White Light Productions' Glass Jewelry; The Ultimate Baseball Cap Resource
Still, I have to admit that the glass Coca-Cola bottles the bodegas truck in from the black market every summer make a perfect accessory for a sundress or for wandering around in the afternoon in a vintage playsuit. That's why I was delighted to find Carol Hall of White Light Productions, who not only makes beautiful bracelets from Coke bottles but who has a whole line of jewelry made from colorful bits of polished glass?what we used to call beach glass.
The Coca-Cola bracelet is fashioned in two pieces and rests on your arm like a cuff. There's no mistaking its origins. I am quite fond of mine, and it has only gotten better with age. Some of Hall's other creations include bracelets made from shards of blue Mason jars and charm(ing) bracelets with pieces of unique glass and little silver charms of sea or woodland creatures, insects or fall leaves. She also makes matching earrings, necklaces, barrettes, pins and keychains.
I recently read a story in Martha Stewart Living about a woman who makes similar jewelry, only she's an Artist who obsessively combs a lonely stretch of beach in Maine, perhaps some days finding just one piece of sea glass, but it's absolutely perfect and it came from a whiskey bottle thrown into the ocean by an itinerant lobster fisherman who died of cholera and was distantly related to this woman's grandfather, which makes it practically an heirloom and?
So Carol and her husband Mark (who runs the business with her) break their own glass and polish it, so what? I rather like the idea of them merrily breaking cups and saucers in the kitchen with their daughter Rowan, or scouring the junkyards. In fact, when clumsy tourists crash into the crockery shelves in the local antique stores, the owners call Carol to come pick up the pieces, thereby recycling shattered treasures. All her pieces have a sense of history, even if they are created from things as ordinary as beer bottles or pickle jars.
Her line of baubles is sold at the American Craft Museum and the Museum of American Folk Art. You can also check out her website for more information on store locations, or to place an order.
Mary Karam
Classic Baseball Caps
Still, even the most jaded capophile can't help but be impressed by the Cooperstown Ball Cap Co., which carries high-quality reproductions of hundreds of classic cap designs. In addition to the above-mentioned styles, they've got a century's worth of old-school caps from semipro teams, amateur teams, the Cuban, Mexican and Japanese leagues, women's leagues, obscure Native American leagues from the 1920s?the list is endless. You want an Eau Claire Bears cap from 1952? They've got it. The Vancouver Mounties? You've got your choice of two models?one from 1956, one from 1960. There are even caps from the old armed forces leagues. All in all, it's about as encyclopedic a selection as any baseball geek could hope to find.
The caps themselves are sturdy wool-flannel jobs, which makes them perfect for the autumn chill. All of them come in exact hat sizes?none of that adjusta-strap shit. At $44 per, they're not cheap, but the workmanship is top-shelf all the way, and every cap comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
Cooperstown Ball Cap offers two ways to shop. The firm's catalog is great for browsing?you're bound to stumble across lots of great caps you didn't even know you wanted. And if you're looking for something in particular, check out the company's website, where you can search for caps by team name, team location and league. The website also has a half-price bargain section, featuring caps that were returned because they didn't fit their original purchasers just so. It's fun to get lost hunting through the sea of cool choices, but don't overlook Cooperstown Ball Cap's gift potential: if you need a quick birthday present for your friend in Chattanooga, what could be cooler than a 1911 Chattanooga Lookouts cap?
Paul Lukas