A Blue Rooster tale........................by Carolyn H

HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUIMPER CLUB BLOG!

We are celebrating our First Anniversary here at QCI and Carolyn's Blue Rooster restoration tale is our 150th post.

To mark the occasion we are giving away a beautiful heart shaped necklace, from Henriot Bijoux, to one lucky visitor. Click here to find out more about this lovely piece.

Just leave a comment on this 150th Blue Rooster post, between now and the end of February, and your name will go into the draw.

The winners name will be selected at random on the last day of this month.

We're spreading the joy through blogland by linking to 3 of our favourite meme's today.

Mosaic Monday @ Mary's the little red house, Smiling Sally's Blue Monday gathering and Metamorphosis Monday over at Susan's Between Naps On The Porch.

Be sure to go and visit these very gracious hostesses who do such a wonderful job of inspiring us to blog, but not before you have left a comment here to partcipate in our giveaway.

Blogmistress, Maggie

***********************************************************************************************

Here's Carolyn's Blue Rooster tale..........................

A number of years ago a dealer in antiques came into my studio with an earthenware rooster that he had purchased at auction. He had determined that the bird had value, even though it was apparent that it had sustained a considerable amount of damage in the past and had been poorly restored.
The gentleman had purchased it for resale and wanted it properly restored. After thorough examination, I gave him an estimate of price and an explanation of what would be done to bring the rooster back to its original appearance. He grimaced, then went on to explain that he had paid more than he had anticipated after being caught up in a bidding war over the bird. He concluded that, with the additional restoration charge, it would be highly unlikely that he could make a reasonable profit on resale.
His next question was "Would you be interested in it?" I told him that I couldn't afford to buy it outright, but I would consider a trade for other restoration work. We came to an amicable agreement.
The poor, dishevelled bird sat on my "to do" shelf for the next two years. I was too busy restoring for others to work on a piece that now belonged to me!

When we moved to North Florida four years ago, the rooster came with us in a cardboard box. Over the next several months, as I slowly worked to put my studio back together and re-establish myself, I found that I could take the time to work on my rooster. It was to reveal several surprises!

My first job was to thoroughly clean the bird of all foreign matter (dirt, paint and old glue). Much of the original face was missing and had been replaced with plaster of Paris by the original restorer. There were multiple chips and missing parts along the back and tail. Both legs were broken and had been fitted with unnecessary metal armatures, adding to the damage, these were removed.

All original useable pieces were then bonded back. I then hand sculpted and added back all of the missing parts using a two part epoxy putty, tinting it to match the color of the earthenware body. The rooster was coming to life!

The final step was to paint back all of the newly restored areas to match the original design and glaze finish. My restoration was complete.

This final restoration took approximately sixteen hours to complete but he was well worth it! He now has a place of prominence atop our dining room hutch and fits quite nicely with my collection of Quimper and Country primitives.

Q & A Friday - Mystery form ?

I've seen this form as a bell but this piece opens around the middle, has a hole in the bottom of the back and a shallow indentation in the inside.......
I'm not sure what it is - does anyone else know ?

Our First Anniversary and 150th post Giveaway will be on Monday 15th February when we will be joining Smiling Sally for her Blue Monday meme.

Click here to read about the beautiful heart necklace from Henriot Bijoux that one lucky visitor will receive simply by commenting on Monday's post. The Giveaway will stay open until the end of February.

How I learned the art of Fine Ceramics Restoration.....by Carolyn H

In my first post I mentioned that I have had many hobbies, in the field of art, that I learned from reading books. One of these was the fascinating and challenging art of learning to decorate real eggs. I became quite good at it and found great pleasure in challenging myself to produce more and more fine detail---- particularly in learning to carve the egg shell using a high speed dental drill powered by an air compressor.
Although I enjoyed the art of the decorated egg, it never became profitable. Yes, I would occasionally sell one but most were given away to friends and to the Animal Rescue League to be auctioned off as part of their fund raising events. A number I kept because of my daughter's insistence, "Mom, please don't give any more of them away!"
In a strange twist of fate, an egg brought me directly to one of my greatest challenges and achievements-- That of the art of Fine Ceramics Restoration.
I accidentally broke the top out of an Ostrich egg that had taken me months to complete. Devastated and distraught, I spent the remainder of the day on the phone looking for someone who could possibly repair it! Finally, a company, calling itself "Restorers of America" in Lake Worth, sounded optimistic.
The following day, I was introduced to the owner of the studio who was also a Master restorer of fine ceramics as well as furniture. After examining my egg and admiring the workmanship, she suggested that, rather than having it repaired, I sign up for a beginner’s class she was holding and repair it myself.

