Rustmonger Vintage: Rust Never Sleeps

Ranting about the sorry state of the art of the magazine today, mainly.

2011-04-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Over the past week I've been looking at old editions of Fine WoodWorking magazine from Taunton Press, (which I'm putting up for sale on this link) and am struck by the "progress" over the 31 years it's been published.

The magazine was started "on a lark" by a group of people interested in writing about - and showing - what the title implies: Fine craftsmanship in wood.

Over the years the primary focus has stayed of course in woodworking, but many of the articles you see in current issues are just like any other magazine for DIY'ers. Now, while there's not necessarily anything wrong with the concept of a curio cabinet decorated with ducks in Tole-painted style, it's a bit far from the early days of the magazine.

The articles became less and less about those craftsmen and women who were truly fine at their work, and more and more about the products that are sold by the advertisers... product placement reared its head and features were written on the merits of this, that, or the other product or tool one could use in their work.

While this is not a big deal to many, I find it a little disheartening that almost every magazine out there these days has glossy articles that do little more than push shopping, consuming, and more shopping for the latest greatest product you can buy.

For a slightly tangential example, I recently began receiving (not at my request or as a gift, apparently I clicked some link on a website that generated the "subscription" without knowing!) the magazine called Real Simple.

Well.

When I received the magazine, I leafed through the pages to find the features on how to make my life "real simple" as the title implies. Did I find these articles? Not really. This magazine is apparently addressed to my demographic, which is women. It also is not really a magazine on simplifying ones' life. It IS, however, a fashion mag like just about any other. Full of short articles about the latest, greatest product meant to "simplify" my life.

Now, if I wanted to simplify my life I really don't think I'd be going out and shopping for more stuff. I definitely have enough STUFF as it is. Frankly, I have MORE stuff than I will ever need or use. Why would I need another doodad, appliance, chemical cleaner, cosmetic, "organization aid"... when all that would do is add complexity and more clutter to an already cluttered life?

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but I don't believe that I am. One article in the latest (and I'm not paying for the subscription, though they keep sending me invoices and issues... persistent in their unsolicited attempt to bring me into the "Real Simple" fold) issue is about procrastination, or how to solve it "for good."

Well. Not really.

The article goes through a little list of how the author herself procrastinates, has cute little graphics, and then takes you chronologically through a day where she and a "tough" buddy go on what she calls an "Unprocrastination Day" ... I was with the program until I realized that most of what the two women did on that day was ... stop me here if you are surprised ... SHOP.

I admit that I'm being a bit unfair to the author here, as there were some very good tips on how to curb procrastination. BUT... while many of the stops in her day were for tasks like altering of clothes and repurposing of some lamps with new lampshades, the writer manage to mention trips to four major retail outlets (she named them) in her day, where she bought "stuff she needed" to complete some tasks (decorating, mostly) ... and one of the stops was to deplete gift cards she'd received that were about to expire or deplete by attrition... you can NOT tell me that those retail store names weren't requested - or required - to be included in the story.

So... when product placement creeps in around the edges so blatantly in otherwise handy little articles, I lament the thing we call "Progress." We don't need more stuff. Most of us don't know what to do with the stuff we have, and have plenty that we could recycle, refurbish, repair, and re-use.

Not being all self-righteous or anything, I would prefer articles about how to recycle, refurbish, re-use, repurpose, or repair in a magazine that touts simplicity and calls itself "real simple." But perhaps that's too much to expect in a time when the idea of "real" is reality tv, and the idea of "simple" is the next great gadget you can buy to "simplify" your life.

Like I wrote earlier... my life isn't exactly simple, but I feel a bit justified in writing this after having spent the fall and winter building up a compost pile from reclaimed materials and lawn waste... after a spring and summer 2010 of nurturing a veggie garden - a good portion of which was from seed I sprouted - that yielded enough for a pantry full of tomatoes, pickles, and salsas I canned myself and in canning jars I bought off Craigslist for a quarter or less of their new retail value... and spent part of the past weekend repairing at a fraction of the cost of replacement a coffee grinder. Among other things that I try to do to keep my life TRULY a bit simpler, including the eBay sales of stuff that could be useful to others, at a fraction of the price of new.

I will say that I don't expect others to live like I do, but honestly feel that if people really thought about the trends in information you find in magazines like Fine WoodWorking and Real Simple, they might recognize that on some level the entire publication is working in a way contrary to both the philosophy behind the title, and in a way that chips away at the time and money we really ought to be putting away for the future, rather than in buying that latest tool, gadget, cosmetic, or whatever.

And that's how I see it.

Have a great April!

- Rosie

First cold day in Oklahoma... and it's Thanksgiving.

2010-11-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

Happy November!

Before I resume my decluttering of my eBay/Bonanzle stock room (aka the utility room) I wanted to wish all of you in the US a happy Thanksgiving and all of you in the rest of the world a happy whatever day it is right now where you live.

I've been busy over the past few weeks with work and vacation, squeezing a trip to visit folks in Colorado between storms (right after one and right before another)... and have again sorely neglected this blog!

Auctions and Sales sites update:

I will have some very cool items to post here in the upcoming weeks and hopefully will have 'em listed in plenty of time for Christmas. Ranging from some nice little lamp wicks for those who have cabins lighted by Aladdin lamps, to some more utilitarian books on topics from metalworking to electric wiring to... well, the sort of machine shop texts and reference books that every old-school machine shop kid really can't live without ... to a little more "macabre" offering of an old and quite ornate book full of ... designs for programs and guest books from a funeral home. (I just don't see one of those every day... but it is really a beautiful thing for collectors of such.)

