Guest Post and illustrations by Lea Redmond of Leafcutter Designs


As a maker of things, I often look to curious objects from the past for inspiration and ideas. People tell me I have a knack for finding unusual and lovely things on eBay, so I'm delighted to share some of my favorite finds of the week with you. I've drawn the eBay photos with pen and colored pencil in order to spruce them up a bit. All of these auctions are still live, so feel free to go bid if something strikes your fancy. I promise not to bid against you. (And some of them are "buy it now," which means you can just buy it if no one beats you to it.)
At four inches wide, this vintage yellow ginger tin would be the perfect home for gum in my purse. Or perhaps I would keep quarters for parking meters in it. I love the patterning around the edges.
The head and tail of this vintage turtle pin cushion bobble! Complete with pink velvet and rhinestone eyes, the only better pin cushion I have come across is the one my grandmother made for me.
A lovely painted milk-glass item, this strawberry jam jar was made by Hazel Atlas, founded in 1902. These sweet little containers were given away with Corn Kix cereal as promotional items around 1940. There are usually five or more up for auction, so search "glass strawberry jar" to find one anytime.
Dennison blank gummed labels - a classic. Anything written inside of of these sweet red borders attains extra importance.

Be prepared for the future of communication technology with this set of vintage walkie talkies, "Merit Space Patrol." I wish my cell phone looked like this.
This is a collapsible drinking cup with a couple on the lid riding a tandem bicycle. I love the font and embossing. Perfect for your pocket.
I have fallen in love with all the vintage and antique water faucet knobs on eBay. These two are part of a larger lot, of which there are many. Just paste this phrase into the search box: "(vintage,antique) water (valve,faucet,knob)" and they'll come up. I bought a lot of these and plan to mount them all over my bathroom walls. Just gorgeous. (As part of my Curio Search Service, I once wrote a letter about a faucet knob, Buddhism, and the desert.)

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Lea Redmond crafts objects, ideas, and actions. She loves to make things. Things that tell stories. Things that question. Things that envision and create a new world. She runs Leafcutter Designs and the World's Smallest Post Service out of her little workshop in Oakland, CA. Some of her eBay finds can be found in her project, Curio Search Service.