WHAT'S IN YOUR BACKYARD ?

Where do they all come from?

It started as a simple idea. I had sourced a heavy duty 25 ft. steel pole at the scrapyard. I worked out a design that I assumed would provide enough space to hang all the common suspensions on. The hundreds of glass and porcelain, large and small, that had been dragged home over the years. A few here, a few there, hundreds in little piles everywhere. Get them up off the ground and in the air where they belonged. That was a few years ago. The intention of the design was to hang all the glass discs at the top where they would get the sun and heavy porcelain at the bottom so the glazes were easier to see. By the time I rounded up just the glass discs I had strewn around the place, some 700 in all, the display was full. That effort graced the cover of the Dec 2016 issue of CJOW. http://www.modernpubsonline.com/Crown-Jewels/CrownJewelsDec2016/flash/resources/index.htm

There still remained the problem of what to do with all the common porcelain discs that I was unable to find room for in that display. I had discovered there were hundreds upon hundreds lying around covered with grass and weeds. Another pole was purchased and a different display was designed. A display, as it turned out, necessitating space for more than double the number in the glass display. A total of 1606 porcelain bells adorn this single 33 ft. pole. This pole also found the front cover of CJOW two years later, in the July 2018 issue. http://www.modernpubsonline.com/Crown-Jewels/CrownJewelsJuly2018/flash/resources/index.htm

The top is comprised of 16 strings totaling 60 double groove four inch OB porcelains in white plus 20 Lapp and Thomas adding some colour . Below that there are 80 six inch discs. These are a mix of white OB and brown CP connected in 16 strings. From that point on down there are 1446 ten inch discs, some 40 strings in total. The shortest of these strings is 14 discs while the longest is 48. Except for 100 grey discs from Zack that I used to trim around the bottom of each string, all were locally sourced . About 1/3 of these are pre 1940 Canadian Porcelain in a wide assortment of colours and wild glazes, 1/3 Ohio Brass with 1918 dated caps in crazy glazes, and 1/3 a general mix of more recent production.

If I was to start this project and do over, there would be no less than 14 design changes. But, if I was to go back further, say to the beginning of collecting and start over, I wouldn't bring all these home in the first place.