Ok well this started out as a very different post. I set out yesterday morning to clean up the kitchen table vignette. The white stoneware without its pedestal was driving me a bit nuts. I may have mentioned that I have a very big table installation of 10 different table scapes, coming up on October 17. Most of my accessories and “props” are downstairs waiting to be loaded, into my car and taken to the venue. More on that later.

I was trying to figure out how to do a fall refresh, so I pulled out the Redware pieces I wasn’t using. What I had left was mostly smaller plates. I knew that wasn’t going to be enough to make a very interesting vignette, I needed to capture a few of the better pieces from the cubby.

Tip: Pull together your possibilities. Things that you know you want to use. Introduce a few surprises, that you think could work. Be sure to include things like easels, and lifts. Round 1″ pedestals (like they use on the base of a porcelain lamp) come in all kinds of sizes and not only act as a lift but also an anchor.

A dry run was in order. Starting with a cutting board, to act as an anchor and create height. I used a band box to give a medium sized plate some height. Adding other colors shapes and sizes. I thought I had it licked. So I photographed my work and stepped away.

Tip: Photograph your work. The image sees what the naked eye misses. Works every time.

Above is the photo that determined the box was too tall. The plate on top became separate from the rest of the grouping. I also felt that a bit of fabric would be nice to soften the edges. Time to regroup. I went in search and came up with a square of Ralph Lauren wool plaid. Usually reserved for the holidays I thought it might work here placed on the diagonal.

Left without my usual props of pedestals, and easels, I had to get creative with things to give objects a lift. I tried this little bowl as a lift for my favorite Redware Biscuit Barrel. A piece I picked up in Williamsburg in 2012. I spied the barrel coming down the stairs of a shop and walked up to it and handed it to the sales clerk. Didn’t even check the price!!! I said to myself “oh you are going home with me”. Ship it please! Still one of my favorite things.

Tip: The key to a great vignette is to make sure that nothing is on the same plain. Enough air between objects to give them breathing room. Keep the eye moving.

So with that in play I messed around some more with “stuff” and ended up with this. Felt it was done and yet again, walked away.

This was after I went with a lower box. I thought it was good enough, and for several hours I was confident it was done. As I kept walking thru the kitchen many, many times during the day, I discovered “no we’re not there yet.” I fiddled with it off and on thru the evening, adding 3 books, and moving the trencher. This morning after coffee, it was still bugging me. The larger plate was still a bit too tall. I took the smaller oval box off the cutting board, and pulled the cutting board forward. Just dropping the box 3/4″, now we’re getting somewhere.

With a book, bowl, and small trencher (the yellow piece with the diagonal stripes) and the beloved biscuit barrel, now on the cutting board; of course my little marble egg on an ink well, and a new little treen ware vessel, counterbalanced against the table square I felt it was good. Then the left and right sides behind the candlesticks, were still bothering me. The trencher didn’t have enough volume and the books were too low. I swapped the trencher for an Ovid shaped jug from the cubby, and added a book underneath the books to raise those up. Some turkey feathers in a mug added texture. A tweak and a shuffle, NOW we’re done!

But wait, there’s more!!! Working at the thrift shop on Monday, I walked the floor, making sure there were no hidden treasures. What’s this, a redware pitcher with yellow glaze and black spots. Oh, well that would work better for the turkey feathers, and at 5.00 I couldn’t leave it behind.

Now we are done!!!!!!! What happened to the cubby. Well, it got reworked too.

Yes doing these vignettes takes some time, and determination to get it right. I never know when one is done, until I walk away and come back, walk away again. If I come back and say yeah you’re good, I know it’s done. This one is finally done. You can always give something that you’ve had for years a fresh look. It doesn’t have to involve a remake, paint, or labor. Just a shuffle!

Tip: Invest in pieces that you love. Those pieces that speak to you. Don’t be in a rush. The hunt is all the fun! Buy what you love and it will serve you forever.

Thanks for stopping

Shelley