I'll also be inventorying a huge bunch of maskmaking craft items from rhinestones (Swarovski and no-name Czech) to fabrics, trims, and feathers (some really gorgeous stuff) and will be putting those up on Bonanza or Etsy -- there is enough there to outfit the cast of several glitzy Las Vegas shows and I'm needing to clear it out, as my maskmaking days are over, at least as far as masks made of fabric, rhinestones, and feathers goes.

Yup, that day is coming...

Hoping that Santa got my wish list for my new favorite hobby of scentmaking! (hmm. Guess I'd better send out a more specific wishlist soon, but there's a particularly nice set of absolutes, EOs, and natural and aromachemicals and a perfumers' organ I had in mind.)

And again, happy Thanksgiving or whatever day it is in your part of the world...

And a few final thoughts:

Einstein described insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.

Don't know who said it but they are correct: We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same.

And finally: A positive attitude may not solve all of your problems, but it irritates enough people to make it worthwhile.

Lawn Tractors, mid-century style

2010-09-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

This week we have a group of old lawn tractors up on eBay... these little beauties have been gracing folks' yards, lots, and shady spots under trees for a few years and it's time to get 'em back in business.

The Gravely Super Convertible is a beast from the 1970's, in the era before safety guards and shields, before deadman switches, and from a day when it was accepted that this kind of machinery was dangerous, and you simply had to be careful when mowing down that lot of thigh-high grass (which this beast does quite nicely, thank you very much.)

Some of these old Gravely machines are collected these days... I had correspondence from a fellow who has over TWENTY of 'em, and I'm sure there are collectors out there who have more.

This one has a sulky (ride-behind attachment), the deck is a 40 inch commercial style deck, and there is even a (really dangerous looking) snow thrower attachment that needs a TINY bit (!) of derustification. The auction on this one ends tonight, Sept. 11, around 9 Central time.

Cub Cadets, from International Harvester (not the modern versions) are some of the CUTEST lawn tractors out there. Their cheery yellow and white paint job, the headlights and reflectors, and their general sturdiness just make folks smile.

Their usefulness is underscored by the fact that they, too, had lots of attachments and lots of uses beyond just being riding mowers. The auctions this week demonstrate that, in the Cub 127 converted into a snowplow, with a cab (how cute is that!)...

And of course, if you want to build your own Cub Original (their first ever Cub Cadet)... we have a few parts that would help you out there as well: A transmission with PTO, and an Original frame and back axle...

All ending tonight, Sept. 11...

See 'em at this link:

http://stores.ebay.com/Rustmonger-Vintage

Have a wonderful Saturday! - Rosie

"Your Name Here" - About Vintage Advertising Specialties

2010-01-23T18:58:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine brought me a carload of vintage goodies to list, and among that carload was a small lot of Morco ad specialties.

Nice to know that Morco Specialty Products is still in business, as many of the companies Rosie and her partner Rust come in contact with (vicariously through their brochures and their tools) are no longer in business.

Seems like Morco got their start in 1921, and are located in a small community in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Rosie's sure you've seen their products... your grandparents no doubt had one of their metal calendars, thermometers, ashtrays... etcetera... somewhere in their home. They still sell many of the same type of products as they have since their company began business... which makes Rosie's heart go pitter-pat.

And here is one of those Morco specialty products from the 1950's...

Morco Art Deco Ashtrays, sample set

After a long Spring, Summer and early Fall hibernation...

2009-12-06T15:28:00.000-08:00

I'm back. My eBay store, Rustmonger Vintage Iron and Oddities, is active again, with more listings to come over the next few months. The "store" is now moved, and all the stock accounted for (which is great, because I had misplaced several items that folks bought while I was in the process of moving, and I had to refund their money because I could not find them! Horror!)...

Anyway, I'll be writing a little about the items I have on sale, with loads of hopefully interesting information about the companies, some of which are still in business, and others, not so lucky. I think I'll start with Pratt & Whitney...

But more on that later.

This time, I would like to point you to a company that I really have a fondness for, because of the owner's love of the unusual. He's been a "celebrity" of sorts, played by an actor on the Seinfeld series... Yup, I'm talking about J. Peterman and his catalog... there have been quite a few comparisons between Peterman and the old (pre-GAP-buyout) of Banana Republic, probably because of the fanciful nature of their catalogs way back when, and also because of the kind of unusual clothing they sold. I think Peterman's idea is better... and although I can't really afford much from his catalogs (but I do have a special place in my wardrobe for a few of the less spendy pieces and look forward to each catalog arriving in the mail) ... it's worth a browse, particularly the online catalog, that has THESE interesting items for sale right now...

J. Peterman's Antique Train Lamps

How pretty! Rosie's li'l heart just goes pitter patter at the sight (and the cost) of these!

Now... back to composing my next entry. Happy Holidays ... and though it's only early evening, winter's dark is setting in, so good night, and good luck!

Happy 2009! Okay so it's nearly March already.

2009-02-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

As the subject line suggests, I haven't posted here for a while. The day job (which is designing and developing online courses for the USPS' training center in Norman, OK) has been extremely busy so my blogging, along with quite a few other aspects of my life outside work, has been somewhat... spotty.

