Funky Plastics Designs To Remember

Funky Plastic Tulip Coasters at RetroChalet on Etsy.

FUNKY DESIGN. 

Perhaps the best part about plastics is the fact that in the past, manufacturers really went all out on trying to have the best, craziest , newest ideas, and in some cases, overall funky design.  Needless to say, some items were loved by the public and some were a huge flop. Over the top plastic designs are now either coveted into museums for design or used by collectors who want that retro home. Here are a few of the tackiest finds from the past. It's amazing some of these items featured here today even survived. Most makes you wonder, what were they thinking?  

The funky coasters above, surely fit snug on the bottom of a can, but are meant to be some form of coaster for tables. They are hard plastic and brittle feeling, it's amazing these tulip like art forms survived today!
 

Funky Plastic Purse from SequinKittenVintage on Etsy

CHEAPLY CHIC. 

Funky plastic purses are still a hit. Most  a sure remembered novelty of the past.  Lucite is big among collectors, but for those who can't afford those high end designs, could settle for a funkified retro purse like these.  Many produced in Hong Kong, Taiwan and even China, provided kids a fun dress up purse at a low cost. These were big as toys in the 60's through the 80's.  Today these would be hazard to children due to the tiny plastic  "dots" which were often glued on!

Vintage Pickle offers these fun plastic drapes !

CRAZY LAZY. 

Some things just make you wonder what was the designer or company thinking? Ever wonder how retro diva's of the 60's stayed dressed so nice? Because obviously this was a short cut to having to clean and launder their curtains, go with plastic and wipe 'em off. This item was either coveted among housewives who never gave up the secret to being nifty; or flopped horribly. Either way, it's amazing that this Etsy seller has found a set unused in the original package!

Stonesoupology on Etsy has this great lime lucite trivet for sale!

LOVE OR HATE?

The designs of yesterday were either loved or hated. I personally LOVE these sliced lemons, limes, and orange trivets you see made of lucite. They are getting harder to find and made of lucite encassing tiny plastic particles on the inside. They look eerily real and can really dress up a vintage kitchen.  I'm sure when these came out, housewives either adored or hated them. There is no in between.

Find this cool Plastic Kleenex holder at Etsy shop MEZZOATTREZZO

WORK OF ART OR BETTER LEFT IN THE PAST?

Quite possibly the finishing touch in the bathroom makes for this vintage Syrocco plastic gaudy kleenex holder. You know, because back the plastic Kleenex holders were a must have to hold your hankies.  Today, looking at this gaudy molded objects makes you wonder, is it a design relic or quite honestly should be left in the past? That's for you to decide!

What was your favorite tacky design growing up? Tell me!

Celebration Time!

THANK YOU FOR OVER 226,000 views here on Melmac Central. When I first started this blog it was simply because of a love of plastic, and something to pass the time. Over the past two and a half years, I've tried to update it with helpful free information about the plastics from your granny's house.  I'm glad you are reading it.  Although I use RetroChalet.blogpsot.com, the website Melmac Central does cost money, and for that I'm thankful to my ever so grateful sponsors! Make sure to visit them all, because without them you wouldn't be reading all of this for free!

Melmac Dinnerware Memories and Plastic Candy Molds

Hey, that's me and the old Texasware Bowl my mom and I used when cooking and baking. I still use it today.

Since the inception of this blog, I have received all kinds of wonderful letters and emails about fond memories of melmac dishes, melamine dinnerware, or plastic items used that produce memories. Lots of kind emails thanking me for my blog. Unfortunately for me,  December 15th will mark two years without my mother. I'm okay now, I still have the memories, and I still have the melmac bowls. You see, I come from an Italian family and most of our quality time was spent in our kitchen, cooking.

I had several kind letters from Joan Luntz's daugther. In case you don't know, she was the designer of Brookpark and married to the President of International Molding.  After that I heard from her granddaughter. They were actually looking to buy some of the dinnerware that Joan designed.  I'm glad I could help preserve some of the wonderful memories of Joan's creations under the Brookpark sections.  Famous parents or not, we all have moms and grandmoms and we all have our memories.

