Flea Market Finds

This week one of my darling girls has been home for a visit which means plenty of opportunities for op shopping. She found some really nice clothes -  all in fab condition (some unworn!) and we scurried home to add the odd dart and bits of lace - they all needed to be updated with a shorter hemline but her wardrobe has been well expanded for a minimal outlay so she is delighted. I wasn't up for clothes shopping myself so I just did the usual, books and crockery and a sniff around the manchester "department"! This is what I found :

A good selection of 50 cent books - I had to dig in a great big trolley for these - I am sure there were other treasures but I just got over it once the blood started rushing to my head as I was bent over trying to fish out a book near the bottom ...

This hymn book has an inscription inside the cover - it was a Christmas gift in 1944! It was worth the head rush to me, but I am not sure the view from behind me would have found an appreciative audience given the ever expanding girth of my butt!

This was a great find - a large shallow dish - made of copper. Yes you guessed it, I am planning to cut this baby up!

Just look at the texture on the thing - heaven!

This is a small side plate - just couldn't resist the sweet Parisian scene ...

This next plate I plan to give to my little great-nephew. It can be his "special" plate. He is nearly two so I think he will love having his very own plate from Auntie Sue.

It was my intention to use this next piece in a smash up session and turn it into jewellery but now I am not sure - it has kinda grown on me ...

It is only tiny so it wouldn't take up much space (insert wheedling tone here) so maybe I should just hang onto it for a bit?
And here is the first of what I hope will be many pieces from that shallow bowl!

I wanted to create something that looked like it had been dug out of the desert - something a little bit ancient. The texture on the bowl was perfect but I wanted some jewel-like colour - afterall, maybe it had belonged to a Bedouin princess?! I torch fired some enamel onto the discs using a very light hand so that some of the copper remained exposed. Add a little patina and then a final polish up and voila . The little row of beads are a yummy red colour - I used poppy jasper and there are little flecks of green running through the stone.

I think it has a certain weathered look don't you?  Hope everyone has had fun sifting through the op shops - see what treasures have been found over at Sophie's.I have just realised that I now have fifty lovely followers so to celebrate I think I will have a give-away! Check back on Monday or Tuesday for details.