The art of thrift

Jazzy Mouse is working on some great articles on creating art from cheapo supplies. I know that a lot of things canbe purchased at thrift stores. Probably the best bargains I’ve gotten at thrift stores and garage sales for art have been books. Mostly books with copyright free images to use in collage, altered books and the like. But when you are the kind of artist that sees everything as alterable the thrift store is a constant source of inspiration.

There is a skill set to thrifting. It begins with just going to lots of thrift stores and getting a feel for the arena. You can learn what day they get new things in; what day of the week certain items are on sale; which stores have the best items in certain categories. etc. It’s a good idea to learn the going prices for certain items that you like to buy. Often there are unmarked items in thrift stores which you’ll have to take to the register and ask the price on. If you know what a fair price is, you are less likely to pay too much for the unmarked item.

Look for bulk items. The stores will sometimes combine a bunch of things in a bag and sell the whole bag for a bulk price. Look for these because often the price of the bag is good even if only one or two things in the bag are what you are looking for.

Speaking of “looking for” - while I have set out to find a certain thing at a thrift store, it takes a lot of patience, and time. The best way to thrift is to go with an open mind. If you go in just open to find what inspires you or calls out to you, you will be more successful than if you go there wanting very specific items.

The style of thrift

Since I’ve recently moved and am sort of creating a new life, I’ve been very interested in my personal fashion style. I’m much more social than I was the past several years. So, I needed to spark up my wardrobe. I have found the thrift stores a wonderful place to get some great buys. I used to by all my clothes retail. While I’ve always loved clothes and fashion I never found it particularly interesting. But, since I’ve been paying more attention to my sense of style, I’ve found some great websites that are about thrifting, remaking clothes and putting things together in a creative way. Here are a few for you to check out:

http://www.stylesymmetry.com/

http://www.painfullyhip.com/

http://thevintagesociety.blogspot.com/

http://community.livejournal.com/_threads/

http://community.livejournal.com/thriftwhore/

http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_look/

In the vein of these blogs, I’ll share an outfit (from a thrift stores) I wore today:

dress - $3

black sweater $1.50

leather boots -$6.00

Filed under: Art