However, with spring nearly in the air (although this morning was a bit chilly in the mid-20's), that energy is moving again and I'm ready to hit the ground running.

Well, I will be after I get a few more latte's in my system.

What's new with Rosie? Well... She has a huge stack of items to photograph and list on Bonanzle and eBay, and those include:

Quite a few linear feet of industrial technical manuals from the early 1900s to the sixties...
Some "garage sale" style stuff, including a Yamaha electronic keyboard with low mileage (not a full keyboard but one that has some pretty nice samples... would be a great gift for the budding soundtrack composer in your life)...
A Sony Mavica "vintage" camera that is a bit long in the tooth but still perfectly good for those online auction photos...
Another Pentax (less long in the tooth) digital camera that doesn't want to work well but would be great for parts...
More slightly off the beaten path books from Rosie's own collection of somewhat metaphysical items of exploration-past
Maybe just maybe a print from Art Spiegelman (if Rosie can figure out how to list it, as it's a limited MAUS serigraph that's just frankly not for everyone... remember the MAUS graphic novel covers?)
And a bunch more industrial ephemera...
And some interesting hand stamps (metalworking supplies) from the 40's or thereabouts.

So, as you can see, My Alter-Ego Rosie has her work cut out for her. (or would have, if she had a CNC plasma cutter! *kidding.)

As the title says, happy 2009, hope yours is going as well as mine, keeping busy and out of trouble!

And a great program for those who want a kick in the seat of the pants to reach their goals:

Vintage Whimsy - The Mystic Bubble Maker

2008-11-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, probably in the early 1940's, a company called the Secaucus Machine Works (of Secaucus, NJ), using a little blower fan from the HEINZE Co, manufactured a little machine called the Mystic Bubble Maker.

This is the predecessor of the modern bubble makers used by DJs, clowns and other party entertainment folks. Imagine this scenario: Walking into a movie theater in the 1940's...
in the middle of World War II... getting seated and watching the newsreels, the serials, and relaxing in the fantastic atmosphere while bubbles float out over the audience and the music from the Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Organ sets the mood. Pure escapism.

Our Rosie does not remember that scene, but her grandparents probably do, and her mother might.

So, when Rust brought by the little Mystic, with its eye bolts on top that secured it to the ceiling in the theater, and its round bubble making wheel, oiled the fan motor and mixed up a nice little solution of dish soap and water, plugged the Mystic in, for a little while Rosie could indeed imagine herself back in one of those dark, cool theaters.

Proof that while not all of the industry produced in America during the great industrial era of the 30's and 40's was serious, it was indeed worthwhile.

Watching those iridescent bubbles rise on the air is magic, and Mystic, indeed.

Wishing a wonderful weekend. It's a lovely day in Norman, Oklahoma and Rosie's gonna make the most of it.

US Industry after World War II

2008-10-16T13:33:00.001-07:00

This particular blog article is not a comprehensive history of post-WWII industry; it's Rosie's opinion, based on what she has gleaned from the industrial ephemera, advertising brochures, data sheets, etcetera from that period of time.

After the war, our focus was back on progress and building. The forces were back from the war, many of the women went back to their previous roles as homemakers and men returned to their factory jobs. The baby boom was about to happen, the United States was prosperous, and people had money to spend on things they both needed and wanted.

Technology was changing the way machines worked. Precision was ... well ... getting more precise. The designs of machinery began to get less ornate, less curvy, and more purely functional. The use of sheet metal to enclose machines instead of using huge cast iron made the industrial machines look more modern, less decorative.

The first image is the 6x18 from the 40's... note the curvy lines and robust frame.

The second image is from the 50's... It's essentially the same machine, but look at the difference in design.

The world of business for manufacturers was changing (in some ways paralleling the changes in design): Of course, companies had always merged with other companies, been bought out, or otherwise changed their focus of business. In the 1950's, however, the rise of huge multinational corporations began, with smaller manufacturers being bought and sold... mergers and acquisitions changed the face of industry.

And the market changed, as well. As time went on, many companies were no longer manufacturing their machines in the US at all... it had become economically attractive to manufacture the machine overseas, sell it to a middleman in another country that had attractively low taxes; and finally resell the machine here. As a result, those workers who once had secure jobs could no longer count on staying in the same company until they retired.

So... the smaller shops, just like a tool and die making facility that much of Rosie's industrial ephemera came from, finally closed their doors for good, sold off what they could of their machinery and scrapped the rest (or left it sitting - as many of the machines were enormous and could not be removed easily).

Rosie would argue that this kind of progress might have even killed off much of America's innovation... had it not been for the huge leaps made in technology. It did indeed nearly kill off the kind of industrial manufacturing that was so important during the second World War, and as a result today there are a mere fraction of the manufacturers that once thrived. The world of US industry is quite a different place than it was a mere 40 or 50 years ago.

So, it is encouraging to see the kind of industry that is still thriving. Next blog post will be a little about a few of the companies that still exist, their histories, and what they're doing now. Behind this link is a look by Tom Murphy at one of those companies.

Ephemera - Rosie's smiling about this article.

2008-10-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

A brief midweek post:

Last week, a new online friend, Tom Murphy, wrote a guest blog article (about none other than about yours truly) for this site: ephemera: exploring the world of old paper. This article is just wonderful, and the ephemera blog has a wealth of information.

