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Wicker, wicker, wicker questions


rodentraiser

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Tell me what you know about wicker. Pretty please?

I just fell into a bunch of wicker - miniature wicker pieces. Some of them are pretty dirty and I can't tell if the paint on them has just rubbed off or if they really need a good cleaning. Sooooo....how does one go about cleaning wicker pieces?

By the way, what I know about miniature wicker wouldn't fill the free money bag of a banker. The seller told me the wicker was actually wire, so naturally I was thinking it was the common white wire wicker imitation that we see on eBay. Well, this is definitely not the hard white wire, but a bendable wire almost like the flower stems in floral shops are, but not nearly as thick. In other words, the legs that were sort of bent can be bent back again, and the wicker part looks like a waxy string. Can anyone tell me if there are different grades of "wicker" made in miniatures? I'm guessing this is old stock. Some of the pieces look almost amateurish compared to Uncle Ciggies, but then, wicker costing what it does, I've never really looked at any wicker up close before. I always figured if I can't afford it, why look at it (this line of thinking never applied to dollhouses, though)? So some of the wicker is also really pretty, to my eyes. But only a couple of them have seat cushions.

Anyway, after I've sorted it all out, I may put some of it on eBay at $5 apiece and see what happens, although that's not definite. I'm seriously thinking of making a mini wicker shop first. LOL But first I need to know if there even is a market for the sort of cheaper wicker and how I would clean it to sell it. I mean, I really don't want to sell someone dirty wicker.

I took pictures, but my phone won't connect to my computer. Apparently I need a disk of some kind. *grumble, grumble*

 

 

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3 hours ago, rodentraiser said:

 

Tell me what you know about wicker. Pretty please?

I just fell into a bunch of wicker - miniature wicker pieces. Some of them are pretty dirty and I can't tell if the paint on them has just rubbed off or if they really need a good cleaning. Sooooo....how does one go about cleaning wicker pieces?

By the way, what I know about miniature wicker wouldn't fill the free money bag of a banker. The seller told me the wicker was actually wire, so naturally I was thinking it was the common white wire wicker imitation that we see on eBay. Well, this is definitely not the hard white wire, but a bendable wire almost like the flower stems in floral shops are, but not nearly as thick. In other words, the legs that were sort of bent can be bent back again, and the wicker part looks like a waxy string. Can anyone tell me if there are different grades of "wicker" made in miniatures? I'm guessing this is old stock. Some of the pieces look almost amateurish compared to Uncle Ciggies, but then, wicker costing what it does, I've never really looked at any wicker up close before. I always figured if I can't afford it, why look at it (this line of thinking never applied to dollhouses, though)? So some of the wicker is also really pretty, to my eyes. But only a couple of them have seat cushions.

Anyway, after I've sorted it all out, I may put some of it on eBay at $5 apiece and see what happens, although that's not definite. I'm seriously thinking of making a mini wicker shop first. LOL But first I need to know if there even is a market for the sort of cheaper wicker and how I would clean it to sell it. I mean, I really don't want to sell someone dirty wicker.

I took pictures, but my phone won't connect to my computer. Apparently I need a disk of some kind. *grumble, grumble*

 

 

Maybe they are made with dollhouse electrical wire. Therefore explaining the waxing coating.

i load my pictures directly from my phone. 

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No, I know what that feels like. It's definitely not that. Lisa thought it might be something called quilting string? Am I repeating that correctly?

I tried loading the pictures from my phone, but the "Wizard" opens up and says it needs a disk (disc?). And the program won't go any further than that.

 

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Kelly, you might choose one of the less interesting small pieces and experiment. I'd try using an artists's bristle brush to remove the dust and then perhaps a damp sponge wiped over it. If all else fails, you could spray paint it. My mother painted our real life wicker porch furniture when it started looking shabby or she had a notion to redecorate.

Haven't a clue as to how to go about marketing or pricing it on eBay.  I have some wicker pieces that I won from Casey (caseymini) a while back that are waiting patiently to be made into a garden patio room box when I feel like making a lot of flowers. Although they are perfectly to scale, the wicker seems to overpower rooms indoors.

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Thank you, Kathie and Aggie (do you like to be called Aggie or Agnes?). Lisa suggested the same thing about taking one of the worst items and experimenting on it.

