Industrious Lighting

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ 07848

973 383-6057

Hanging lights envisioned from old industrial parts are more than just "Antiques Made While You Wait." They are a way of looking at familiar objects differently. Instead of being seen solely for their original purpose, they are set free to become their own "architecture."

An oscillating fan guard becomes a chandelier shade.

A heavy-duty pulley easily supports a fragile, lightweight glass shade.


A hay bale trolley holds a pair of black tin shades
and shows its intricate casting and metallic color.

Brake drum lights, either hung as spherical
chandeliers or placed on the floor or a table,
are sculptural and functional.

Old stuff...New use.
It's a "lightbulb moment!"

Footprints in Time

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ 07848
973-383-6057

Confucius said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

Shoes...they take us everywhere and they identify who we are...a worker, a ballerina, a princess. These reliable old friends carry us through our daily routine, a momentous event, or an exciting adventure. The styles of these "works of art" reveal if we are practical. fanciful, trendy or chic. Their design tells us about the times in which they've walked to destinations of joy, sorrow or discovery...all without fuss. Oh, the tales they could tell!

Reality, with An Abstract Twist

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ 07848

973-383-6057

Richard Kapral's paintings are like New Year's Day...everyday, all year long. Ordinary subjects are seen with a fresh eye. The colors are alive. The compositions are quirky and, no matter how many times I study them, I always find a surprise that makes the painting new, all over again.

For example, "Windowledge" (pictured) is a "view" for the viewer. The outside world lies on the other side. We must look through. The landscape sometimes seems somber. At other times...dramatic, as if a storm is moving in, while we are safe inside, looking out. In certain light, the painting is playful and all about the friendly objects inside, with peaches rolling along the bottom edge, about to fall off.

I guess Richard's paintings are like life itself...reality at the whim of perception. It's all in the way we look at things.

Christmas "Cookie"

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ

973-383-6057

It happens every year as the Holidays approach. Everyone gets into the spirit and starts decorating...hanging festive ornaments, bows and greenery. I resist. In fact, my reputation as a Humbug is well-known. But this year, an old bottle rack just wouldn't take "No" for an answer. Every spoke begged for a shiny red ornament. Then, a wirework bust that just fit the top appeared in a friend's garage. I swiped it. A few leafy branches, a handful of rhinestones, an old leather belt and a Christmas Party Girl began to emerge. Too short! Quick...several glass blocks and a dusty, old foundry pattern elevated her standing in the world.

So far, everyone that has seen her smiles.

Who said I don't like Christmas?

Lasting Impressions

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ

973-383-6057

It's no wonder we have such a crush on old wooden foundry patterns. They are strong and graphic, without pretense. Skillfully crafted years ago by incredibly talented carpenters, they were the precise form to be cast in steel. Pressed into a sand/cement mixture, then removed, they left a void to be filled with molten metal.

Stored for years in the lofts of old factories, they are now being rediscovered as genuine articles of American Art.

These patterns, once again, are leaving a lasting impression...this time on the viewer. Used as wall art, sculpture or as part of a deconstruction, they embody a hard-working, rough and ready attitude and remind us of how resourceful we can be.

Deconstruction

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ 07848

973-383-6057

My creative friend Barbara, who can envision and construct just about anything, stopped by the shop the other day. She needed a coat rack. Twenty minutes later, she was motoring away with a few odd bits and pieces...an old iron mannequin base, a wooden foundry pattern and a handful of zinc hooks.

The next day...there it was...a quirky work of art!

Constructing useful furnishings out of old stuff, repurposed, is a trend afoot that gives new life to the mundane. It's thrifty and clever and makes the viewer smile. The endeavor challenges one's ingenuity. The result is always "one-of-a-kind."

Coat Rack - Barbara Stanek 2010

Global Interest

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ

973-383-6057

World globes...As a schoolgirl, I remember my first encounter with them as a proud moment. Having such a grown-up navigational tool in our classroom could only mean one thing...we had arrived.

