So I am continuing to love Instagram as it allows me to post shrine sale finds and other interesting items on a real-time basis which is just so satisfying. For those of you who have not taken the leap, I’ve been finding some great treasures for myself recently and I’d love to share them. My blue-green glass addiction is unabated and I found this chubby sake bottle last week.  The two “ears” on either side of the bottle neck would have had a handle running through them originally. I think this one is perfectly shaped to be a lamp, but in the meantime, I will allow him to just hang out with his friends.

blue green sake bottle for lamp

Speaking of lamps, this sake jug with its flowers, unusual in that most rustic jugs just have a manufacturer’s name or mark painted on them like these, is also a wonderful shape for a lamp.

flowered sake jug

I love its implied relation to an American classic, the stoneware jug. It took the floral decoration on it to make me see it that way.

Somerset Potters stoneware jug

Actual lamps have been another find, although I know I paid more than I should have for this purpley-indigo beauty. I have wanted a tiny task lamp for my desk at the beach house and looked everywhere the last two summers for one with no luck.

blue work lamp

It will be absolutely perfect up here, so I had to have it.

hydrangeas in transferware bowl

I also couldn’t resist this minty green metal storage box. Don’t know what it is for or where exactly it will go, but I am sure I will find a place!

vintage metal box mint green

My lavender and blue dreams continue, with the markets fully supporting them. Lavender is not a typical color in Japanese textiles – it really is rare to see it – but I found an extraordinary lavender and blue tsutusgaki furoshiki (a traditional wrapping cloth made with a hand drawn rice paste resist technique) with a soft shibori faded background. I was having trouble convincing myself to buy it (“Do I really need it?”) when I realized I had an item stalker. You know what that is, someone who has spotted something you are looking at and decided they want it, so they follow you around the booth hoping you will put it down so they can grab it. An item stalker always helps to force a purchase!

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Since then I’ve found a length of typical shibori (Japanese tie-dye), but in lavender and blue.

lavender shibori

While I’m at it, here’s another really pretty and detailed piece…

blue shibori

…and did someone say pop of color? Obviously May Daouk‘s living room is still on my mind when you look at these colors together.

pink shibori

My spate of finding incredible Japanese prints – impeccably framed no less – at Kawagoe continues unabated. These small lithographs aren’t stand out pieces alone, but as part of a larger gallery wall, I know they will be fantastic.

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I am not familiar with the artist and haven’t had time yet to research it, but I do love them.

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So have you made any great finds recently? I’d love to hear about them!

Related Posts:
Shrine Sale Stories…Yamamoto’s Steamer Trunk
Shrine Sale Stories…My French Moderne Bar Cart
Shrine Sale Stories…Vintage Matchboxes, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel and The 1948 London Olympics