Lisa got to see it all this morning and she thought I should paint them, too. Howsomever.......I will clean them because I don't like to sell something that's dirty, but these could be painted in so many colors. I'm a little reluctant to paint something that someone else may want in another color. Some of the pieces are painted now, but most of them are white or off white. Most of them are also missing their seat cushions. So I think I'd be targeting a do-it-yourself group of people to sell to. If you are going to make seat cushions, then you may as well get a white chair and paint it the color you want to match the cushions.

Besides, I think there are 2 chaise lounges, 5 sofas, 4 porch swings, and about 30 chairs, and a partridge in a pear treeeeee. Cleaning them, let alone listing them, is going to take forever. I really hate listing stuff on eBay and the thought of painting all that wicker makes me tired. And that's not to mention a couple of tables, 2 hampers, and some plant stands and foot stools. So I think I will clean what I can and then sell what's left over and what doesn't sell will go into the Wicker Store (new roombox project coming up!). I originally got 75 pieces, am keeping 14, had to twist Lisa's arm to take a couple, and what's left is still too much to deal with.

Lisa took some pics of the whole thing, so I'll be posting those and taking down the eBay ones above.

Whoops! Lisa just sent the pics. I'll post them here:

I actually got a catalog with a price list along with the pieces:

wicker1.jpg.fab25018d39866b6ad8d7833d813

 

Here's a couple of the chairs:

wicker2.jpg.848222b51aee9c832b1d3f063d93

 

Here's one of what could be a set, but I haven't decided if I would sell it as a set yet.

wicker3.jpg.8cd403235abe9b4f4d8f1c5b9b4f

 

 

And here's a pic of the whole bunch, minus what Lisa is keeping and the - ahem - now 16 pieces I have already taken out to keep:

wicker4.jpg.8edbc521deb8551cf7bc1912e7e0

I  have now effectively furnished both my sunroom and my sleeping porch, and put a wicker chair in each bedroom, plus put a table set out on the porch.

But you can see how dirty they are. I would really like to make them at least look better, so Kathie and Aggie, I'm going to try your suggestions and see what happens.

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14 hours ago, KathieB said:

. Although they are perfectly to scale, the wicker seems to overpower rooms indoors.

I was just telling Lisa this morning, when I got that imitation leather sofa/loveseat/chair set, it just overwhelmed the room - and I have a fairly large living room. The sofa is 7" long, but it just seemed so huge. Then one day I got an idea and took off the bun feet. WHAM! That furniture went back into scale so fast it was astonishing. I think taking off the bun feet lowered all three pieces by 1/2" and it sure did make a huge difference in how it looks in the room.

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12 hours ago, rodentraiser said:

I'm a little reluctant to paint something that someone else may want in another color. Some of the pieces are painted now, but most of them are white or off white.

Since many are dirty white already, spray them  clean white. The new owner can paint them another color if he or she wants to change them up. The darker colors I'd clean but not spray. Some folks like a natural look to wicker.

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Cheryl, Cynthia, and everyone else, a couple pieces have already been spoken for, so let me get up and get dressed, go to the store and get batteries for my camera and see if it will take pics, and then I will bring up the box which is still in the car. I'll make a list of what's available and try to get pics of each individual item. For instance, I have 12 of the white chairs, but they're all individually made and they look like it - trying to match them is a pain in the patootie. At least if I have pictures up on the community trading post, you can see exactly what they all look like.

I had no idea they would generate this much interest. I'm sorry everyone, I was totally not prepared for this. So give me a couple hours and hopefully pics will be up by tonight.

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OK, let me put this all up to as a vote. Would you like me to sell the pieces first come first served, or would you rather take your chances on eBay? On eBay, I think everyone would have an equal chance (they won't go for that much), but I know some people don't have eBay accounts. On the other hand, if I sell the pieces as first come, first served, there's really not going to be a lot left for the last person. So how do you all feel about this? I will wait until tomorrow evening before I make a decision. How does that sound?

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I think the ebay way would be the fairest......for those who don't buy on ebay, its not hard to sign up to buy on ebay. you dont even have to have a paypal acct, just a credit or debit card. anyway, I kind of think that is the fairest way for you and us.  As much demand as you see on here, they should go good on ebay I cant say for sure though. But list them under Dollhouse Miniatures- Artist Offerings and maybe OOAK if each one is made by hand. >? This way no one can say someone had a better chance lol. everyone has the same chance and if outbid well they are just worth more than the person decided to pay. just my honest opinion. 

