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If you are looking to see how much your melmac is worth, you can read this post. I am sorry that I cannot answer all of your questions - but if you look hard enough on this blog, I think you will find most of your questions answered.
One of my oldest childhood memories was going over my Great Grandmother's house. At one time there were four generations of us women, and I was so thankful for that. Amelia Clay lived on Chesterfield Avenue in Baltimore and back in the day, that neighborhood was pricey and well to do. Her home was majestic, stone with giant columns and a 1920's blue art deco waterfall bedroom suite. I remember a door on a porch at the top of her house where you could walk out on a balcony and overlook Herring Run. Turn your head to the left and maybe catch a glimpse of Lake Montebello. Technically they called this the Mayfield Area.
Here it is today in the 21213 neighborhood, I suppose it is exactly as I remember it?
Her kitchen gorgeously tiled from top to bottom and adorned in vintage 40's plastics even though by then, it was the 1970's. I remember her making homemade noodles and soups and her old Lux timer going off. She was always cooking. I only had good memories there. She passed in the late 1980's and her home was sold to two people from New York who just adored it. Not sure if they ever found her secret compartments in the basement....
OldandNewBoutique offers this trivet, sort of like the souvenir ones my Great Grandmother had!
I do not know about why it was I remembered most the acrylic or resin trinkets and trivets in her office area. They were much likes the ones you see on this page, inlaid shiny seashells of abalone and shards of shiny this or sparkly that in resin or acrylic round shapes. Momentos of her many visits to Atlantic City, she really loved that place.
SurrenderDorothy has a trivet with the original tag still in place!
I was never certain as to why these trivets were on her desk and not in her kitchen. I thought these were all odd adornments on her covered porch, but they sparkled on her desk in the sun that was streaming thru the windows. Perhaps while doing her bills and paperwork she loved looking up at all the fun and sparkly plastics surrounding her.
The living room was done in vintage antiques and everything covered in clear plastic. I remember sitting on the old couch and hated hearing the crinkle of the plastic. I always wondered how she had that plastic fit perfectly on that counch? Runners of plastic and tiny plastic grippers were all over the floor and lined the steps. It's funny how memories like that , or experiences you have when you are little, make you love the things you do today. ♥
Do you have a speical memory of plastics that you want to share? Email me the story!
A glass alternative, in plastic, this mod lamp available at TheVintageSupplyCo
So let's talk Plexiglas, certainly a material we take for granted. It's often used as a real alternative to glass, fronting the face of shelving, cabinets, or displays. Lamps, bracelets, presentation bowls, and cheesy 10th grade industrial shop do-it-yourself school projects.
The real name for it, and definition according to Wikipedia, is as follows:
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). This is a transparentthermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. The material was developed in 1928 in various laboratories, and was first brought to market in 1933 by Rohm and Haas Company, under the trademark Plexiglas.[4] It has since been sold under many different names including Lucite and Perspex.
Oronkol's Boutique on Etsy uses Laser Cut Plexiglas in their Necklaces.
Some of my Plexiglas Color Samples.
Rohm and Haas, which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company, originally started their business in 1906 in Germany. In 1909 a US company was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The "Resinous Products Company" was started in 1927--perhaps when they started dabbling in synthetic resins. In 1933, Otto Rohm discovers Plexiglas in Germany. Meanwhile, business partner Otto Haas builds an acrylic lab in the US in Bristol. Plexiglas is used widely in the 1930's, and saluted during the World War. It is a stronger alternative to glass, and was here to stay! Enjoy watching these wonderful videos courtesy of the Prelinger Archives which show just how far Plexiglas has come.