Here's a few ways Melmac has made memories:

These rainboware dishes are the Canadian version of Meladur. They are for sale at Artmyth.etsy.com

"Rainbow Ware Melmac was made in Buckingham Quebec, Canada - Ironically this is where I was born, my father told me stories about the factory, and knew people who worked there. "  - Kerry, Owner of ArtMyth on Etsy. 

This Brookpark turkey melamine platter is HUGE. Buy it at PeacenLuv72.etsy.com

"I still use my Grandma's and it gets used for EVERY Thanksgiving!!!"  Talking about her Brookpark Turkey Platter- Joanie Hinds-Wagner of Vintage Variables on Etsy

Set of 10 of these olive green cups available at AuburnArtisan.etsy.com

"Dear Cindy,
My grandmother had the ugliest olive dishes by TexasWare or Allied Chemical, I wasn't sure, but  I remember eating off them as a kid. I always hated those dishes. I read your blog all the time. Can you believe I went out and assembled a set of those ugly dishes. My kids and I eat lunch on them, and I smile because they remind me of her.   - Theresa Powers , California "

Maplex Melmac available at LarchTradingCompany.etsy.com

"To be honest I hated working in the factory when I was younger. I took it over to help my Father later in life. It stank and the workers had to take salt pills because it was so hot in there. The smell, (of the chemicals in) the melmac dishes you could never quite duplicate. " - Paul Rothstein, Last Owner of Maple Leaf Plastics, Inc

Mom's Bowl: In case you want a bowl like the one Mom and I used, check out this great item from Zenhetty at Etsy (above) for $30. Melmac bowls are functional, useful, and great for cooking. This post is dedicated to my Mom.  She loved to cook, make Italian Meatballs (her meatball recipe here) and believe it or not, was a plastic junkie in her own right.

I never really thought about it, but she had tons and tons of plastic n the form of chocolate and candy molds! Mom would make her own candy.  Sinful Chocolates (a parody of her name Cynthia) was found in the local stores in Danforth, Maine. Do you find it ironic that the love for plastic continues on with me?

Memory Sign, to use at weddings by LimitedLane.etsy.com

What is your favorite melmac dinnerware or plastic memory? Do you remember your grandfather tinkering with his old Plaskon radio? Did your grandmom wear the gaudiest bakelite jewelry?  Please share your memories with me and I may post them!  Submit your Melmac Memories to me via Etsy or TikTok or Instagram.  Oh, and go hug your mom, NOW.

No Need for Plastic Knobs Concrete is Here

Are Fantastic Plastic Cabinet Knobs Soon to Be a Thing of the Past? Find these at Peleda.etsy.com

I often sit writing this blog on plastics, melmac dinnerware and everything vintage and sweet plastic fantastic I am often plaqued and find myself in a Catch -22.  My primary goal is to create a likeness for all-things-vintage-plastic and to find a use for them, to keep them out of the landfill and in reuse as a method of living greener.  The flip side of course is that I'm actually a huge environmentalist who thinks one plastics blog is not enough! Although I do my part to try to reuse the vintage plastic in my home, in my life, and in my art, there's just too much new flooding the market out there.  There's just so much of it that even if somewhere were to write a blog 100 years from now and put the love back into old television remotes, our landfills would still be a mess.

I still can't believe this is made of concrete, find them at KastConcrete.com

Now imagine my surprise when I found Greg Hensey out of Alabama out of his Kast Concrete Decor Etsy Shop  has decided to go up against plastic one small knob at a time. He's taken something that we normally don't think of as being able to be "dainty". When I think concrete I think of my uncle, a stone mason, who pours basements and steps, and walls, I never see the tiny details that Greg has managed to encompass in a single, teeny, tiny knob. How could he make it so gorgeous in design when in fact it's made of concrete?  It is true now after seeing this I fear for the lives of plastic knobs.  Will they soon be defunct because of Greg's gorgeous designs?

