Posted in General

Found Object – Ohio Brick Builds Curiosity

I found this cool Ohio brick while cleaning out an old garage. Of the 2000+ Ohio brick makers, only a fraction remain in operation such as Belden Brick of Sugarcreek, Ohio. Driving by their factory is almost like stepping back in time. They recently supplied 269,825 bricks for one of the coolest projects I’ve seen in a long time — the first railroad roundhouse built in the United States since the 1950s. Take a look at that project and its attention to detail which is second to none. Finding this old brick and others like it reminds me of Ohio’s manufacturing heritage and the care and quality put into products Made in the USA. Speaking of those days, perhaps we are on the cusp of a return to Midwest manufacturing and pride albeit dramatically different than its glory days?

Vintage Ohio Brick

Vintage Ohio Brick

Posted in General

Picking for the Pop-up Store

I’ll be the first to admit I like to collect cool, old stuff. I also like to find great deals on things that can be re-used or re-imagined into something else. I’m like Bob Vila/MacGuyver meets American Pickers. I’ve been wanting to beef up the pop-up store a bit and came across a fixture liquidator and spent the afternoon with my 5-yr-old picking through his warehouse. Talk about a lot of stuff! Anyway, I scored some great deals on quality finds. Here are some pics of a few pieces of my score, click each photo for a larger version.  I’ll post pics of our future events so you can see what I turn this stuff in to.