Mid Atlantic Pyrex Lovers Swapaganza-MD

I am going to write this diary style and publish when it's all done so it my tenses are off, forgive me. 

FRIDAY MAY 20

i have spent a lot of time packing my Pyrex in bins over the last month.  I spent today loading up my car with tables, Pyrex and even threw in my picnic baskets and plaid coolers.  I figure this is a good opportunity to show how they can be used in an everyday setting.  It is fun to collect, but I really enjoy using my vintage!  

As the day is going on and attendees are getting last minute questions answered, you can tell this is going to be a great time!  Everyone is totally excited to shop, swap and meet the faces behind the keyboards!  I believe they expect about 70 shopper/swappers and over 100 guests including family and friends.  I asked Kenny to make a crisp in the Dutch oven and lots of attendees are excited to observe and ask some questions.  Although I would love to take the Vanagon, it is a 4 hour round trip and we are camping the holiday weekend, so leaving Vanny behind.  Going to finish up packing and racking my brain for items I may need or want.  SQUEE!!!! ✌🏼️ 

SATURDAY MAY 21

 Woke up early to finish a few last minute things before leaving.  We are on target to arrive at 11:45 am, which is just about when set up begins.  Our ride is 2 hours, not a bad trek.  It started raining as soon as we pulled out of our driveway.  But we knew the rain was coming.  

All packed and ready to go! 

We drove through downpours but arrived to nothing more than left over clouds with the occasional spritz.  my first impression of the park:  BEAUTIFUL!  The setting was just gorgeous!  Our 2 pavilions were close together and the set up buzz was already in action when I arrived. 

After an easy check in and brief meeting of a few of the ladies in charge, I started to unload and claim my space.   

Beautiful picnic area at Patapsco State Park, Ellicott City, MD

I claimed a space near the food but even more important, next to the stone fireplace!  Would have loved a fire!  We got set up, had some food and the event was rolling.  A fabulous give away, group photo and then we were off to deal!  

My great helper, Genevieve.  She and Trent helped me all day!  No complaints! 

The giveaway was first and a fabulous Kaleidoscope casserole donated by Jolene at JoRetro, Havre de Grace, MD was the highlight! 💕 

I believe the total of registered shoppers/traders was 80 plus family and friends!  Wow it was a large event! 

Got to shopping, swapping and selling but more importantly, making new friends, talking shop with other dealers and enjoying the massive selection of PYREX!  My husband even made some friends as he worked on cooking up some apple blueberry crisp.  

Kenny had some issues getting this going but when it was finished, it was delightful!  The men of the grill kept the burgers and dogs coming and the rest of the catered and donated spread was top notch! 

Me and my helpers. 

Pyrex art. 💖 

So what you really want to know is WHAT DID YOU GET???!!! 😜✌🏼️ 

Because of our current strike situation I had to restrain myself BUT if you have a nice stash of glass you can swap and end up coming home with nice things without spending a lot!  After all, we are there to trade!   

The stash includes a pair of Hazel Atlas Crinoline plates (fluted edging) in pink that I traded turquoise for, 5 yards of fabric and Dansk butter warmer I traded an Amish Butterprint fridge set and a snowflake space saver for, 4 divided pink plates to match my dinnerware set $10, federal glass covered dish $10, federal glass small bowl and white Hazel atlas vase trade for a friendship casserole.  I am thrilled with my take and I did sell some things so came home with more money than I left with so I call that a success! 

It was an awesome event filled with great people!  If you are interested in Pyrex and are in the region, please search for and request to join the Mid-Atlantic Pyrex Lovers Facebook group so you don't miss the next event!  I hear they may organize a fall swap!   ✌🏼️ if you are not in the area, please look for similar groups in your region and step out of your comfort zone and attend one of these great events!  You will have a blast!

xo Malissa

Setting up. 

This week- coming adventure in Pyrex Swapping!

Next weekend I am going to be heading to my first Pyrex swap meet in the Baltimore, MD area!  I am really excited to meet up with other collectors and their families.  Should be a fun time and I already have a few trade deals hammered out so will have lots to tell when i get back!  For those of you who are interested, I will definitely do a write up on the experience!  This is a nicely organized event and I believe they are expecting about 75 collectors/shoppers plus family and support!  I am pretty much all packed- Pyrex wise, and will add some other goodies of interest from my inventory as I pack the van. 

Not sure what is up the with weather this week but it is cold and yucky once again in the Northeast.  I have a list of projects to do but am waiting for warmer sunny weather to spend days in my garage working.  Before I start my next restoration, I have a few things to finish on items I have listed.  The chrome dinette chairs I just listed will be taken apart so I can clean the chrome underneath.  There was a lot of surface rust on them, but it cleaned right off with some tricks.  I can get the underneath better by taking the legs off to finish.  I try my best to clean things up and these were very labor intensive, but I want them to look great for their new home.  That said, I also found out about another rust removal product I would like to try on the vinyl.  One chair has some rust stains on it.  Hoping this might do the trick.  Generally they are in ok shape and the pattern on the vinyl is so awesome!  Here is a look.

Set of 4 Dixie Dinette chrome kitchen chairs in fabulous atomic vinyl!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!  <3 <3 <3  Close up of this awesome pattern!  Dark blue, light blue, grey, metallic gold and silver.  It is fabulous!

