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Finders keepersEdited by Vicki HengenProducts to enhance your home garden. EURO SMASHKathy Evans and Merry Smith, both suburbanites, have a passion for European housewares. Two years ago, they decided to parlay it into a career. Their Wellesley gift shop, Ornamenta, specializes in European home furnishings - but not the run-of-the-mill country French knickknacks we've grown accustomed to seeing. Their wares include French pottery, tableware, and linens, such as an elegant ice-blue cotton tablecloth with a subtle star-and-dove pattern ($225 for the 100-by-64-inch cloth, with eight napkins), and a line of oils, vinegars, and jams from Paris. Another specialty is a handsome Italian pewter collection. The Arte Italica line of solid pewter includes napkin rings (four for $60), a desk box ($115), an 8-inch basket ($125), foot-tall candle holders ($165), and, pictured, a covered vegetable dish ($155) and a pitcher ($180). – Linda MatchanPewter At Ornamenta, 555 Washington Street, Wellesley, 781-235-0044. SWEEPING DECLARATION"Jumping the broom," a wedding ritual of African-Americans and some other cultures, which is said to bring luck, is being incorporated into contemporary black weddings. Brides can decorate their own brooms, but there are also pros out there to help. Though new brooms often are used, tradition says to decorate the broom that the bride's mother sweeps with every day. "It's supposed to be a functional broom," says E. Ann Whittington, owner of Ambience Custom Floral Design in the South End. She decorated about 10 wedding brooms last year with prices ranging from $50 to $275. "I try to carry on the African tradition," says Whittington, who wraps the handle and makes bows out of African cloth and raffia. Nayo Sanford, another broom decorator, works from her Roxbury home. Her brooms range from $75 to $125. (The broom shown here, by Sanford, is $125.) "If people want me to incorporate something personal, I do, or they just leave it to my discretion," says Sanford. "I like to put cowrie shells on mine, because years ago in Africa, cowrie shells were used as money. My interpretation is that they bring prosperity and happiness." – Diane DanielWedding brooms From Ambience Custom Floral Design, the South End, 617-267-3049; and Nayo Sanford, Roxbury, 617-442-3688. SUPER BOWLSIf you haunt flea markets - even if you get there early - you won't find vintage mixing bowls because antiques scouts have invariably dashed in ahead of you. In dreamy, pale 1920s and '30s colors, vintage bowls are so popular today that many cooks have become collectors. Now, Stonewall Kitchen, the jam company that began in York, Maine, and has opened five stores recently, has come out with pottery mixing bowls ($79 to $119 for nests of three, four, and five). The colors are celadon, butterscotch, cream with a cobalt-blue stripe, robin's egg blue, and bright white, with historical patterns of feathering, gingham, and stripes. The bowls are made in Ohio's pottery belt, which produced most of the reasonably priced mixing bowls women used early in the last century. Stonewall owner Jonathan King rescued discarded vintage molds and engaged Fioriware to make the bowls as it had made them 80 years ago. Heavy and handsome, they look splendid on a buffet table, filled with classic American potato salad or creamy slaw. You could let yeast batters rise in them or beat buttery poundcake batter to a light fluffiness. Or you could simply display them. Let the antique dealers buy the expensive originals. These are fine stand-ins. – Sheryl JulianPottery mixing bowl nests At Stonewall Kitchen Co. Store, the Mall at Chestnut Hill, 617-332-5258, www.stonewallkitchen.com. THE COMMON GOODSpread your civic pride with notecards from the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee. Four of the images of Boston's world-class boulevard were painted and donated by Boston artists Polly Thayer, Sam Vokey, Roberta Towle, and David Lowrey, and the fifth painting is a reprint of Frederick Childe Hassam's Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, circa 1892. All proceeds from the 15-card box ($20) go to the volunteer group, which prunes, plants, and fertilizes the mall's trees. ... Over in Newton, the Newton Historical Society is selling a poster ($15) that showcases some of the city's residential architecture. Locals Steve Rosenthal and Steve Logowitz supplied the photos and design, respectively. All proceeds benefit the historical society. – Diane DanielCommonwealth Mall notecards At The Seasonal Table, 61 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, 617-236-7979; or by mail ($4 shipping) from the Commonwealth Avenue Mall Committee c/o Pokorny, 384 Marlborough Street, Boston 02115; or call 617-536-2920; or e-mail Phillip9993@aol.com. Newton poster From the Newton Historical Society at the Jackson Homestead, 527 Washington Street, or call 617-552-7238. WHERE THE HEART ISHome, a new store near Porter Square, welcomes its first spring by looking toward the garden with its vintage-feel goodies. Owner Dorinda Jaquith has packed this tiny storefront with treats