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Kelly, since you told us about your treasure trove of wicker, I think it would be nice if you were to let the members here have first crack at them. I suggest you post them here in the Community Trading Post forum, let our members buy what they want, and then list the remainder on eBay. I think it's pointless to worry about somebody who may be last in line. No matter what the circumstances, there will always be somebody last in line. 

Think of it as a garage sale: first come, first served. The fact that you can give fellow members an "early bird" chance to purchase, now that you've whetted their appetites, seems perfectly fair to me in the world of garage sales and an expression of loyalty to our group members. If you announce the date that your Album will be made public several days in advance, then active, interested members here will have an equal chance to get in the virtual line, eh?  Set a deadline, maybe a week beyond the date that the album becomes public, and let members PM you with an offer of how much they'd be willing to pay -- like negotiating at a garage sale. :)  

(I'm assuming you'll post individual photos in your Gallery and give each item a unique number for identification.)

Collect the PMs for an amount of time that you set when you make the album public, maybe a few days or a week, and then shut down the garage sale. No more offers accepted. Shut down the forum Gallery devoted to the wicker photos. 

Then respond to the PMs with one of two answers: "Sorry, you were outbid." or "Congratulations! Here is my address to send payment for your wicker plus $xx amount for postage via check or PayPal." (Two or more bids for the same amount would go to the first bid received.)

Then list the remainder on eBay and post a link to your eBay account in the Community Trading Post thread so any members who missed out on the garage sale can bid on line if they so choose.

I do think that to force a member who does not currently use eBay to have to join in order to order might be considered unfair to your fellow members. Also, in my not-so-humble opinion, I don't believe these wicker pieces, nice as they are, are wonderful enough to create bidding wars that will increase their sale price dramatically. They are unsigned, worn ...  even repainted, they're not museum pieces. As Cheryl points out, there's no telling what they might bring on eBay, maybe less than what a member might offer, maybe more, but still ... consider that you did get them for free. Any amount of money you get for them is gravy, yes?

Just my early morning thoughts. However you do this, you will be making a lot of people happy. Good luck with your project!

P.S. Continue posting anything related in this thread, so folks interested can easily keep up with how you decide to handle this.

 

 

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Thanks for the input, everyone. Personally, I'm leaning towards selling them here to members. But it would be first come, first served. Kathie, I have so many irons in the fire right now that taking bids here isn't really an option. Plus I'm not sure it's really - what's the word - ethical? to have an auction of my own on the Greenleaf site. If it was my site, I don't think I would like it.

I didn't get these for free and I'm really not aching all over to make as much as I can for them. I MAY get more per piece on eBay, but for me, the hassle of listing them and posting them them on eBay overwhelms any extra money I may get. Plus I don't have a checking account, so I use one of those money shops whenever I need to cash a check or get a MO. They charge a small fortune to cash a check or MO, so I'd be losing money that way as well if the buyer doesn't have or doesn't want to use Paypal.

One of the reasons I wanted to post about my find here was I was hoping someone would take a bunch of them so I wouldn't have to list them on Ebay. I love buying on eBay, I hate selling there. I sure like your analogy to a garage sale though. That makes me feel a lot better about offering them here.

And I, um, realized last night that yes, I would have to figure out a way to match pieces to photos. I managed to take photos of all the pieces, but then as I did, I put all the pieces back in the box and and when I finished, I realized I had mixed them all up again. Some weren't hard to figure out, but I think it'll be easier to take some pics all over again then to sit and try to match them up. And yes, I'm the kind of person who puts the peanut butter in the fridge without thinking. That's why there's no pictures yet. Peanut butter, either.

Here's what I will do, though. Once I have the pictures taken (AGAIN! - sheesh), I will PM the person who is next in line and send all the pics of the pieces that haven't been sold to that person. I was thinking 48 hours per person for the list before I pass it on to someone else. How does that sound? That way no one will get their hopes up and will be able to see exactly what is still available. Should I limit the number of pieces to be sold to each person? I'm thinking no, but again, it depends on how you feel about that. If someone is interested in seeing the pieces close up, please PM me and I will go in order of the time that the PM was received. If you like what you see, you can select a piece to buy or just pass on them.The only people who will know what number they are in line is the person who gets the pictures.

