The Montage - Art Gallery, Coffee Shop and Vintage Store

About 9 years ago I used to live in Forest Hill, a South East district of London, with the postcode SE23. While I was living in a small apartment in a Victorian house, Forest Hill, although an affluent area in the nineteenth century, was then still quite neglected "up and coming" area, with just a few independent shops, a couple of not so interesting coffee shops and a new branch of Sainsbury supermarket (not counting the magnificent Horniman Museum and Gardens of course).

But the area was full of artists. And it didn't take long for the creative and enterprising spirit to assert itself, in the form of new art galleries, art cafes, and designer and vintage shops. Well established Havelock Walk Studios have been already there for many years, but now the whole area is buzzing with creative activity.

The Montage arrived on the scene last year, after a group of Polish artists got a lease on the dilapidated house and spent several months renovating it. And they did it in a true spirit of environmental friendliness. The place is the upcycling galore!

The Montage is an Art Gallery upstairs, and a Coffee Shop / Gallery / Vintage Store downstairs. It is a very nice combination. The owners' passion for art and all things old shows in every corner.  

The coffee shop was recently extended into the back garden. The old doors are not for sale, but almost everything else is.

The Montage is a very children friendly place. There is a room downstairs, full of toys, where kids can play, while parents catch up with friends over coffee and cake.

And the cakes are delicious! As a person with a wheat intolerance, I could even find several yummy options for myself.

The paintings seen on the walls here are by Agnieszka Handzel and Pawel Wasek.
For more information on The Montage click here.

The Montage - Art Gallery, Coffee Shop and Vintage Store

Two Hatome lamps with distinctive personalities

As Winter approaches and the world descends into darkness (at least in Northern Hemisphere), good sources of additional light at home become more and more important, to safeguard us from Winter blues.

Here are two lamps I recently created. I try to give distinctive personality to each of my Hatome lamps.
This one is bold, colorful, brave. I called it Hatome Fantasy Lamp. It has an original 1970s lamp base and I recovered the lampshade with the vintage 1970s fabric.

I finished it with some very fancy decorative trimmings for visual impact. Little glass beads catch and reflect the light when the lamp is switched on and it looks really pretty.

The second lamp is called Geometric Retro Chic Lamp. This lamp is elegant, chic and warm. It has the original 1960s/70s brown ceramic base. I recovered the lampshade with a beautiful 1960s/70s vintage fabric.

If you would like to see more, go to my Hatome shop on Etsy.

Thank you for visiting this blog.
Yolanta

Two Hatome lamps with distinctive personalities

My first steps on Etsy - Treasury lists

Recently I have been obsessed with lamps. Sourcing the materials for the lamps (vintage 1960s and 1970s), making the lamps, listing them in my Hatome shop on Etsy, editing the descriptions, then editing again. My husband has been laughing at me.... But we shall persevere....

Here is the next lamp, it has original 1960s/70s white ceramic base with a pattern of brown lines. I re-covered the lampshade with a 1960s/70s vintage yellow and brown cotton fabric depicting a pattern of honeycomb and flowers.

Here is the detail of the lamp:

 

While doing a lot of research of how other people do things on Etsy, I discovered 'Treasury lists'. If you are unfamiliar with this term, Treasury lists are basically your private collections of 16 images of products from Etsy shops, under your chosen name. How you curate the Treasury list is up to you, but it is advised not to promote your own products (some people are cheating here), not to place 2 pictures from the same seller and "spread the love".

My first 2 Treasury lists were done completely following the rules. I collected some images according to the colors and moods. I enjoyed this very much and it reminded me that I am a graphic designer by profession. Then I had a thought that I should be putting together images that are somehow related to the product I am trying to sell: vintage 1960s lamps. And I created the treasury titled: Modern Vintage Home. I admit I placed the picture of one of my lamps there, it was in such a good company...

Treasury lists are a great way to connect to your Etsy community and they help to promote your own products too. If you want to see my 3 Treasury lists, go to Hatome shop on Etsy, click on 'Profile' under my name, and you will see the 'Treasury Lists'.


Best wishes
Yolanta

My first steps on Etsy - Treasury lists

My new Hatome shop

At last! My Hatome shop on Etsy is opened.

It is just the beginning, only 3 products are for sale in my little shop, but I keep on producing them and the shop will grow. I sell funky upcycled lamps and cushions with 1950s/60s/70s flavor.

I am passionate about 1950s, 1960s and 1970s designs and I use vintage fabrics or new fabrics with distinctive vintage look. I am also passionate about recycling, upcycling and reusing available materials.

Apart from selling ready made products I will accept commissions. If someone would like me to make a lamp or a cushion using their own favorite fabric - they can contact me to discuss the details.

