Weblogs and dying
22 April 2003, 2:36 PM

Collecting
22 April 2003, 1:16 AM

If you've known me for any length of time you may have come to realize that I like to collect various things.

I'm pretty sure I got it from my parents - when they first married they collected music albums from around the world. Later it was onyx knick-knacks and blue and white Chinese-style vases. My mom also collected dolls when she was a young woman, and while the type of doll has changed, she still collects. And when I was a teenager they collected lots of silver serving ware and crystal vases and bowls. Mom also loved porcelain flowers.

I collected too. Among them were key-chains and pins or patches from places I'd traveled to. I also collected some coins and stamps, and my dad collected some coins was well. Neither of us was as serious as many coin collectors are however, and we never acquired anything really valuable. We mostly like the unusual or just a variety from different countries.

I don't know that my sister ever really got the collecting bug, but mine certainly has continued. It's changed though; I've long since gotten rid of the key-chains, and I don't really do stamps anymore either. (But I'm dutifully collecting all the state quarters.)

I am however suddenly enjoying collecting very specific pieces - like milk glass cake plates. I Have two now, one my sweetie bought me (Spanish lace, Fenton ruffled) and one my mother had for a long time (with a simple lattice work edge). I'm haunting eBay for a Fenton Hobnailed ruffled edge one, and I hope to eventually collect a few different sizes and heights of these milk glass cake plates.

Another obsession is rolling pins. I started my collection cheaply, with a bunch of plain, unfinished and unpainted ones from various dollar stores. I added a few unusual ones - like a French pastry roller and a Finnish style one as well as some very little ones. I've got the whole collection in a large willow basket right now and it's growing. I've been given some lovely ones with dark patinas as gifts and I bought a beat up old one from an antique store for cheap. Of course, I'm lurking about eBay watching for more of these. I don't really care for the glass blown ones (but I'd never seen that kind before, so I found them fascinating) or the marble ones (good for pastry) but some of the porcelain, tin and steel ones are nifty. There's been quite a few unusual wood ones as well. Eventually I'd like to have a rack or two to display the best pieces and have the rest in baskets or tins on a table underneath.

Baskets. Baskets are another collecting obsession, although you might not notice it at first since they're unobtrusively in use all over my place. I'll make a bee-line for any collection of baskets, and I'm starting to go for more finely made and unusual ones. I LOVE places like Garden Ridge Pottery, crafts stores and World Market where there are rows and rows of baskets to the ceiling.

Cookbooks are a new one. I have to admit, I was not interested in cookbooks at all just a few years ago, even though a few friends of mine had a passion for 'em. But now I do find myself adding rapidly to my collection and delighting in usual or really useful finds.

Not everything I collect is made to last. Teas and jams and jellies are another passion. I have a small cabinet in my dinning room that holds nothing but various kinds of tea, and a vast assortment of jellies, jams, preserves and honey spreads.

I suspect my small collection of pitchers will grow as I start to garden. I've got three especially nifty pieces that are out all the time and act as vases for flowers. One was a hand-made piece I got in Washington state. The other two are your typical Dansk-type pitchers. One is a lovely cobalt blue and the other is a graceful white one - perfect for tulips.

I have a few inherited collections as well. My mom's set of porcelain dogs is no longer an active collection, but I am growing the National Geographic magazine collection.

Dinnerware in one or two pieces, tea cups, buttons, blank journal notebooks - these are just some of the small "use everyday" type collections as well.

And then there are those things that I hope to collect some day, but can't really afford to right now or just haven't yet started: some sterling silver pieces, old maps, Finnish hunting knives (pukko, etc.) and Rappala fishing lures.

I guess I'll fit in well with Jeff's family. His parents collect as well - although much more specifically. His mom is a collector and restorer of old quilts and his dad has a passion for specific Boy Scout memorabilia.

So what do YOU collect? Anything?