Diamond Chair update:  I have this chair listed in a few major markets because, well, I know it is not for everyone.  I received a message from a lovely woman, Mary Thorp, who found my listing and thought enough to reach out and let me know she approved of my restoration work.  It makes me truly happy for feedback like this.  This woman founded the Harry Bertoia Research Project, which catalogs known pieces of his work.  Ms. Thorp is a lecturer, aficionado and expert on Bertoia.  Knowing how much the artist and his works are loved and admired, I am very proud to have gotten a response out of someone who is an expert in this area.  If you are lucky to own any original pieces of Bertoia sculpture, you may register them with her page.  Mary is an asset to preserving the legacy of the artist and his works.  Fabulous!

I think things are starting to move again.  I have had some sales over the weekend and things are shipping out.  A little relief in a stressful time as my husband is still on strike…..we are 5 weeks into it and growing weary and poor.  Thank you for your support as every sale is much appreciated!  Have a great week and look forward to a great review of the swap next week!  

xo Malissa

Thank you and welcome!

I know I picked up some new followers this week and many folks stopped by to check out my shop and web page.  Thanks for coming!  I appreciate knowing people care about what I do!  Lots going on in the last week in my personal life and as many of you are aware, Verizon is on strike.  My husband is a technician there so we are really in a position right now.  I do appreciate any sales no matter how small as my hours at my job are now at about 12, which really is not going to help much in our household.  I am working hard listing and promoting, but I am at the mercy of the market and with that said, I actually have been cross listing a few items on ebay and set up a shop there.  I really do not want to sell in that market but at this point, I just need to sell.  Please share my info with anyone you know who is looking for items I have!  With that said, I have an album of Pyrex I plan to take with me to a swap in May.  You can find it on my Facebook page:  Facebook.com/madformodmalissa PLEASE stop by and have a look.  I will ship any item you wish, so please email me or message via FB for a shipping quote.  I also just listed a few items I never planned on selling from my personal collection including a JAJ yellow snowflake space saver and an orange Cathrineholm lasagna pan with carrier.  If you are in the market for them, act quickly as I do believe these items will not be available long.  If they are not sold by the time my husband gets back to work they are going off the market. 

The spring sale at my booth space in Fleetwood Antique Mall is in effect through the end of the month.  10% off a single item, 20% off multiples. All of my pyrex will be removed at the end of the month for my swap meet. 

Back to the Diamond Chair…...

This beauty is coming along and I hope to have some pics early next week.  It was determined the original finish on these 50s era wire diamonds is definitely a baked on finish similar to powder coating.  I know the current finish is Rilsan, a plastic which the chair gets dipped into and I believe would sand blast off.  The blaster decided that my finish did not need blasting and his powder coat would adhere to it as is.  He arranged to have it welded at the end of last week and I chose gloss black as the finish for powder coating.  I am dying to see it!!!!  There is little info available on the Knoll site on these classic chairs as they are only selling the smaller, dining height chair now.  There is a limited edition 24K Gold plated version out in honor of the 100th birthday of Harry Bertoia.  The whopper price tag is $2000+!  Surely it is beautiful to those who can afford it!  And of course, a fabulous tribute to such a great artist.  I am ready to tackle reconstruction of the cover but have been moving slowly only because I shifted gears to try to get more things listed and promoted.  I hope my next update has some pics to share, even if they are taken at my dear friends home in NJ!  With that said, the fellow who has been doing all of this coordinating is xtremeblasting.us.  He has done 6 old metal chairs for my friend plus some items at his home and my chair.  Prices are beyond reasonable!  I do not know what my welding is going to cost yet, but he quoted me $35 for the blasting so for that price, why do it yourself?!  Sometimes you have to pick and choose what battles you are willing to do yourself……I prefer wood over metal.  

To close, I will add a few pics of a little photo shoot I had today for some of my chairs.  Sometimes I think my pics really suck!  I don't have a nice wide open space to photograph nor proper lighting inside.  I try to take them all outside in natural light as I do think that is the best showing of the colors.  Today the sun was setting, and that always gives a bit of a warmer glow.  I set up in the grass today because some of my favorite vintage ads have to be Dunbar!  I purchased the only affordable book on them last year when I was restoring the pair of dining chairs I had.  A lot of the ads featured in the book were taken outside in the grass.  This chair lover is kind of loving that feel!  Do a little search and find some to check out!  If you are ever lucky enough to find some Dunbar items, covet them as they truly are the best made and most beautiful furniture I have touched to date!  xo Malissa

Orange accents.  Reasonably priced Viko Baumritter in Vinyl, Heywood Wakefield in Vibe Sunkissed fully restored and swoon worthy.   Indian Sari quilts in my shop as well!  I have 4 at the antique mall and 2 at home.  Great for music fests, picnics and soccer games.  Twin sized.  

Baby blues.  Would love to keep them together as found but will split them up.  Beautiful new Vibe Aquatic upholstery and restored worn arms to original champagne.  I am a huge Heywood fan and collector.  Much love was put into all 3 chairs and each took about a week of labor to restore.

My cute photo bomber!