Please visit my new Hatome shop on Etsy. I would be grateful for your feedback.

Yolanta

My new Hatome shop

Making Frida Kahlo style blouse

Frida Kahlo, the Mexican painter, captured the imagination with her beautiful paintings, her amazing and tragic life story and her colorful sense of style. Her home, her garden, her pet monkeys and other pets, and most of all, her traditional Mexican outfits still inspire many of us, especially artistically inclined women.

I always admired her beautiful blouses and few years ago I made myself a Frida Kahlo blouse. Actually, I was dressed as Frida Kahlo for a New Year's Eve party. The theme of the party was: "Famous deceased person". So I choose to dress as Frida and I made this blouse:

I wore it with a heavy red necklace, heavy earrings and a long skirt which I picked up in a charity shop. I tied my hair up with red ribbons, Frida's style, and painted my brows so that they met in the middle. The outfit was a great success and I had lots of fun!

The blouse was made out of an old simple blouse, a few embroidered pieces of another old blouse, and some decorative haberdashery.

 

This is the back view:

If you would like to make something similar, It is very easy to do. You can use what you have at home, just think creatively. For inspiration, see Frida Kahlo paintings and photographs. If you would rather buy a ready made Frida blouse, I recommend an on-line shop where you can do it by clicking here.

Happy blouse making ;)
Yolanta

Making Frida Kahlo style blouse

How to upcycle the lamp

I have just finished upcycling this lamp and I will share with you how I did it.

On my usual treasure hunt in the local charity shops I found a little lamp with an interesting base and a vintage tea towel, probably from the sixties. I liked the boldness of the patterns and thought I could use this fabric for a lamp shade.

The existing lampshade was covered with some sort of artificial suede which was quite opaque so I stripped it off using the pliers, leaving the plastic layer in place. If the lampshade you are using is made from a white or light colored fabric, which is letting the light through, you can leave in on and glue your chosen fabric on top of it. 

After deciding which part of the tea towel I am going to use, I put the lampshade sideways on top of the fabric and cut a strip of fabric which was about 2cm wider on each side of the lampshade.

 

I wrapped the strip of fabric around the lampshade. The length of my fabric strip was too short to cover the lampshade so I cut an additional piece from the tea towel to cover the gap. I arranged the fabric pieces on the lampshade and made sure that when the fabric overlapped, only the finished edges of the pieces were visible.

Now I had all the things I needed for upcycling the lampshade, including a strong PVA glue and a binding tape which I would use for the top and bottom edges of the lampshade:

After spreading the fabric face down on a clean protective surface I applied the PVC glue. Avoid using a newspaper as the base protection because the print may transfer on to the moist fabric.

Next I wrapped the fabric carefully along the bottom edge of the lampshade and gently pressed the fabric to the lampshade while forming several folds to accommodate the narrower top of the lampshade. I kept on pressing down the fabric and smoothing the surface and then I left the lampshade to dry. 

After the lampshade had dried out, I cut off the excess fabric along the top and bottom edges. I applied the glue to the binding tape and glued it to the top and bottom edges of the lampshade. 

Here is the detail:

After cleaning the base of the lamp with white spirit, I mixed artists oil paint to match one of the colors in the fabric's pattern and painted part of the lamp base with it. I left the base to dry. 

After several days the lamp base was dry and I added the lampshade to it. The lamp is now ready. Here is the back view:

Happy lamp upcycling.

Yolanta

How to upcycle the lamp

How to create a vintage white paint effect

Today I finished a little picture which I prepared for my Mr Partner to celebrate our special date - in two days we are getting married. As I was working on the frame I had an idea to write about how to create a vintage white paint effect. You can use this method for painting frames, furniture or anything made of wood, to make it look much older and 'authentic'. Vintage white paint effect goes very well with shabby chic style. I have a feeling I will be writing much more about it in the future.

So here it goes. You will need: an old or new wooden frame, white emulsion paint, sandpaper, bees wax of dark brown color, soft cloth (I used a piece of old shirt) and some white spirit. First I sanded the frame and painted it with two coats of white emulsion paint.

I waited until the white emulsion has properly dried (best to leave it overnight), then I sanded the frame gently with sandpaper. It has to be done gently in order not to disturb the white paint too much.

Then I rubbed the bees wax into the frame using part of the cloth:

After I finished rubbing in the wax, the frame looked like this:

Then I took a clean piece of soft cloth and polished the frame to remove the excess wax and to make the frame slightly shiny. Because the surface of my frame was not very smooth, I added some white spirit to the cloth to remove the wax more easily. When I finished some of the bees wax was still on the frame, this gives it a vintage look:

I painted this little picture to celebrate our special date. This is a closeup of it, when framed:

Happy making :)
Yolanta

How to create a vintage white paint effect