Thanks Tom...

--Rosie

Rosie Riveter - A little background

2008-10-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

First, a note: My use of Rosie as both an alter-ego and an icon are in no way connected with the vice presidential campaign (for me, that particular use of the image just doesn't work...) and I've been using Rosie as an icon for some time. My use of the image in no way is to be taken as an endorsement of any candidate. My political views aren't going to be expressed in this post, other than to say I don't want my blog to be associated with that particular campaign in any way.)

That disclaimer aside: The topic of this particular blog is American industry during World War II.
During the second world war, industry across the world did some remarkable things: Not only did the American wartime industry work together, sharing technology, in order to create what was needed for the war effort; industry worldwide also called upon women, who up to this time had been expected to be mothers and homemakers, to step in and do the work that had been done by men, before those men entered the armed services and the war.

In the US, that was where the image of Rosie the Riveter began: A government campaign urged women to take up these industrial production jobs and the posters that were circulated contained various images of a character, and that character was Rosie. (There is a wealth of information out there about this fictional character, who was apparently based on a real factory worker. I won't go into the story here, but instead provide a link to the history of Rosie.)

The first part, how US industry worked together and shared technology, is probably the most remarkable thing of all. Imagine, say, Apple and Microsoft freely sharing their code, their product design, and their engineering, in an effort to make products... you'll get a feeling for why this sharing of technology was special.

Of course, industrialists are always interested in making money from what they manufacture, and many of the big industries at the time were making lots of money... and not all industrialists of the day were heroic figures, but they did pull together for the war effort. That's something that we can be pretty proud of. And a lot of the industrial ephemera of the time reflects that mood of cooperation, of working together for a common goal.

Here are a couple examples of Wartime literature that this Rosie found interesting:

These are Hoof Governor brochures from WWII. Governors were installed on vehicles during this time in an effort to conserve gasoline (they governed the top speed at which a vehicle would operate). It's an interesting example of how rationing and government-enacted regulations actually created a market for a product that would help companies and individuals conserve resources. (click on the image for a larger view).

Next blog: What happened to US industry after the war.

Why do people collect paper?

2008-10-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

This blog contains a good explanation of why.

I'm sometimes staggered by the amount a certain old machine catalog fetches. Like the recent sale of the DeVlieg Jigmil catalog on my eBay site. Mind you, this looks like it was a bidding war... but why do folks bid items up... this is like things "used to be"...

Well... If you read yesterday's blog post here, you know that there are old machines out there, in small shops or owned by individuals. The manufacturers have long-since discontinued printing the manuals and paper information about these machines, and in most cases the machines are simply no longer being produced... so the owners of these machines must look for resources of information elsewhere.

Fortunately for these owners, a few packrats (this is not used in a pejorative sense) ... like me & my buddy Rust ... have salvaged the paper.

So, when the owner goes looking for something that might help him or her to identify parts, accessories, and generally figure out how the heck these things work, an original resource like the catalog above can be a godsend.

Pretty neat deal for everyone concerned. (and Rosie's certainly not going to complain, if she can make some machine owner, shop owner, or collector happy!)

Now... back to the business of getting these items out where those folks can find 'em!

Have a wonderful Autumn Sunday!

South Bend. Yowza!

2008-10-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

The South Bend lathe toolpost sets went at prices beyond my wildest dreams. The reason for the frenzy? Well... as Rosie's pal Rust sees it, there are quite a few folks out there who own South Bend lathes and, due to the sad fact that there are pretty much no more machine factories out there in our wide United States, parts and pieces and accessories like these toolposts are hard to come by.

This is kind of alarming to Rosie, as she envisions a country full of small independent machine shops who have to scan the internet and junk dealers for parts. Shades of Atlas Shrugged? She hopes not.

And while she finds this thought unsettling, she appreciates the fact that she can supply even a little bit of the tooling and parts and accessories that folks who have so conscientiously and conservation-mindedly kept their vintage machines in good order and running. This may indeed be the saving grace for the future, particularly if the US economy keeps bleeding out.

That's why Rosie always smiles when she sees another small company that is preserving some of the industrial manufacturing heritage that was built up during WWII... companies like Versamil, Inc., that have kept in production many older machines.

Keep up the good work!

(oh, and if her South Bend customers simply wanted those toolpost sets for their collection, that's terrific too)

A thought for the day (also courtesy of Rust):
When we consider things from the past as being better - made better, more sturdy, of higher quality and workmanship - than most things seem to be made today, is not because things from the past were actually made better. Consider how much of what was made in the past has rotted in landfills... and how much of what is left is the creme de la creme. Kind of changes a person's perception, huh?

Having a wonderful autumn weekend in Oklahoma... with wishes of the same to all!

--"Rosie"

South Bend Collectors - My first experience

2008-09-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

These two items (linked below) are kind of going nuts for me on eBay right now...(one of 'em pictured at left)

South Bend Toolpost CE2450NK with original box

South Bend Toolpost CE2450R with original box

"Rust" told me that collectors of South Bend are kind of ... enthusiastic. We'll see just how enthusiastic in a few hours (these auctions both end today (Sunday Sept. 14) about 4 Central time.

It's been a long time since auctions have stirred up multiple bids. The original box with each of the items is apparently key. I remember, having once been associated with comics, games, ad toys, the same kind of collectors, who wanted the original box for their collectible. Never knew that kind of purist attitude was present for bits of steel! This feels kinda like the "old days"... pretty neat!