And I should also add, that once you buy a piece, it's your piece. If you yourself want to put it on eBay and sell it or sell it to someone else here, I have no problem with that. You won't hurt my feelings. The box was advertized as having over 40 pieces and mainly I just bought it so I could have wicker of my own. I had no idea how many actual pieces there were till I got them home and counted them. My first thought was "YIPPEE", followed by "Oh, ****, now what do I do with all these?"

So now I'm just waiting for a couple hours for the sun to come into my room and I'll retake a bunch of pictures. Meantime, I'm going to go mark the pieces, probably with a pencil mark on the underneath.

How do I get myself into these things, anyway? :dunno:

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Why am I always a day late and a dollar short? I didn't even think of that, Kathie. And now all the pieces are numbered on the bottom....with a pencil. *headdesk*

OK, everyone, the list is all typed up with numbers,descriptions, and prices. Just one little hitch. When I went to plug in my camera to the computer, I found the cord was missing. I hope like h*** I haven't thrown it out, seeing as how I thought I could take pics with my phone. But I've turned my place upside down and can't find it. In addition, I don't have too much storage here, so there's not that many places to put things. And i Just cleaned my room from top to bottom for the room inspection last week. So I think it's gone.

What I'm trying to say in my round-a-bout way is that there will be a short delay while the cook kills the dinner. I'm going to have to go to Radio Shack tomorrow and look for a new cord. And just pray there is one that fits, because my camera is so old it's almost 2" wide. If I can't find one, I have to buy a new camera, which I may not be able to do right now.

Bear with me.

One more thing. I will probably not be cleaning these pieces like I had hoped to do. Timewise, I just can't do it, IF you want your wicker before next Christmas, that is. I tried cleaning one of mine and after about 20 minutes, I still hadn't gotten it as clean as I would have liked. My solution is to try putting Bar Keeper's Friend on it or just taking it outside and turning the hose on it. And I don't feel comfortable enough doing that to pieces someone else may have bought. I hope you all understand.

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put me in line. Will buy at least 4 pieces, or more and will pay right then with PayPal. Thanks Kelly! I want those 3 pieces in the single photo you said was sort of like a set if it's still available. If not will buy whatever is next if a chair, couch, or chaise. .......don't worry about any cleaning I will buy as is

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UPDATE:

I finally have a working camera AND I finally got photos uploaded to my computer. That's the good news. The bad news is I still have to photo about 10 pieces and do a few others over, because they came out blurry. Unfortunately, today got so hot that at about 4:30 pm, I had to stop and put the sun screen up, which basically turns my room into a mausoleum or a funeral home, take your pick. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler and I don't have to go anywhere, so I should be able to finish up then.

Today was so fun - I had to drive to Radio Shack to get the cord for my camera and when I got there, discovered I had forgotten my purse. Had to drive back to get that and start all over. Then I forgot to pick up a book from the library on the way back and had to make two full revolutions of our little city, as all we have are one way streets (well, not all, it just feels like it) - none of which ever go the direction you want when you want. Finally, I got all nice and comfortable (which means I stripped down as much as possible), got the first shot set up, and realized I left the cord I bought at Radio Shack in my car. Had to get dressed, go back down and get it, and set up again. It was that kind of a day

I think I've PMd everyone who wanted to buy wicker, but just to clarify what we're doing for anyone else who wants to get in on this....I have a list of all the items and their descriptions typed up now, and when I take the last of the pictures, I'm going to upload them to Photobucket and then copy them into the list (I may do most of that this evening). That way I should only have to send one PM per person (although it will be a loooog PM). I'm asking each person to please make their decisions on what to get within 48 hours, if possible. There are now 5 people in line according to when they contacted me.

I will send a full list to the first person in line and when they've chosen what they want, I will delete those items from the list and then send the list to the second person in line, and so on. Whatever's left over I may put on eBay or keep to make a wicker store or I may just post what's left of the list on the Community Trading Post. There are 54 items on the list to sell, from chairs and sofas to grungy little footstools. The price I mentioned in my first post here is what the bigger items will go for, less for things like tables.

So give me one more day and by tomorrow afternoon I should be able to tell everyone the list has been sent to the first person in line. Yee-hah!

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