Customers are such fun (part II)

We had a fantastic Friday evening last Friday 20 April. A special thanks to those customers who dropped by, and many grabbed themselves a bargain too!

One of our regular customers , David, was pretty stoked to model Clifford's latest raygun. So, I just had to take this photo and post it for your enjoyment...

And here's another angle:

Fantastic, and the steampunk corner looks pretty great, too.

For those of you who missed us, we will be opening more Friday nights closer to Christmas, so stay tuned.

PUBLIC HOLIDAY ALERT:

Please remember that we are closed all day for Anzac Day, Wednesday 25 April.

Amazing Vintage Finds

If you haven't been into our little shop for a while, you may not know that we have picked up some wonderful vintage items from Castlemaine and South Australia recently.

From trikes, to carts and a rocking horse, to wall clocks, fobs, industrial shelving and stencils, we are nicely stocked up (sorry, the lovely horse is now SOLD).

That being said, we brought into the store last evening two of the most beautifully preserved folding measuring staffs that I had ever seen. Made in England by the engineering company Holbro, their colour and patina is just gorgeous. And after today, we have only one left (some of our regular customers are just so wonderfully regular)!

This staff is a trifold, measuring 90cm in length, and is secured with a leather strap (each segment is around 30cm). It complements our stick of inches, yard sticks, dumpy level and surveyors measuring staffs (metal and wood) quite nicely too. POA.

Easter Trading

So you can plan your weekend, our Easter trading hours are as follows:

Thursday 5 April Open as usual, 10am-5pm

Good Friday 6 April Closed

Easter Saturday 7 April Closed

Easter Sunday 8 April Closed

Monday 9 & Tuesday 10 Closed

Wednesday 11 April Re-open as usual from 10am

Have a wonderful break with your family and loved ones and don't eat too many chocolates...(unless they are Haigh's, then its all ok!!).

The Little Veggie Patch Co.

As promised in our Summer newsletter, we now stock a variety of heirloom seeds from Melbourne based business, the Little Veggie Patch Co.

Beautifully packaged, the packets are artworks in themselves! Seed packets are priced at $4.50 each.

These heirloom seeds are directly descended from cultivars grown pre-1950s and are not used in large scale modern agricultural practices. So they look, and taste, like veggies used to.

We currently have the following seeds ready for planting right now:

• Carrot 'Baby Amsterdam'
• Lettuce 'Boston'
• Radish 'Cherry Belle' HURRY - VERY LIMITED STOCK
• Spinach 'Bloomsdale'
• Swiss Chard 'Rainbow'

Guides on the propagation and transplanting of each seed variety are provided at the following website:

http://littleveggiepatchco.com.au/products/heirloom-seeds-2/

the manufactory temporary closure

Dear customers

Thank you for your understanding during my brief period of illness. You may have been past recently and seen the 'sorry folks, the boss is ill' note that my husband kindly fixed to our front window.

Or, you may have been one of the few, who in my ill-attempted opening of the shop on Tuesday morning still purchased items despite my obvious illness! A special thank-you goes to those customers.

So, until I can speak again and not just grunt and point like an episode of 'Black Books', we will remain shut.

At this stage, I hope to re-open the shop this Friday and Saturday, from 10am. I cannot however guarantee that we will remain open until 5pm!

the manufactory at night

If you haven't been past our little shop at night, you've missed a treat. Last night we took this picture, dodging both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, so you too could enjoy the sight.

If you look closely, you may notice the amazing x-ray light box we have in stock (now SOLD). It's a vintage Stanford, made in Australia. Demi johns, terracotta pots, cloches and botanical offerings also fill out the workbench.

Our mailing list has now reached over 130, a great effort. Stay tuned for our Autumn newsletter, its nearly on it's way to you.

Please note: Our shop will be closed this weekend for the Labour Day holiday (Saturday 10 - Monday 12 March). We will re-open 10am Tuesday 13 March.

Steamscape Exhibition

Tonight we are off to Steamscape. It's the opening night of an exhibition that explores the steampunk movement through fashion, sculpture, design and more!

The exhibition is being housed in Post Industrial Design, a funky space in West Footscray. My husband, in his maduncle persona, will be exhibiting some of his work, along with many other artists.

If you're steamy-inclined, or if you just want to see what all the fuss is about steampunk, here's the link to the exhibition. It runs from 2-25 March:

http://postindustrialdesign.com.au/Content/2012/02/steamscape-exhibition/