I'll let ya know how it went in a later post. Have a wonderful Sunday!

"How a politician campaigns tells you a lot about how he or she would govern."

2008-09-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

I don't generally post political or religious stuff, but this year's presidential campaign to me is more than a little frightening.

For the record, I have no chosen political affiliation.

We saddled ourselves here in the U.S. with a kind of oil-as-religion and religion-as-a-stepping stone to power president who's been acting like someone made him king. People I respect voted for him in the first go-round but were embarrassed about it for the second, mostly because they realized that this was a guy who called himself a believer then lied, lied, and lied. Or at the very least, allowed his political machine to lie, lie, lie for him.

There have been quite a few folks who suggest, for good or ill, that voters get the government they deserve... there are a couple ways to look at this: Gullible voters swallow campaign promises and believe the hype and get a bad government... or savvy voters work to tell the truth from the lies and hype, choose a candidate that really represents their interests and values, and get a GOOD government.

Or voters sit back and say "it doesn't do any good to vote anyway, so I won't bother" then complain bitterly about the government they didn't lift a finger to vote for or against. They got the government THEY deserved.

As far as the candidates this go-round:

I thought McCain had gumption and good ideas, and would buck the trend. But here we go again. Dirty tricks, lies, smear campaigns, calling the media "liberal" when they disagree ... it's so amazingly tiring. And frankly, his VP choice is a blatant pandering to both big oil and the religious right, and a page out of the Bush playbook.

Read This Article (referenced in the headline)... and make up your own mind.

The Dems have their own problems... historically Democrat voters are a bigger chunk of registered voters but a smaller proportion of the Dems actually get out and vote. So Obama and Biden need to "forget about" the smear campaigns (let their PR folks work on that), concentrate on getting the voters off their duffs, get 'em registered, and get 'em to the polls if they are going to stand a good chance of being elected. The race looks like it'll be a tough one.

And whatever your opinion who the best candidates are this election year... get out and vote... because if you do NOT, you have no right to complain come inauguration day.

Lookie what Rosie Found - A Place to Bonanzle

2008-08-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/RustyRosieRiveter

Yup, I only have one item posted there as of this morning (Saturday before Labor Day, a most auspicious holiday to the industrially-inclined)... but more to come.

My dear partner Rust brought me loads of steely goodness that have yet to be listed either on the eBay store (in the link to the right) or on Bonanzle, but the weekend's just starting... just watch me go!

(and many thanks to the lovely RedInkDiary author - go visit her blog and her site - for the lead!)

Now for the (apparently) requisite health update: If it isn't one odd thing it's 14 or 15 others...
Haven't been updating this blog recently... reason being more weird health stuff. Am recovering use of my arms after coming down with a case of Brachial plexopathy a.k.a. Brachial neuropathy, a.k.a. Brachial neuritis ... which is a pretty rare thing that happens when a person catches some sort of virus or upper respiratory infection and the body, for whatever reason, attacks the nerves that make up the Brachial plexus, the bundles of nerves that control the arms and shoulders. Somehow I got it in both arms and haven't been very mobile for over a month. Am on the mend somewhat now and it may take six months to get back normal mobility... but it apparently does resolve on its own. Since it has a mysterious nature, the docs have given it a "syndrome" category (which I guess in doctoring terms means they really don't know why it happens) ... most inconvenient for a person who works with her hands and FORTUNATELY I have been able to work, though I was not able to drive for the first week of the affliction and every day activities like showering, dressing, and brushing my hair are still tricky. Have had to take a friend with me to shop in order to actually get items off the shelves... all sorts of wonderful "fun" things that a person takes for granted until their mobility is challenged.

(yes, I know, how bizarre)

Anyhow, it has definitely put a cramp in my style and I've been unable until recently to do much posting of items on my sales sites... a friend re-arranged my auction/sales inventory shelving, organized inventory for me, and set up my copy stand with a "tethered" digital camera so that I don't have to try to reach what I pretty much can't, so I'm back in business there. Thank goodness for wonderful friends, I would have been in trouble without them.

***

Will post more later on the items to be listed on Bonanzle. (which by that site's definition is not a noun, but is a verb, as well as the name of their site... a great place that is up-and-coming as an alternative to Craigslist and eBay... and quite possibly the best alternative I've seen, after exploring other alternatives and being, frankly, disappointed. The best alternatives I've seen so far are Etsy, on which I have been selling letterpress prints as well as my handmade masks, and (though I haven't had much luck so far and that is probably because of my lack of marketing on the site, others have had plenty of sales there,) OnlineAuction.com. Other alternatives that folks are liking right now are eCrater and ioffer... The list of alternatives that are really viable seem to be somewhat thinner than they were back in May, and I haven't actively pursued a few of them but... check in with RedInkDiary, the author of that blog is an absolute terrier when it comes to rooting out the facts about alternative channels to eBay and has great information.

Happy Labor Day Weekend, dear readers!

Rustmonger Vintage-What's in a Name?

2008-05-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

In the selling world, just about everything.

Oddly enough, although I've been in marketing for (cough) over 20 years, the experience has been mostly in the graphics side of marketing. So I have gone about marketing my sites in a rather scatter-shot way, and now I'm rethinking the whole idea.