There were the crisp, efficient lines of longitude and latitude that always let you know exactly where you stand. And crazy-shaped continents, vast oceans and wiggly rivers that, together, promised a lifetime of exploration. And the colors...azure blue, viridian green, mountain brown, surely confirming our status in the solar system as the "prettiest" planet.

These old globes remind me of the world as it used to be. They provide an interesting, nostalgic and studious artifact to any environment. Now, when I look at them, I find the ever-shifting borders and renaming of countries fascinating. It reminds me that change is always on the horizon.

Moditional

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ

973-383-6057

In one way or another, everyone loves all things traditional. It's that comfort zone of an acceptable, well-educated, grown-up environment. But lately, we are all tired of the safe, the bland, the cautious. It just feels right to add those "out-of-sync" elements that your mother would never have approved of. It's time to abandon the concept of "design ingredients that go together".

So maybe, just to show respect for our elders, we've latched onto "Moditional"...the style that says "yes" to a carefully mis-matched marriage of crisp, mid-century, funky or industrial furnishings alongside the well-chosen traditional.

Made for Walkin'

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ

973-383-6057

And that's just what we do... antique dealers, that is. We walk, and then we walk some more. These buying trips to the UK really are a marathon. Staying with antique dealer friends, Francis and Barbara, means that my alarm clock can never sleep past 4AM, when we are off and running around antique venues in the pre-dawn light. Of course, that is the "Lucky Hour" when you find the best stuff, like oil paintings that have been asleep far longer than you.

I never grow tired of the early buyer buzz. And, seriously, there is so much walking involved in the hunt that it's given new meaning to the term "Boot Sale".

Road Trip

Bogwater Jim

Lafayette, NJ

07848

973-383-6057

Have you ever had the distinct feeling that you have stepped back in time? It is a by-product of being an antique dealer.

Several weeks ago on a quick buying trip to the UK, Barbara and Sarah (English pals) and I spent an afternoon road tripping along the antique trail. Laughing off the neccessary U-turns and mis-reads of our primitive map (no GPS for us veterans) we slid into an Antiques Warehouse. This centre offered an opportunity to have tea and a sweet (several choices of delicious looking pies and cakes) set out on an antique table in someone's pitch, all apparently self-serve and on the honor system.

Along with these temptations, we enjoyed piano renditions from the 1940's, played by a member of staff...a well-coiffed woman, handsomely dressed. The entire experience was hauntingly lovely, and certainly not to be found in today's mainstream shops.

When I step back in in time some sleepless night, this memory will be 5 star.

Carpenter's Tools

Carpenter's Tools

Bogwater Jim
Lafayette, NJ 07848

973-383-6057

As simple carpenter's tools get more colorful, more clean-edged, more slick...the more I like the old ones. There are brass-hinged wooden rulers with their numbers nearly worn off and mahogany-handled squares inlaid with brass designs, along with chunky, old handsaws that seem too sweet to ever threaten a piece of wood.

Arranged in haphazard or organized fashion, these manly old everyday buddies give you a world of interest at bargain prices.

When you feature these craftsmen-made artifacts, it is easy to see that they are not ordinary at all, but individual, personal and extremely beautiful.

Tailor's Dummy Re-purposed

Bogwater Jim
Lafayette, NJ

973-383-6057

Tailor's Dummy Re-purposed

Lucky me.....I have the most clever friends! Francis and Barbara, English colleagues, have installed a tailor's dummy in their entryway. It wears a worn leather coat, topped with an old fisherman's jacket, loaded with pockets. This "sculpture" is quirky and has great character, but it wasn't until I examined it closely that I realized it is also the "charging station" for their mobile phones. With the wires snaked up the back, behind the lapels and aimed in different directions , everyone's phone gets its own pocket.

There was no choice...........I had to swipe the idea.

Upon my return, I quickly dressed my old mannequin in a sporty, vintage Admiral's jacket and wired it up. Everyone loves it. It adds personality to the room. I like the way it looks and I like what it hides. Best of all...........It reminds me to charge the phone!