Vintage Porcelain Glove Molds GET Melmac

Vintage Porcelain Glove Mold looks great with my G.E.T. Melmac plates.

G.E.T. Melamine or GET MELAMINE, what is it? 

I don't just love melmac, I love all things vintage.  I am unleashing a ton of vintage porcelain glove molds in my Etsy shop. I thought it would be fun to show you how this one holds Melmac dishes!  The dishes I have here are from G.E.T. Enterprises. They have been around since the 80's and primarily make restaurant quality melamine dishes that you see in restaurants and buffets.

Glove mold $48, Plates, from GET Enterprises, an old pattern.
if you are interested in purchasing them contact me. 

Although I distinctly abhor things that are made in China, I have to say, these hold up pretty well and have a great mottled pattern. Perhaps since they are marked NSF food safe they may be better at resisting heavy scratches than the thinner melmac of the 60's and 70's.

I really love how they did this spattered the colors together!

G.E.T. is a leader in restaurant and foodservice melmac. I even at one point thought they could have absorbed some of the old retro molds. I'm still trying to find out......

I also have German and other molds for sale in my shop.

I wrote a ton of articles and blurbs on the web about vintage porcelain glove molds. I think they are a fun and functional art sculpture for inside the home. Very mid century modern and retro, and a reminder of industrialism.  The ones made in the USA include leading manufacturer (now defunct) General Porcelain of Trenton, NJ.  Although production of molds also occurred in Germany, it seems a lot were actually produced here in the USA.  

These glossy ones made by General Porcelain of Trenton, NJ.

Perhaps the rarest glove molds I stumbled across were those made by the Hall China Factory....back in the day...although to me Hall was primarily well loved for their teapots, I found it odd that these bisque molds were produced. I wonder how many survived? 

Only a few left to sell in my shop.

So maybe for those of you who don't want to "scratch up" your prized melmac collection, but you do want to make your kitchen look retro, you should check out where you can obtain some G.E.T. melmac. I know webstaurant store sells them online.  Good luck and happy collecting!

Thanks for reading my blog!

New Melmac Just in Time for Christmas

Ack! Make it stop, because these are just way too cute. SwankyPress on Etsy has these *new* (but personalized to your taste) melamine plates.  You can now give "melmac" (or at least the new version) to the little guys and gals for the holidays.

As you know I'm into the vintage melmac hence the whole RetroChalet Melmac Central site right? I'm sort of getting all squishy over these plates. If you think about it, what's better than giving a gift that people can use at the holidays that was personalized by a made-in-USA small business Swanky Press?  Geeze, I guess I'll have to love it. 


Visit Swanky Press Direct to see what they offer here at SwankyPress.com

New Melmac Carlisle in Restaurants Near You Cici's Pizza Harrisonburg, Virginia

I'm happy to report that modern day melmac is still in use in some restaurants. Recently I had the pleasure of eating at CiCi's All-U-Can Eat Pizza and Salad place down in the mountains of Virginia. They must have had twenty different types of pizza....some like spinach Alfredo and taco cheeseburger something or other I would never even thought of on my own! The best part about the whole place was the fact the plates were all melmac.   Yep, that's right, a BIG OL' stack of Carlisle in yellow was waiting...not sure who made the tumblers but they reminded me of the old Texan by Texasware!!!

As for the soup, salad, and pizza, you can' beat it for the price and the taste.   They are a-ok in my book! Thanks for keeping melmac alive!

History of Carlisle: 
Dates back to 1955. In actuality they were in early plastics making including serving ware. They are directly related to Si-Lite, and through them acquired Brookpark , Arrowhead and Kenro later in life.  Read all about their history HERE!

Walmart : Melamine and Melmac Eye Candy Design For Summer 2011

New lines for summer in Walmart Stores now, usually gone by May. 

What is old is new again. The fun vintage dishes of the fifties may have died off in the 1960's, but today melmac is a staple in many homes. Who would have predicted that the fun retro colors and mod styling would circle back again, and again, and again...  Quite possibly Martha Stewart's interest in Melmac in the last 1990's into early 2003, got the ball rolling again.

Bowls, plates, tumblers, and solids mixed with stripes are going to be big this year.

In the 1950's dishes were not cheap. Many people go to the Dollar Store and can pick up a new, made in China melamine dish for $1.  Stores like Target , Bed Bath and Beyond and Kohl's sell designer melamine like Jackie Shapiro and French Bull designs for a pretty penny now-a-days.  Most probably made at the same plants that make the Dollar Store dishes.  In my opinion, the Walmart tends to be best priced for the styles and colors.  This year, most items are ranging under $2 per plate or bowl.   Colors are brights and many solids are present to be mixed with stripes or floral prints.

  I am a vintage diva, however, nothing beats appreciating a great Melmac display.

Zak Designs Update and Emeril Lagasse : New Kitchenwares Coming

"Learning to Fly" designs made for Zak Designs my Marimekko,(famous Finnish textile and clothing design company dating back to 1951) 
was a quick sell out in most stores. 

It's been awhile since I gave new melamine manufacturer Zak Designs a 94% Satisfaction rating, on their four piece mottled mixing bowl set. (See the video and my review here) so I thought I'd check in with you and let you know some updates.

First my bowls are still holding strong! We use them for everything from mixing cake batter, tuna fish, fresh tossed salads, and mixing meat balls.  We wash them in semi-hot water and they do get a little abuse from hubby when he's in the kitchen. I have to say they are more durable than I ever imagined.

Secondly, I recieved a letter from the company's representative after they saw my review on YouTube. Please note the last line (IN GREEN) is the best part of the message.

Hi Ira,

I recently stumbled across your YouTube review of our Confetti Bowls. I wanted to thank you for such an honest and thorough review of our product. I was sorry to hear that you email our company and never received a response, and I wanted to assure you that that isn't standard operating procedure at Zak. I checked with both marketing and customer service, and neither department has a record of receiving your email, so I'm wondering if it might have got trapped by our spam filter and never reached its intended recipient. I apologize for that. I can understand how that must have upset you, but I greatly admire that you provided an honest review despite that. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions in the future, and I'll do my best to direct you to the appropriate person at Zak to help you.

Much thanks,

Chris

Christopher Cogley
Communications Manager
Zak Designs, Inc.     www.zak.com

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

I read about this on GourmetRetailer.

Lastly, Zak Designs is teaming up with Emeril! I love this idea. Can you imagine Zak putting some more "BAM" into their bowls?  You can read all about it HERE on Gourmet Retailer!  If anyone is going to the Zak will launch the Emeril line of serveware and kitchen prep products at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago (booth #S-4448) located at McCormick Place, March 6-8th.  I can't wait to see this line!  If anyone is going send me some pictures!