Rustmonger Vintage started out as Rustmonger and Moonlunasea Ltd. Cute, in its own way, but not focused. And what's the Moonlunasea all about anyway? It's the moniker I've used on eBay, and is also coincidentally the name of some odd little band somewhere. The next incarnation was Rustmonger Vintage Tooling & More... way too long, and what's that "& More" really doing for me? So it's not really all about the kinds of things I sell.

So I started boiling down the idea, and wanted to keep "Rustmonger" because it pretty much says it all. But couldn't just use "Rustmonger" because one of the people who uses that name is a vintage beer can collector. And I don't exclusively sell hardware. So I kept "Vintage" and stripped away anything that doesn't really add any informative value to the brand, as I sell both hardware and tools, all of them vintage, as well as industrial machine-related ephemera (spec sheets, brochures, catalogs and other advertising paper). Could have kept "Tooling" but that word is awkward, and is kind of implied in "Rustmonger"...

No wonder I just did okay in my School of Visual Concepts branding and marketing classes!

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) should be my motto for everything.

Overexplaining isn't a good thing in marketing. Keep things brief and to the point... sure, you can throw in humor, emotional-response-eliciting phrases here and there, but most people don't buy because of hyperbole...

So, now I am going to go through all my online sales sites with the above in mind. Keep it focused, keep it simple, don't overexplain or flood the visitors with much more information than they need... because it simply won't be absorbed.

Now I need to try out the same K.I.S.S for my Etsy site, ActiasLunaMasks.

What the heck does Actias luna, the scientific name for the Luna moth, have to do with it, and why is the site full of paintings as well as masks? Well, there you go... an enthusiastic but slightly muddled attempt at marketing. Meh.

Selling Beyond eBay

2008-05-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

I just joined a network group of folks that are seeking ways to improve their online sales and get beyond the eBay habit. The site sprung up the last week of April and has over 60 members now. There are obviously many, many people looking for viable alternatives and looking for new ways to sell their goods and used items, so sites like Selling Beyond eBay (link to the right below my bio) are a most welcome addition.

Right now I'm trying to reinvent myself and come up with great ways to energize my own listing online. What I sell has such a limited audience that it's difficult to say what will work. That said, I believe now is a great time to get in on the ground floor at new sites and on sites that have been around for a while but are getting greater visibility because of the way the marketplace is changing. Visit the blogs linked on the right and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Back to work for Rosie... next blog post will be another shameless plug of new items listed, when I get 'em listed, that is!

Jaw Injury by Bagel? My entry into the world of TMJ, or How Online Sales Can Be Hazardous to One's Health

2008-04-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ouch.

Much like the popcorn-kernel-incident (another story for another time, or how a stray kernel of popcorn cost me $75), this one started out innocently enough. Went to lunch yesterday, on a coworker's treat, ordered an "everything" bagel with cream cheese. Halfway through said bagel, EXTREME sharp pain and major crepitus (grating sounds) in the jaw.

Today, the oral surgeon. (why the OS? Because back in February I had jaw surgery and thought this might be a complication of the healing process.) OS looked at X-rays & did examination, everything seems to be healing from the surgery, but the joint is a mess. Referred me to a TMJ specialist.

One problem here: TMJ is a kind of insurance gray area. Why this is, I have no idea, because when one injures their jaw, the pain is there just as much as it is for other joint injuries or conditions. So, the specialist isn't a "member" of any insurance at all, and to get any reimbursement for coverage a person has to file with their insurance company and hope for the best. Out of network best, to those with HMOs.

Sigh.

Stressful as the weeks since the US's economic "meltdown" has been, I am not surprised that I have apparently been either grinding my teeth or clenching my jaw in anger.

(Sorry for the interruption, but pray tell, HOW does this relate to your Rustmonger business online?)

Good question.

Well. The answer is that I think I've been stressing out just a little trying to find a great place to sell the Rustmonger inventory that would be less of a hassle and as good a "venue" as eBay. There are so many options out there right now, and many of them have wonderful potential, many of them with potential may fade into nothing. Change is always stressful and I hope that the changes are healthy for all of us that have been, up to now, pretty much reliant upon eBay as a place we could for the most part get visibility for and sell our inventory.

Right now my choices are: Loudfrog, Online Auction, eCrater, possibly eWaey, and a real newcomer with potential, LoftBlvd. Others' choices may be seen if you Google "eBay alternatives. (Check links at right for my active sites.), and of course there is a partial list of alternatives on this blog from an earlier date.

"Your mileage (of course) may vary" at these sites and each has its quirks, but these three seemed attractive to me as good potentials for my diversification. Time will tell how these other venues work, of course.

Next post: More items up for sale, and how the sellers' action (of hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions? Depending upon the source, it could be any of those numbers) against eBay is playing out for Rustmonger Vintage Tooling & More.

(The "I" in this post is Kathleen, author of this blog, who is otherwise known as "moonlunasea", RosieRiveter, and actiasluna on various online sales sites.)

Online Auction Rummage Sale items...

2008-04-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here are two items I have earmarked for the Rummage Sale to begin May 1st:

"So Long, Mother" sheet music, 1917 copyright, Jerome H. Remick & Co. publishers, Al Jolson's Mother Song, World War I vintage.

"Good-Bye Boys" sheet music, 1913 copyright, Harry Von Tilzer Music publisher, Al Jolson-introduced tune from the Winter Garden Production, The Honeymoon Express... pre WWI, only just.

