Amber glass ware on purple linens

The Amber Glassware dinner set was another one which evolved over a period of time. I saw a set which consisted of place settings for four people. "Oh, that looks nice" I thought to myself. So without further ado I hopped over (actually I walked like everyone else, but, indulge me,) over to the till with the said dinner set in hand and laid it on the counter. "There!" I said to the rather pleasant looking lady behind the counter, ""There, I think I will take this please". "Oh" she said. "That's nice, rather old fashioned." What does she mean by "Rather old fashioned?" I asked myself. But, after I stopped myself from jumping the counter and giving her what for, I decided she was right. As usual, I was attracted by what most people leave behind. Now for most people, amber glass ware is one of those things that you either love or hate. For me it fell into the category of 1970's bad taste for years. It was put firmly into the same basket as those hideous houses that had a piece of BROWN GLASS as panels either next to the front door or worse, on an inside door. You know the type, that when you go to look at a house you say to yourself "that is coming right out." That's if you like the house of course. Anyway I digress just for a change. You get the point! I didn't like it. However after starting this blog and spending far more time than is sensible in op-shops. I realised that one can see quite a lot of Amber glass. It is however quite collectible and can also be seen in many antique shops nowadays. So if for no other reason it is worth buying and selling to dealers or online auctions.

For my purposes though, It was the fact that it was a dinner service, complete and in good condition. Actually when I got it home I realised that it wasn't complete, but, not to worry I was soon able to acquire some lovely little sundae dishes and then some more dishes and so on......

Next came the serving bowls one of which had a matching smaller example. Perfect for cream I thought. So the set wasn't looking half bad, but, it was only for four people....hmmmm, that's never any good for me. So, I then spent ages trying to find another complete set. I just kept looking, but it took a while.

It was during this time that I found the most beautiful Venetian, large stem bowl. A collectors piece if ever there was one. You can see it in the picture below. It is the top half of the arrangement. It is very delicate but so beautiful. As is usual in my photography the picture does not do it justice. This is another collectible piece which at present I am unable to let go off. I do tend to hoard all my stuff...but, who cares it is bought for my blog, not to sell, well not yet anyway. I really should take another picture of it and put it on here it is worth it so you can see the whole piece. Anyway, for the centre piece, I added it to a large flattish serving dish and filled the whole thing with grapes and flowers. Some real and some not quite so..well actually, when I say "not quite so" I obviously mean dead as a bloody Dodo! And even then not dead as a Dodo, because that would imply they had been alive at some point..but, no, not in this case. They are my trusty ornamental grapes and flowers. Every good bloger, who does what I do...(are there anymore? I wonder) should have a whole shed full. You can never have enough faux flowers and props made up of fruit, veg, unusual little things that catch your eye and so on......Most things can be made into a centre piece, just let your creativity flow. On my last blog I found two little metal baskets which I think had some soap and smellies etc in them. I however, thought, WOW! I can do something with those... and so I did. I used them for paper napkins on this occasion, but, just let your imagination run away with you. There are no rules other than the ones that you impose on yourself. Another time I may well put candles in them, or another time I had though of wrapping cutlery in paper napkins and placing the neatly wrapped sets upright in the baskets for a more casual occasion. See how you can turn a very relaxed 'do' into something quite special with out having to make it formal. Something I know that most Kiwis seem to dread!

After not being able to find another dinner set to match the one I had so enthusiastically purchased in all my frequently frequented op-shops I decide to look online. Low and behold... there it was the exact one. In perfect condition and less money than the one bought from the op-shop. I did have to pay for postage though. So it turned out to be about the same as the first one. So I now have a dinner set for eight people with a selection of sundae dishes and a beautiful Venetian stem bowl.

The glasses are very fragile and did actually come with some leather sheath type things. but I took them off. They are very 1970's which is why I bought them, but, after removing the covers I realised that they are rather good looking with out them.

I'm well 'appy!!!