I found the class fascinating! I successfully restored my egg and a couple of other pieces of Quimper that I had. She was so impressed with my work that, at the end of the class, she asked me to work with her.
I worked under her tutorship for about two years and have been restoring ever since. God truly does work in mysterious ways!

We're linking this beautifully carved white Ostrich egg to White Wednesday #34 @ Faded Charm, which today is looking very much like an old fashioned English haberdashers with linens, lace, cotton & other charming bits & bobs.

Do go over and see all the other wonderful whites gathered there but please leave a comment here first so we know who came calling.

How a Quimper Inkwell brought out the sniper in me..........by Carolyn H

The rest of the story.................... for Mosaic Monday at Mary's little red house, where you will find fascinating mosaics and spring has sprung!!
Mary has a beautiful spring flower mosaic to brighten your day and get the week off to a great start, do go over and take a look.

Living in South Central Florida is definitely not the hub of Quimper collecting. I was lucky to find one or two pieces a year! I had gone to the library to learn as much as I could about Quimper and was astonished as to the variety.

I now knew what I wanted to collect. I would stick to the more unusual pieces. But where to look? France was out of the question!
When we got our first computer in the 90's and I was introduced to e-Bay, I went completely insane!

There, before my very eyes, were over 400 pieces at auction---Daily! What a find!
The first piece I fell in love with and absolutely had to have, was an inkwell shaped as a hat. Mother's Day was coming up and Bill told me that I could buy it.

It was a six day auction, I put my first bid on it and, to my surprise, no one else bid! I watched it daily.

Still no bids! I was glued to the screen, at the end of the auction, to make arrangements to pay for my new found treasure, when out of the blue, at the very last minute, someone out bid me!! I was horrified! How could this happen?? How could anyone be that cruel?

I had wanted it so badly. Now it was gone!
That was my first encounter with the fine art of "sniping".

It taught me a bitter lesson and I learned it well!

Over the next couple of months I became quite the little sniper--- with my timer in countdown mode and my hands on the keys---ready to pounce on my unsuspected pray!

Not pretty but all's fair in love and war---and this was WAR!!
My collection of Quimper is, for the most part, now complete. And, yes, I was able to find another identical hat with better results this time.
That's it in the bottom right corner of the large mosaic above.

If I buy another piece, something has to go and I am happy with my collection as it is. To me, Quimper is much too beautiful to be packed away in boxes. It should be touched, used and enjoyed. And besides, it makes me happy!

I have made many lasting friendships over my years of collecting and restoring Quimper. I believe everything happens for a reason. If it were not for my long association with Quimper these friendships would not have been possible. I have had the joy of meeting some of you and hope that trend continues.

Maybe we'll meet at the QCI Savannah meeting in October this year?

(All other photo's from quimperpix archive, all rights reserved)

Q & A Friday - Sun Plates

What lovely Sun plates these are, but can anyone help with identifying the manufacturer ?

Cerelle writes :
Here is a plate I have had for some time..and cannot be sure who made it. My guess is Nevers..but don't know.It does not seem recent the way the paints have raised..almost a bubble on the dots down the leaf or feather. Anyway.. I love it and the happy sun, but it would be nice to know where it came from.

How I discovered COMP PAIR..............by Carol H

In December of 1959, Bill and I were married. We were settling into our first home when one day mom asked, "Honey, would you like to have those old dishes?" Astonished that she would be willing to part with them, I said, "Yes! We would love to have them!" We brought them home a week later.