These are priced at a minimum bid of 99 cents... so if you're looking for some nice Al Jolson sheet music at a bargain, these two items will be of interest to you.

Not the usual fare from Rustmonger Vintage, but we are varied in our interests, and old sheet music is one of those. "Rosie" (aka moonlunasea) is a would-be jazz pianist who enjoys old tunes (is a real Cole Porter fan, for instance) and has a small collection of old music. These two items are all she could bear to part with.

You will be able to see these items at auction May 1st after 7pm Pacific time at Rustmonger Vintage Tooling & More's OLA House.

Come see what else we have to offer... we'll be stocking more items (and perhaps more for the Rummage Sale) in the upcoming weeks.

Why is that Lunkenheimer catalog so spiffy?

2008-04-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

(See previous blog post about Spiffy Stuff I've Sold Online)

Why IS that Lunkenheimer catalog so spiffy? Well, beyond having a very smile-inducing name, that, my friends, is a very good question. To answer, I direct you to the publication Horn and Whistle, for some enlightenment. From the H&W homepage:

Several times a year, we hold our famous "Concerts," our horn honks and whistle blows. We rent boilers, air compressors, maybe even a complete locomotive. We've been known to take over a railroad facility. (With permission, of course.) Our subscribers bring everything from lighthouse foghorns to antique factory whistles. When we let go, we REALLY have a blast and make many fine, like-minded friends. Be sure to attend our next Horn & Whistle "concert" near you.

Yes, they do have "concerts"... I haven't attended one, but it's on the list of things to do. And Lunkenheimer made some of those horns and whistles. That's how to warm the heart of a girl who loves steam engines and vintage machines! (Imagine the neighbors near a "concert" like this!)

And next, blogging tips:

This morning I've been customizing (e.g. "fighting with") this blog, to put my Rusty "brand" on it and make it a little less generic than what I had here before. This was fairly simple, and in order to do so I had to go into the Blogger "Layout" tab, change a few colors, et voila'!

Except that it wasn't as voila'! as I suggest, because I didn't really like the rounded-corner background to the header image I wanted to use. For this, I had to edit the HTML (which was a bit trickier, but easier here than on some other blogs I've tried (and given up)... The tip for today is that, as suggested in that area, you really DO need to save the HTML template before you go in and fiddle with it, because if you save changes and find that you've broken something without first saving a backup, you'll have to start over. (that didn't happen to me but I got very lucky.)

The nice thing about this particular template "Rounders" is that the author put plenty of notations inside the HTML that helped me make the changes without messing it up. This is all well and good if you have a little experience with coding, but if you don't, I would recommend using a template "as is", making a few changes to colors (which is really easy to do), keeping things readable, and maybe limiting your tinkering to adding your own image to the header, changing fonts a little, etcetera. The designers of the templates really know what they're doing, and why mess with success? If you ARE code-savvy (or very brave), it is fun to customize and make the template your own.

One other recommendation: If you get the look and feel of your blog to a point where it is as you like it, don't change it... if you do change it often, the people who visit frequently won't have an impression of consistency, and if you are using the blog to post items that you sell, you definitely want to establish a consistent look and feel... a "brand," if you will. (Having just changed the look of this blog to fit the Rustmonger's rusty look, I won't be changing the template appearance unless I redesign my store... something that I don't intend to do for quite a while.)

--Cheers--"Rosie"

And yes, I know I haven't yet posted the MOST-SPIFFIEST (bad grammar intentional) item I ever sold online yet... but you'll just have to come back and check the blog, as I am looking for the image of that item in my photo archives and haven't yet located it.

Great ideas for folks selling online.

2008-04-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

Quite a few sellers (who knows how many? Probably hundreds of thousands) are looking for alternatives to "one site fits all" auctions, and are at the same time looking for better ways to generate -- and boost -- their online sales.

One way of doing this is the blog. (which is one of the reasons I started this blog, the other is my "frustrated writer" syndrome!). Blogs are picked up by search engines quickly, if there is new content in them frequently the results are better, and a seller can achieve some "unexpected results" by blogging.

One of the up and coming auction sites that stands to profit from a migration of buyers and sellers in the next few weeks is Online Auction dot com. Last weekend, their president Chris Fain appeared on a radio show to talk about the possibilities coming, and one of the more vocal and active seller on Online Auction, Karen "callmemomo" Hammond, also talked to the show hosts about an upcoming "Rummage Sale" that she helped organize.

The idea is nothing new. However, during the radio show, another well-known figure in the online auction world, Scott Pooler, spoke to Hammond about an idea he had: What if every participant in the OLA auction site's Rummage Sale posted a list of their items on a blog of their own? Wouldn't this have the potential for bringing the buyers to the site en mass?

Here's the link to Scott's blog post about the radio show and the idea, and what happened next. I think that this is a wonderful idea, and one that all online sellers could embrace to boost their sales. Blogs generate great search engine results and have become quite a popular tool to do just that: Indeed, if all the sellers on onlineauction.com blogged their listings, I bet the results would be spectacular.

(look for my Online Auction rummage sale items here no later than Monday the 28th of April... And if you are a seller on OLA and are participating in the "Rummage Sale blogfest", let me know and I'll post a link to YOUR blog for the sale here.)

The Spiffiest Stuff I Ever Sold Online...

