oldest and favorite is Batman with Cape from 1966 (my only dispenser older than me!), which is worth $150! A few older old ones are Elephant with Hair (worth up to $200.00) and Maharajah from the early 70s. One year for my birthday, my amazing friends surprised me with a Captain America dispenser, which started up a fun buying spree for me!
For a while I was a total fanatic, reading PEZ newsletters and dying to hear the latest rumors about new characters, but now I have fun just enjoying my collection and buying new ones as I find them - just the way I started out.
By the way, my favorite PEZ website is PEZ Central, and my collection is featured on the site, here. Here’s mikey’s site
Originally published in the October 2005 issue of The Practically Creative Quarterly, theme: collections
