Rummaging Around

Yet again, i have a deadline. I love it and hate it at the same time. I love it cause i get to allot time and plan ahead to get this project done. I hate it, cause i don't want to let anyone down, as i think i had mentioned last year in regards to this same exact project. I also am a little scared that I won't be able to find the materials i need. This past weekend i went to a flea market, with my friend Area Woman, in search for possible art supplies. These are the best places for me to find what i need. Unfortunately, the flea markets around me are like Dollar stores. They sell new products, like car mats and soap and old food in boxes. I don't understand how this is flea market wares.... I want that flea market where grandma and grandpa are clearing out their house of crap and put it in a little booth. i want the flea market from "Mall Rats". I want to spend hours and hours going through stuff and wondering- what is this used for?

I, of course, find almost everything but what i need. I bought an old fan, which i am a great (pardon the pun) fan of. I did find 3 old metal gears too, but nothing else. And when you ask people what you are looking for, they immediately need to know what you are using it for. Who are you? What do you do? I remember once i had to convince this guy that his container full of keys is not worth anything. I don't care if they went to a hotel that doesn't exist anymore or an old '57 Ford car. That is besides the point. They are keys that go to nothing... you gonna sell them to me or not? Who is going to buy the ENTIRE container of keys? And who is going to buy each key individually? And you want $20 for it?! Needless to say, i am a proud owner of all these keys. They will make a great chandelier. At least that is my plan for them.

Flea markets are a great place for people watching as well. From the people who are shopping to the people that are selling. And to see what they are selling and what they are buying. My friend is a medical illustrator. I found a medical kit that had this tourniquet with illustrations printed on it showing how you use this. It was really cool looking. She asks this guy, who is the same guy who sold me my fan, how much is just the tourniquet. He wouldn't sell it without the rest of the kit, saying it needs to go together. The entire kit was $10. When you open this kit, it was a rusty metal box with a bunch of old gauze in it. She then says- umm i don't want all this old gauze, i just want this. He wouldn't budge. I tried to get the fan and these two metal tops to a faucet for a total of $10. He said all of it was $12. The fan was $10, which by the way is an amazing deal, and a dollar for each faucet top. AW and I tell him, who is going to buy these faucet knobs? His answer- plumbers. Yeah, they are searching flea markets for these....

The best person we came across was actually the best booth in this flea market. It was over flowing with stuff. And not just stuff, but cool stuff. One of those booths that you can't move to quick or you might miss something and you have very very tight isles to move through. I ask him if he happens to know if he has the items i was looking for and amazingly, he knows everything he has. He then decides to follow us around, as we are not your average flea market shoppers. He proceeds to show us items and makes little remarks about George Bush and Rumsfeld. We ask if he had any old Medical illustration books, and of course, he just sold one about 10 minutes ago (so typical). He then proceeds to show us this book about design inside a church. Now the two of us start nudging each other and giggling inside, cause of course we totally draw these types of people. He tells us that these designs are for the devil and things have to be in a certain order. AW decides to bait him on and ask what happens if they aren't. His answer, of course, was that everything would fall down and kill people. Of course. He then says- It's like that Skinny Puppy song.... and then quotes a song. Now, that was it. I was dying. i wanted to laugh so hard. I couldn't even hear what exactly he quoted cause i was not expecting this 50 year old man with his grey hair pulled back in a pony tail, wearing John Lennon style glasses and talking in a conspiracy tone to start quoting Skinny Puppy. We were in awe. We wanted to stay there talking to him all day, but we were there on a mission.

Needless to say, I don't have everything i need. I will be visiting more flea markets and junk yards in the next couple weeks, trying to get what i need to finish my project. I have yet to get the guitar, but at least i know what i want to create and can start my planning in advance. This weekend I will get the guitar and will start cutting it apart. And of course, I will get to have more contact with these amazing people wanting to know who i am and what i want with that object.