Pretty as a Pitcher!

Please excuse the cheesy title of this post but believe me it could have been much worse.  I was initially toying with the idea of going with 'Pitcher This!'  and then I though what about  'Nice Jugs!' so you see what I mean!

Anyway, you have probably guessed that the subject of this week's post is pitchers and jugs and here are a few that I have had in the past and some more that are patiently sitting on the shelf of my office waiting for a new home.   

The first example is this barbotine (French majolica) pitcher in the form of a duck by the maker St. Clément.  I often see them when I'm out and about so I finally gave in and decided to buy one.  He was pretty mucky when I found him and he looked a bit unloved so being the former owner of a little duck that looks quite similar (Claude who has moved to the duckpond in our local park in Cognac along with his buddy Jacques) I just couldn't resist.

Click here to link to his listing on my Etsy Shop

A real favourite of mine are enamel pitchers and jugs and I buy them whenever I can because they are equally decorative inside the home or out in the garden and have a great shabby-chic/vintage look that's still so popular.  This particular one I have kept for myself because there were some pin hole pricks in the side that I missed when I purchased it.  Luckily a bit of clear silicone has solved this problem but having found another one in better condition I put that one up for sale in it's place. 

This little jug is another example of barbotine and is from the Art Nouveau/Belle Epoque period.  At present it is still waiting for a new owner on my Etsy shop.

Click here to link to it's listing on my Etsy Shop

This little pitcher has beautiful pale duck egg blue enamel and would look great on the table filled with flowers in a country or shaker style kitchen.

Click here to link to it's listing on my Etsy shop

This one I sold some time ago.  I secretly wanted to keep it after filling it with lilacs and photographing it so I was genuinely sad to see it go!

This last little fellow is from the same maker as the duck (St. Clement) but completely different in style.  Modelled as an owl with a lovely bright yellow glaze I don't think it will be long before he finds a new home.

Click here to link to his listing on my Etsy Shop

The Trials of Le Chineur

Well it's that time of year when every weekend there are so many brocante markets to choose from that it can be a bit hit and miss but even so we do somehow usually manage to find a few eclectic trucs to stock my Etsy shop.

A lovely set of vintage French fairytale books took my eye recently

The brocantes are often mixed with vide greniers (a kind of car boot sale) which tend to have fairly modern bits that local people want to get rid of.  It is rare to find a treasure amongst these things but when you do they are invariably cheap.  

I paid more than I wanted to for this gorgeous enamel jug but it looks
great in my bedroom and it was an excuse to buy some pretty flowers 

Having spent a couple of years getting up at the crack of dawn to set up a brocante stall myself I can understand that the professional dealers are there to make a profit but unfortunately this often leaves too small a margin for me.  

This tactile copper ladle was a happy find from a private seller

To get around the flea markets without wasting too much time Spike and myself use the code "P.O.P." when we want to tell each other that there is nothing worth looking at on a particular stall. These initials represent the phrase 'pile of poop' which could potentially offend English speaking dealers so it's best to be cautious and to remember to always use the code.

A dealer sold this wine funnel/strainer to me with a couple of
other bits - all I need now is the vintage wine to go with it!

It may sound crazy but sometimes I feel quite low after a couple of hours or looking at other people's junk.  The amount of broken bits of plastic tat that we find piled up on an ever increasing amount of the stalls is enough to make you want to weep and shout up to the sky "WHYYYYYYYYY!" (if you must do this don't forget to flail your arms about for dramatic effect).

An English lady was packing up and moving to Spain so I picked up this
cute little Limoges coffee set just when I was about to give up and go home

It's when we have had a run of bad shopping expeditions (can you tell we've had a few lately?) that it's important to remember to treat these excursions as a pleasant trip out and to get over ourselves.

There is so much to enjoy at these flea markets aside from the buying not least the banter with the stall holders, the pretty country car trips to engaging destinations and the fact that we regularly bump into friends.

Only a couple of weeks back we enjoyed a chat with this charming old man who was sharpening knives on his fascinating vintage contraption.

To borrow a well worn phrase (or a rough estimation of it) - I must try to remember that it's not the destination that's important but the journey (but I won't lie it's always better if you can pick up a few interesting trucs on the way!)