On Etsy you can find these knobs at KastConcreteDesign.etsy.com

 
I suppose I should back up first.  Originally pre and during World War One plastics plants were molding everything from telephone handsets to plastic knobs. Mainly in the beginning everything was brown or butterscotch.

Brown vintage radio and tv knobs available at carriesattic.etsy.com

This old butterscotch bakelite knob has held up quite well. It goes on your car, find it at RelicsAntiques.etsy.com

These knobs went to everything and anything you could think of from car radios, to televisions to airplane controls. Some kitchen cabinet or furniture drawer knobs originally dating back to 1930's to 1940's were made of bakelite. Often becoming brittle and disintegrating over time, they were hard to repair or find replacements and the colors were limited until the late 1940's when Bakelite began introducing more colors--moving into stronger plastics production and the cool 1950's colorful era of knobs. Most radios still had clear knobs for instance if you bought a pink radio, sometimes the plastic knobs were clear and not pink, but in the rare case of this 1950's model (below), you would have the best red knobs yet:

BigRiverMercantile on Etsy has this great 1951 radio just waiting for you.

Over time the strength of the plastic improved but still, most kitchens upgraded to polished metal by the 1950's (although stove knobs were a mix of plastic and metal) Keep in mind those metal knobs would dull or show rust over time, so moving into the 1960s-1990's harder resin plastics and wood became more and more acceptable in the kitchen.   Now, if you are wondering, just where did all those gazillions of  old plastic knobs go?

Stores like CaityAshBadashery on Etsy sell old plastic knobs to artists to make things.

They are floating around in vintage shops on Etsy it seems. We hope that the artists come and save the day.  Old dirty plastic knobs pulled from radios, televisions, air conditioners or stoves end up in use for artist sculptures thanks to assemblage and mixed media art.  Wouldn't it be better however in the future if all knobs were made of concrete? Then perhaps one day, if you happened to walk in a landfill, you'd find a pile of stone rubble next to a pile of cracked up plastic and know just what was what.

Enter the Roxanne Knob. Oh yeah. Only $8 each at KastConcreteDecor on Etsy.com

Wow. R.I.P. little plastic knobs. It was nice knowing you.

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This post was sponsored by Antiques and Collectibles HQ.   This is a great site featuring valuable information on antiques and collectibles. If you love antiques and retro items as much as I do, make sure to visit them.  They keep me writing about things I love, which are of course, all things retro.

In the meantime, listen to the retro redhead!

Wine Club Fantastic Not Plastic

These plastic vintage wine toppers were found on Ebay at CircleCityTradingCompany

It's time for me to stop talking about plastic fantastic and sincerely thank one of my sponsors, Celebrations Wine Club.  They offer California wines, Italian wines, white wines, or red wines delivered monthly. Not only is this a wonderful gift idea for someone else, but it's a must have for my household.    The  white wine club is a favorite of many friends.  For myself and my family, I'm Italian and I love to try different Italian wines.

Resin wine charms on Etsy at shop telstad0014

As for the Italian Wine Club.  They have several levels of membership, but here is what they have to say, "Our Italian wine clubs-of-the-month will take you to the sunny hill towns of Italy, whose delicious wines from family-owned wineries embody the history and culture of the fertile Italian pininsula. From Piemonte, you will taste noble Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, and Dolcetto. From Veneto, you will drink famed Amarone and Valpolicella. From Toscana, you will taste Brunello, Chianti, and Vino Nobile, and from Umbria the highly prized Sagrantino. You will also taste the ancient wines of Southern Italy that today inspire the same admiration that they did in ancient times, wines like Aglianico and Nero d'Avola."

Sounds great don't you think?  What are you waiting for? Check their wine club out.  Pour a nice glass of wine and read up on Fantastic Vintage Plastic here at Melmac Central!  Make sure to visit them, they keep me writing about plastic fantastic!