LA DOLFINA

If you haven't heard of kaarskokker candle sleeves and candle sticks you are in for a treat! (Click on any image to enlarge for close-up detail)   This innovative company has come up with the brilliant idea of making the most beautiful decorative sleeves to replace the boring, albeit traditional beige ones that are on most sconces and chandeliers.   You just slip off the existing one and slip on     any one of these dazzlers!   They also offer a candlestick that adjusts to 2 different sizes and comes in a choice of brass or nickel.  It  accommodates both sleeve sizes giving you have an infinite variety of looks.           I've used kaarskokker candle sleeves on 2 small lamps in my home.   This small brass & crystal desk lamp really popped against my burlap covered walls with the new blue & gold candle sleeves and picked up the blues in the ship painting.     I have thi...

  I waited too long in line at an estate sale yesterday...   ...and figured that by the time I made it inside there wouldn't be much of anything good left.  But lo and behold in the tiny powder room just off the entry, was a cache of vintage brass bathroom accessories with the dolphin motif just waiting for me to find.  The pair of dolphins at the bottom hold a glass shelf and the cup holder to the left has a crystal glass. (not pictured)  As you can see the soap holder still has it's original glass insert and the ring towel holder which lies behind it completes the set! And if that wasn't enough, there were also a pair of lion towel holders thrown in for good measure.  It's always a thrill to find La  Dolfina, whatever form she comes to me in!! Wishing you all a Happy Weekend!

Okay, it's true, I didn't exactly leave The Pointe empty-handed on Sunday. I almost made it, but a recent obsession of mine... oversized bottles,  foiled my attempt to keep my cash in my pocket and my eye on the lens!  Now that I've confessed,  I know that most of you didn't believe I could get out of there without sneaking out a treasure or two,  so... Here's what tripped me up! I don't know why but I'm crazy about these fabulous vintage champagne bottles.  This one in particular is truly amazing with it's large size, thick heavy gorgeous green glass,  wonderfully aged and distressed labels and salvaged cork.  I'm so grateful to the person who loved it enough to keep it all these years...  it must have been some celebration!!        I had never even heard of Tuaca before I found this beauty! How could I possibly resist such a find, especially when it rests upon a trio of silver-plated "dolfina's" ?     ...

Before man learned the secret of glassmaking, nature was the world’s only glassmaker.  Glass is a substance formed in nature which lies at the heart of my fascination with it.  "When the basic ingredients of sand and minerals are heated to a high temperature and then cooled, a transparent, non- crystalline material called glass is created.  This is a common occurrence in nature, where lightening or meteor strikes provide the heat that melts sand and sedimentary rock, forming glass". Here is a collection of some of my treasured objects made from glass... I recently came across this vintage glass decanter that was hand-blown and divided into 4 sections.  Each of the 4 sections is hand engraved with Whiskey, Brandy, Rum and Gin.  There is also a beautiful monogram which makes me think it might have been a wedding gift.   I am enamored with the color of this pair of blue bottles, and can never resist any bottle wrapped in wicker!     I b...