Archive for category Home & Office

The Future

Vintage advertising

Who knew the future had such groovy faux-wood-paneling refrigerators? (Via Vintage Ad Browser.)

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Dark Side

Dark Side of the Moon carpet

A fantastic limited-edition carpet by Martin Mostboeck, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing; sadly I can’t seem to find it on the manufacturer’s website, so I couldn’t tell you what it costs or how to get one. Sure is neat, though! (Found via Curved White.)

Dark Side of the Moon carpet

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Moon Orbs

Moon orb lamps

These moon orb lamps are lovely to look at (and at the price, ouch! Look but don’t touch.)

Moon orb lamps

Moon orb lamps

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Stitchy Rocket

Rocket part of the Retro Toys series- 40/40cm Canvas picture by Chilidesigns on Etsy

A whimsical canvas picture — it looks stitched to me.

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Rocketship

Rocketship Print by leearthaus on Etsy

You DO realize the chubby, impossibly-pointy rocketship is going to be a… THING… here, from now on, don’t you?

A print I found on Etsy. I like the color scheme, but especially I like the texture of the piece — everything seems painted on rough wood, riveted or stamped, scarred and blackened with use. I like it.

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Kamenstein Rocket Kettle

Kamenstein Rocket Kettle

As much as I feel guilty drawing your attention to something so hard to find, I can’t help but mention the Kamenstein Motion Rocket Kettle, a tea kettle that alerts you when the water’s boiling by spinning rockets, spewing forth steam. It was made in 1999, and is sadly, painfully out of production and worth 5 to 10 times the initial selling price of $70. (Try $300-700, if you can find one. Big IF.)

Kamenstein Rocket Kettle

Where did I find this remarkable device, you ask? Alton Brown used one on his True Brew II episode of Good Eats, which I only saw two nights ago. AB, I love ya, but how dare you dangle a ROCKET tea kettle in front of my eyes, and then have it be discontinued?? I cry many tears.

Rocket, one of the models featured in Kamenstein’s Motion Kettles collection, is made of highly polished stainless steel and holds 2 1/2 quarts of water. Located at its top is a rotating ring powered by steam produced when water boils inside the pot. As the ring turns on its ball-bearing base, a pair of attached rockets circle the tea kettle. In addition to providing amusement, the kettle’s revolving rockets signal users that water is boiling.

Kamenstein Rocket Kettle

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My mug

Yesterday my good friend Etherbrian was at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center; upon my expressing mild envy at his location, he sent me this picture of coffee mugs bearing my name. I was so delighted that I (literally) leapt from my chair, grabbed my camera and ran to the kitchen to photograph *my* mug, circa 1994:

My US Space & Rocket Center mug

*sniff* This was my very, very first coffee mug. I bought it while there for Space Academy Level II, just before my junior year of high school. Which I suppose gives you a fair ballpark estimate of my age, oh well. That was a memorable eight days, and I’ve always treasured my mug. (The new ones are pretty too!)

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Atomic!

Photo by Found in Mom's Basement

This oddity comes to you courtesy of Found in Mom’s Basement, via Dark Roasted Blend. Even sewing needles benefit from atomic power, apparently!

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Space Art Master

Saturn As Seen From Titan (1944), by Chelsey Bonestell
Saturn As Seen From Titan (1944), © Chelsey Bonestell
Reproduced courtesy of Bonestell LLC

Give your eyes a treat today, check out the fantastic space art of Chelsey Bonestell (1888-1986.) Considered to be the father of modern space art, his treatments of architecture (particularly the Golden Gate Bridge) are just as tremendous. What a talented guy!

Seen above, Saturn As Seen From Titan (1944) is his most famous work, and is one of the most recognizable pieces of space art, period. Read and view a bit more about the painting’s development.

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The original Space Pen

Fisher Space Pen: Chrome Bullet with Space Shuttle

The first “official” space item I had to have when I was interning at Johnson Space Center was a space pen. I bought the one above in 1999, and still use it on occasion, since it’s so darn compact. (I think I need a new cartridge though.) It does indeed write at any angle, underwater, etc etc etc. I picked out a few other neat ones I saw from the website, for your perusal and possible Christmas shopping inspiration:

Fisher Space Pen: Rainbow Titanium Nitride Bullet Space Pen

It’s rainbow and awfully cool!

Fisher Space Pen: Black Grid Design Shuttle Space Pen

Neat grid pattern/texture on this one.

Fisher Space Pen: Astronaut Space Pen with Commemorative Moon Landing Engraving

Unfortunately, there’s no way to really tell what the commemorative moon landing engraving looks like. But it’s probably cool.

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