Thursday, September 24, 2009

Vermouth Blanc and Tonic Wine


I love old advertising artwork. I have an old version of the Sears Roebuck catalog from 1900. It's all in black and white, and part of the facination is the type of items available for sale.

Things that we don't need or even think about any longer, in the culture now.

I heard that there was even a series of houses that you could purchase from Sears, as a kit. It arrived shipped on the railroad. And it had to be assembled on the spot.

Several people I know have built houses this year. It's a lot of work, tons of decisions. Can you picture choosing a house out of a catalog.


The images back then were mass produced, printed and distributed. They have a special grainy quality to them. A look that places them in a timeframe, from their style and their use of color.

Very graphic.


I especially like the advertisements for liquor. They have an elegant quality too.

So I made some up into earrings. The detail is surprising. And fun.

2 comments:

SummersStudio said...

I love old advertising too. I like that it was all hand drawn which seems refreshing in contrast to all of the modern digital art work. Not that digital art work is bad, mind you. Just different.

I used to live in a bungalow neighborhood that had quite a few Sears and Roebuck houses. They were surprisingly well made house with amazing woodwork.

The Joy of Nesting said...

Hi Lynn,

These are just way to much fun and would surely add a skip to your step when you were wearing them. Perfect pairing with your favorite pair of jeans & white tee shirt!! :)

We lived in a S&R house in Walla Walla Wa. They became very popular at the tail end of the 1800-the end of the 1920s. Their hay day was during the Arts and Crafts movement. You decided what you wanted and what your budget was and then ordered the details. They were as plain or decorative as you desired. Yep Leann is right they were very well built, and economical especially for many of the isolated farming communities. They depended on S&R's catalog for everything any way so why not the house to put the stuff in?? :)