2008-04-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few examples:

First: The Johansson Gage Blocks 24-page brochure "He Measures in Millionths". This pretty little brochure was put out by Ford to celebrate these precision gage blocks. The story of how these were invented and used is quite interesting.

And then there was the:

Lunkenheimer Valves Guide. At first glance, this doesn't look too exciting. But open up this guide and you get a 36-page look into what really makes industry tick. (or hum, spin, or whistle!)... Lunkenheimer is a famous name in the industrial-strength whistle collectors' world.

And next...
The PowerKing Tools Catalog

36 pages of great vintage shots of tools and not a safety guard in sight.

(no, really, this catalog is nifty and I'm very glad I had it pass through my hot little hands.)

So... what about them?

Glad you asked. (!!!) These are all photos of the covers of originals that were sold online a couple years ago. At the time, I scanned in all of the pages of all the publications in high quality, planning "one day" to put them together into PDFs and sell those online for much less than the cost of the originals.

Now that option is no longer viable for me on eBay, so I am going to list these for electronic delivery on the new online market site where I'm getting the most traffic. Which is, at the moment, Loudfrog. You will see these listings there pretty soon, under this link: Rustmonger Vintage (by Moonlunasea) on Loudfrog.

And until they're listed there: Anyone who sees these publications and is interested in obtaining a PDF version, please post here and let me know... They will sell for $2.99 for the 24-page "He Measures in Millionths", $4.99 for the 36 page Lunkenheimer and PowerKing catalogs, and will be available through e-mail delivery or for an extra buck and postage, on a CD.

But drat! I didn't get to the spiffiest item ever. Oh well...in my next blog post.

Happy almost last week of April!

All the cool kids (undergrads at least) are doing it... so...

2008-04-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of meme-ing, I followed the crowd (okay, the crowd of one, my friend Henrietta of Red Ink Diary) and checked out the reading level for this blog.

The results (drumroll and the envelope, please)...

Well, that's swell with me. It means at least most of the people I know can understand what I write here. Which, of course, is the general idea of having such a blog.

So, what's up with me today?

Glad you asked. Well, I'm listing items on three different auction sites today. I've needed to update my listings for some time now, and today's the day. It'll be mostly vintage machine tooling literature. No, it will be ALL vintage literature, to be precise. (Follow these links to my auction sites, Online Auction, Loudfrog, and eBay.) And here's a little visual of some of the items I have for sale:

Yup, that's an old Argus camera guide sitting there between the Norton booklet and the DoAll grinder brochure. I do have some vintage photography items including this guide, some old and very cool road maps, and a couple pieces of sheet music from the early 1900's along with the machinery-oriented inventory. Check it out! (click on photos to go to the listings.)

Just popped in to update, now back to the listing.

Have a great weekend!

Scrambling to Make Sense of it All, and How!

2008-04-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Broadsides & Other Stuff:

Photo at left: This beauty is a Golding Pearl Old Style #3 printing press from the 1880s. I have one of these that is not quite as nice, but works like a charm, and I have used it to print cards and broadsides (small broadsides, as the press size maximum print size is about 4" x 6", it has a 7-1/2" x 11" chase).

The site that this photo came from is Briar Press, a great resource for the letterpress printer as they have an online museum, a trading post, and a mailing list that interested individuals may subscribe to. Very knowledgeable inkslingers inhabit both Briar Press and the mailing list, and if you're a hobby printer, you simply have to visit their site and have a look at (and drool over) the beautiful presses in the museum.

Now: Diversification

Anyway, long story short, I've decided to start rethinking the online business and listing my goods in other places as well as the eBay site.

So, I've opened a new store, Rustmonger Vintage Tooling & More, at Online Auction, where I will be listing a bunch of my stock over the next few weeks. I'll be opening at least two other sites to sell my "stuff," and have already got a store at Etsy where I sell my handmade masks and art.

Here are some site options for other sellers that may be seeking alternatives to eBay:

eCrater
Online Auction
Etsy (handmade items, art, crafts, and supplies for arts & crafts)
LoudFrog
Wagglepop
Alibris (books)
iOffer
Neoloch
eBid
ewaey
iNetFlea

There are a bunch more out there, these are the handful that I know people have moved their selling to and, good news!!!!--people ARE getting sales.

TTFN...Kathleen

Vintage Machine Tooling Literature -- onlineauctions.com

2008-04-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Moonlunasea's New Online Auctions

Yup. After a little consideration, I'm trying to kick the big auction-site (not to be named in this post) habit and "diversifying" by listing my auctions slowly and deliberately on other sites. The first of which is Online Auction, one of the larger contenders for those sellers (and buyers) who are taking their sales elsewhere.

I invite my current (and future) buyers to visit this site and have a look. For those who follow the link in this post there, if you win any of my auctions for the foreseeable future and type into your message to me the code "MOONDISC" I will give you a 15 percent discount off the end price of your item. This offer is only good for one discount per new buyer of my stuff on Online Auctions. Former buyers will be given a 25 percent discount off the total price, just remind me what you bought from me and I'll apply the discount to your first purchase of my Online Auctions site. (my username is moonlunasea on Online Auctions).

As a free marketplace participant, I can see that my money is not being spent as wisely there, and so I am doing what any wise seller would do in similar circumstances: diversifying my market and cutting my expense of doing business.

-- See you there! --

Link to Moonlunasea's Online Auction auctions.