like cast-iron birds ($15) and frogs ($24), which are made for outdoor use and are heavy enough to double as bookends or doorstops. The little shop has a variety of antique and reproduction pots, including a cast-iron urn ($60) that may also be custom-ordered in various sizes. And for those who simply dream of gardens, there are door knockers made to resemble spades ($18) or dragonflies ($14). – Clea SimonHome 353 Beacon Street, Somerville, 617-864-4072. AROUND THE LOOKING GLASSRhode Island artist Marion Christ deals new life into old card games like Go and Old Maid by turning them into one-of-a-kind mirror frames. She scours flea markets, yard sales, and the Internet to find cards from before 1960; the older and funkier, the better. She doesn't limit her creations to playing cards, though. One mirror features bingo game cards with strategically placed number pieces. On another, Community Chest and Take a Chance cards from an old Monopoly game ring the looking glass. She does custom work, too; if you have the cards, she can turn them into an eye-catching frame. The noncustom mirrors - 12-inch square to 20 by 36 inches - vary, according to the cards, from $45 to $140. – Jan ShepherdSlapjack Designs framed mirrors At Studio Hop, 810 Hope Street, Providence, 401-621-2262; or at Marion Christ's open studio on April 24, noon-5 p.m., at 250 Esten Avenue, Pawtucket, Rhode Island; or call 401-421-3455, or e-mail slapjackdesigns@yahoo.com. HERE'S THE DIRTEven the most urbane of city dwellers perks up at the first signs of spring. Now apartment inhabitants and other landless types can bring some budding sprouts home with them. Nestled into the homey shop Gnome & Rose, among the garden decorations, can be found Canned Land ($10) by City Yard. This ingenious lawn-in-a-canister packs dirt, seed, and instructions for a palm-sized plot of green. The similar Miniature Garden ($26.95), from La Boite Verte, grows in its own container and would be suitable for brightening up an office or windowsill. And for those who need a touch of freshness elsewhere, the Harvard Square shop has lemon-camomile- or clove-spice-scented laundry washes ($18) from The Good Home Co. They come in 34-ounce milk bottles and leave your clothes smelling April-shower fresh. – Clea SimonGnome & Rose 1110 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 617-576-7673. VISION AND LOVELINESSFor folks who feel that magnifying glasses from CVS don't meet fashion standards, while the $200 prescription versions don't fit financial requirements, ready-to-wear reading glasses are an affordable option. As the number of 40-year-olds squinting at small print grows, so does the supply of trendy glasses. A new style from Rem Eyewear, the company that last year introduced reading glasses concealed in a ballpoint pen, is aluminum-rimmed MicroVision Tube Readers ($49.95). They're available in a variety of correction powers, and, more important, a spectrum of radiant colors with matching carrying tubes. Designed to fit midway down the nose, the glasses have sleek -inch-high lenses large enough to read with, yet small enough to see over for other visual tasks. Colors include purple, gold, and blue, with pink and aqua coming in the spring. – Diane DanielReading glasses At Boston Eye Physicians, Brookline, and Boston Eyewear, Boston. For more locations, call 800-423-3023. SHADOW OF HER FORMER SELFWhen Laura Robinson of Hingham - an artist, writer, architect, and mother of two - was a child outside of Philadelphia, she and her sister would watch the shadows in the large oak tree outside their bedroom window. "When cars would drive by, their headlights would create movies in the leaves," says Robinson. Those memories and the use of shadows in an architectural class she was teaching at Rhode Island School of Design inspired her "shadow casting" books, both published by the Museum of Fine Arts. William and the Magic Ring, the first book, was done in collaboration with Lowell resident Suzanne Simson. The latest book, William and the Christmas Moon, is a solo project. The Magic Ring is $27.95, The Christmas Moon is $32, and both books purchased together are $54. The rhyming stories are sweet, but the real magic is in the hand-cut images, which, when projected on a wall, bring the characters to life. Spiral-bound and handily equipped with a penlight, the books will engage both adults and youngsters. – Diane DanielShadow books by Laura Robinson At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 800-225-5592, www.mfa.org. COTTON PICKSTreat yourself and your home to the comfort and ease of all-natural fabrics at Oblio. Towels and face cloths in whites and naturals snuggle up to the ankle-high pile of Habidecor all-cotton bathmats, imported from Portugal ($65-$98). Other one-of-a-kind furnishings include brass candlesticks and spiced and scented home products. Just one touch of the simple, indescribably soft waffle weave of PJs 2 Go, complete with their own drawstring travel bag ($150), reveals the appeal of simplicity. – Clea SimonCotton fabrics At Oblio, 135 Huron Avenue, Cambridge, 617-499-9984. |
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