The dishes fit beautifully with our growing collection of Country American furniture and accessories. I displayed what I could in a newly purchased Pine cupboard. Our house was coming together!

We also used our new "old" dishes on a daily basis, breaking an occasional piece, as our family grew. After all-- They were "just" dishes---Meant to be used!
It was sometime in the late 60's when a girlfriend of mine invited me to go with her to an Antiques Show being held at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami. It was about a two hour's drive from West Palm Beach to Miami but, since we both shared a passion for antiques, it would be worth the trip.

When we arrived, we were astonished as to its size! The building was long with two wide aisles and four booth areas stretching almost as far as the eye could see.
As we walked along, I spotted a rather large Maple cupboard filled with something very familiar to me---MY DISHES!! I was astonished! I had never seen them anywhere else before!

The dealer, a tall, distinguished, gentleman in a suit and tie, caught my amazed stare and walked over to me. I blurted out, "You have my "Quimper"! (Kwimper)I have these at home!" His look became somewhat distasteful as he corrected my pronunciation. while slowly looking me up and down, " COMP PAIR, my dear!!"

He then promptly walked away to looking to find a more astute customer!
Feeling left considerably smaller than I did on arrival but still unable to take my eyes off his "compair" I mustered enough courage to slink over and take a closer look. I slowly picked up a plate and turned it over. The price tag read $35! A cup was $25! A saucer $12!

I found myself muttering, "Oh, my God! My vase is a VAZZ!!

I could hardly contain myself on our long ride home to tell my husband, "Honey, We're sitting on a fortune!!"

When I returned home with my wonderful news, we took stock of what we had left. It was almost a full service for twelve. I kept out what I had on display which amounted to a service for four and we carefully packed the remainder. Mom was informed of what we had found and gave her blessing to sell them,

The Quimper dishes were sold several months later at auction, hopefully to someone who would enjoy them as much as we had, and we invested our new found wealth!

The photo's today are from the quimperpix archive (all rights reserved) and show how the sujet ordinaire decor was adapted and used to decorate a variety of different Quimper items.

QCI Blog One Year Anniversary.........by Maggie B

The last 12 months have just flown by and it's hard for me to believe that the QCI blog will be celebrating it's first anniversary this month.

We'll also be reaching another goal very soon, the 150th post!
To celebrate, we are giving away this beautiful pottery heart pendant from Henriot Bijoux.

It measures 1 3/4", has a delicate off-white crackled surface and is suspended from a black velvet ribbon.

Signed HB Henriot Quimper France, it comes in its presentation box complete with certificate of authenticity.
Thanks to Brittany Byways for donating this beautiful prize.

To participate in the giveaway and be our winner, just leave a comment on the 150th post. The winners name will be randomly selected on the last day of February.

FYI this post is #145.

For Outdoor Wednesday this week over at Susan's blog A Southern Daydreamer some photographs of February's Guest Blogger, Carolyn's, recent trip to Costa Rica. Once you've finished dreaming about your next tropical vacation head over to Susan's for more dreamy outdoor shots.

Since my first post on the 10th February 2009 our guest bloggers have shared with us their collections, anecdotes, travel stories and much more more. I've enjoyed myself too, popping in from time to time with stories of my own.

So, on behalf of all our visitors who's numbers are growing, (we regularly receive 400 visits each week) I would like to thank:

Trisha (twice), Gay (twice), Susan, Adela, Judy (also twice), Sarah, Melissa, Cerelle, and now Carol for making the blog the great success that it has become.

Click on the highlighted bloggers name for a taster of her blog.

On behalf of the bloggers I'll also thank our visitors because to quote another blogger friend of mine "Nothing would get done around here if it wasn't for the visitors!"

But we can't afford to rest on our laurels and so once again I'm sending out the call to all members of the QCI, please email me if you would like to join our merry band of bloggers.

It isn't hard to blog, if you can write an email you can blog.

Just email me at: quimperpix@gmail.com for details and don't forget to come back for our 150th blog and our 1 year Blogaversary giveaway.