Vintage Monday: Marushka

I am so behind on blog posts! I have plenty of pictures and crafty little things to share but unfortunately my laziness/perfectionism gets in the way. That and sick little puppy dogs and pleasant company from Chicago! But more on that later...

Today my vintage find is a great fabric stretched canvas by Marushka: a design and silk screen textile manufacturing company based in Spring Lake, Michigan. They began making their iconic and affordable silk screen prints in 1972. This particular one is stamped in 1986 so at 24 years old it's not technically vintage yet but we'll let it slide for once. Speaking of which, I am turning vintage this year. Interesting.

At first glance, I see snow capped mountains, but upon further inspection, a white bird emerges, much to the delight of my inner crazy bird lady.



This was a find at the Citywide Garage sale and the result of some rather strange bargaining. A quick side note about bargaining--it goes against my nature to haggle because I get too flustered and embarrassed. Usually I just mumble "I'll take it" and that's that. However lately I've been trying to at least ask respectfully in hopes of a pleasant exchange. I will never truly enjoy it, but I do like the discounts! In my experience, sellers are usually willing to go for 10% off at the least so that's been encouraging.

In this case, it went somewhat like this:

Me: "How much is this?" (points at Marushka canvas)
Seller: "$45"
Me: "Is this your best price?" (I'm told that this is *always* how you should phrase it)
Seller: "I could do $25"
Me: (jumping up and down in glee inside my head) "Oh great, I'll take..."
Seller: "Just give me $15, no tax, if you take it right now"
Me: "Uhhh, ok, here." (hands over money, grubby hands on canvas, quick exit)

Now I think back and wonder just why she was so eager to sell the canvas at that very moment. Maybe those were her selling tactics, maybe I have a black market Marushka on my hands, but whatever the reason, I'm chalking this up as a bargaining success and am ready for the next negotiation!

Side note: Link is doing much better now and Kirby celebrated his first birthday this past weekend! Here they are sunning themselves by the balcony door.