Dishaholics anonymous

[genuineimitation]

i'm a minimalist. i just happen to have a family that are all maximalists living with me...

went to the thrift yesterday and (dang!) i missed a great springbok puzzle for .89 that was already in someone's cart. BUT - i found this outrageously beautiful beverage pitcher for 5.00 that says langley ovenware england. it is SO minimalist. it is a chocolate pot - that is, the handle is on the side of the spout, rather than behind the spout (does that make sense??) don't think it's ever been used. it is SO minimal.. i just want to stare at it a while, then i might pack it away if i can't bring myself to use it! it is this dishaholic's favorite dish at the moment..

[Femme1]

Nice find, GenI. Post a pic!

I found a couple pieces of Color-Flyte Melmac the other day, and I can't stop picking them up and looking at them. One is a green divided serving bowl, and the other is the grey mist serving bowl with salad servers. At first I thought I was buying them for sale, but now...I don't think I can part with them.

When I looked up the Branchell Color-Flyte line and saw some of the colors and the pieces, I decided I had to start collecting more of it. What is WRONG with me!!    I already have five sets of incomplete dishes!! Stop me now!

[oceangurl]

Oh Femme1 I see you to have a fondness for Melmac? I love Melmac! I had picked up (yrs ago) at a thrift 4 square small dishes with a little handle on either side, sized like a cereal bowl, and in the lovelist colors, turquoise blue, coral, lime green and yellow, I have used these for yrs and smile everytime I use them, I only wish I could find matching big dinner plates and I have a few melmac coffee and creamers that I had picked up along the way, I also have a set of everyday dishes (it is a full set, remember the hostess sets of melmac from the fifties? It came with juice glasses, regular glasses, platter and dinner dishes, cereal bowls and coffee cup/saucers) these are in the Blue willow pattern! Ciao!

[genuineimitation]

does melmac carry a mark on the underside, or is it just anything that is a hard, plastic plate? because i have this set of picnic dishes in bright lime green that just make us all  giggle every time we use them - they are so retro! but i don't know if they are melmac or just random plastic dishes.

[Femme1]

"Melamine" is actually the name of the generic type of plastic that was used to make dishes and other things (it's the main ingredient in Formica). "Melmac" was a brand name. However, just like "Kleenex" and "Xerox" came to be used generically, people starting calling all brands of plastic dishes Melmac.

There are many vintage melamine products that aren't marked, but there were a lot of specific brands besides Melmac, for example, Texas Ware, Boonton, Branchell, Royalon, Arrowhead, and Stetson, just to name a few. They are generally marked on the bottom.

There are certain styles and colors I like, so I buy them when I see them. Up to this point, I've never specifically collected any particular set. Oceangurl, there IS something very tactile about them, isn't there? I love picking up a good heavy piece of Boonton!

[oceangurl]

Yes Femme1 I love all the above named melmac, I check out ebay all the time under all those names and sometimes get a piece if I love the color, I like the real retro colorful pieces like melon, lime green , turquoise etc. I love the old melmac divided vegtable dishes, I have one, I put olives in one side, pickles in the other when I serve, their so versatile and I put different things in either side, I guess I love Melmac because my Mother having six children in the day had some pieces, they were easy for her because she had so many children and couldnt afford for us to be breaking dishes all the time, so enter in Melmac, it just signifies "50's Kitcsh Kitchen" I also collect vintage tablecloths, remember the ones with checkered borders and with fruits on them, real bright and colorful? I have at least 4 or 5 cloth vintage table cloths, and all have come from various thrifts, all my happen to be in perfect condition and I had collected them yrs ago before all this vintage collecting was the thing to do, and I had bought them for ridicioulousley (?) low prices...

[Femme1]

Those tablecloths sound really yummy. I love the old 40s-style ones, too, with the fruit. Reminds me of my childhood because my mom had some china serving pieces with the gingham fruit decals. I think that was Harmony House from Sears. But I especially love table linens decorated with kitschy Mexican cacti and sombreros.

Most of the undamaged tablecloths I have are from my mom. The stuff I see in thrifts now are usually pretty damaged or stained, although lately our Habitat for Humanity ReStore has had some great linens. 

[genuineimitation]

i checked my lime green picnic plates.. no marks. but i still like them!

[oceangurl]

Femme1 I like the mexican/cacti ones also, they are so bright and cheerful, I also love the old souvenier tablecloths of various states, favourties are hawaii, Florida, I havent found any of those yet but Iam sure if I checked out ebay or evilbay, ha, I would find them!

[foutchie]

Guess what I found?  A few pieces of Blue Heaven dishware!  3 dinner plates and 3 cereal bowls - and of course I had to have them, since seeing them hear! 

[valleythriftshopper]

I always think of this site when I see those pieces in my travels.  I took a blue heaven pie dish out of a free box at a yard sale this summer, but I recently knocked it over & broke it. 

[SeSo_Says_So]

Guess what I found?  A few pieces of Blue Heaven dishware!  3 dinner plates and 3 cereal bowls - and of course I had to have them, since seeing them hear! 

Of course you did! Aren't they groovy? Until I came here, I never knew the name of the pattern, lol.

My small find today: A mint Mikasa "Garden Club" bowl for a buck. It will look so pretty sitting on my table holding autumn fruits!

[oceangurl]

cool finds Seso and Fouchie! Kudos!!

[nancydr2]

I never knew this pattern had a name!  I've learned so much on this website.  I have a platter in this pattern and I used to have highball glasses, but I gave them to a friend because she loved them.

[Julvis]

I'm a recovering dishaholic!  I am not totally cured, but I have gotten MUCH better!  My main collection is Roses and Roosters from Japan 40's. (check out a picture on the site) I also have a set of pink "Dwarf Pine" dishes from Taylor-Smith & Taylor that I can't part with.  I also have a soft spot for covered casserole dishes.
 What I do to keep myself under control, is I just keep the platters and take everything else to the flea market or thrift store for someone else to enjoy.  It's not easy, but I have to keep control somehow!