One rainy Saturday morning, my stepmom and I set out on an art adventure. We drove up to SF to check out a place called SCRAP--an artist/teacher haven full of curious cast-offs and recyclable stuff. It was a smallish warehouse--smaller than I had expected--but full to the ceiling with buttons, fabric scraps, metal doodads, bins of plastic toy parts, etc. To the uncreative eye, it would appear to be total chaos, but each isle had more or less some kind of theme: glass and ceramics on the far end, wood and fabrics in the middle, bigger ticket items in the front by the check out lady.
Most of the items have no price tag or price system. It's just fill a bag and hope the check out lady is feeling kind. And by no means do you just grab handfulls of buttons and then when she asks, "how many?" you just shrug, "i dunno". I think my bag full of buttons cost me $10 alone! But I'll never know because at the end of your bag-stuffing frenzy, she just kind of looks through all your bags, tosses some old bamboo runes in a tortoise shell and goes, "ummm...$32."
My stepmom made out like a bandit only paying $25 for four big bags overflowing with fabric scraps, wooden toy parts, tin cases, old wood spools, glass bottles, blank cardboard books. I know the old wooden spice cabinet was $20 (not because of the price tag, but because the check out lady said so) which means that the rest of my piddly bag (including the offending bag of buttons) came to $12. But not bad considering I probably would've paid $32 for the cabinet/shelf thingie alone. Anyway, I would still totally recommend to weekend visitors or anyone within a 50 mile radius to check this place out.
The photos above and below are some of the things I found there--most of it is just my other collection of odds and ends from etsy to thrift store finds or gifts from friends (Thank you, Kisa, for the burning heart wooden stamp!). Enjoy the eye candy and be inspired!
One rainy Saturday morning, my stepmom and I set out on an art adventure. We drove up to SF to check out a place called SCRAP--an artist/teacher haven full of curious cast-offs and recyclable stuff. It was a smallish warehouse--smaller than I had expected--but full to the ceiling with buttons, fabric scraps, metal doodads, bins of plastic toy parts, etc. To the uncreative eye, it would appear to be total chaos, but each isle had more or less some kind of theme: glass and ceramics on the far end, wood and fabrics in the middle, bigger ticket items in the front by the check out lady. 
Most of the items have no price tag or price system. It's just fill a bag and hope the check out lady is feeling kind. And by no means do you just grab handfulls of buttons and then when she asks, "how many?" you just shrug, "i dunno". I think my bag full of buttons cost me $10 alone! But I'll never know because at the end of your bag-stuffing frenzy, she just kind of looks through all your bags, tosses some old bamboo runes in a tortoise shell and goes, "ummm...$32." 
My stepmom made out like a bandit only paying $25 for four big bags overflowing with fabric scraps, wooden toy parts, tin cases, old wood spools, glass bottles, blank cardboard books. I know the old wooden spice cabinet was $20 (not because of the price tag, but because the check out lady said so) which means that the rest of my piddly bag (including the offending bag of buttons) came to $12. But not bad considering I probably would've paid $32 for the cabinet/shelf thingie alone. Anyway, I would still totally recommend to weekend visitors or anyone within a 50 mile radius to check this place out. 
The photos above and below are some of the things I found there--most of it is just my other collection of odds and ends from etsy to thrift store finds or gifts from friends (Thank you, Kisa, for the burning heart wooden stamp!). Enjoy the eye candy and be inspired!
That store in S.F. sounds amazing!! Oh, how I wish I lived there:)
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from a post on the P.W. forum - I love all of your S.F. store treasures - that cabinet thing is fabulous! Are you going to leave as is or paint it?
I just posted a blog entry on my blog about some antique/junk store finds if you wanna see my eye candy:)
See you on PAPER WHIMSY.
J.T.
www.polkadotbarn.blogspot.com
Welcome, J.T.! SCRAP truly is an amazing store. If you're ever in town, I highly recommend it! :) I have had the cabinet for a few weeks now and I'm just waiting for creative inspiration to take over. I'd like to decorate it somehow, but I'd also like to leave a little of it's original charm. I'll post an "update" when I do decide what to do! Thanks for the invite to your blog...I'm heading over right now. :)
ReplyDeleteNicole
I am so, so glad that I read this post, because my mom and I are going to be in SF after Artfest and this sounds like the perrrfecctt place for us to go! Thank you! H
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Heather! :) I hope you and your mom have a lovely time in SF. SCRAP is a super fun place to scrounge around for fun artsy stuff. It's like rummaging around in someone's attic full of crafty cast-offs. Sometimes you have to stretch your creative imagination to find a use for some of the items, but I just grab whatever "speaks" to me, even if I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet! :)
ReplyDeleteNicole