PIPES

Vintage Smoking

Re-Enameling Vintage Jewellery

It wasn't until I purchased an interesting vintage Christmas brooch that someone had already repainted but in quite a gaudy green, that the idea of re-enameling came to mind. So off I went to the large craft shop in town and edged my way through the men buying small pots of enamel paint for their model soldiers and vehicles.

 

I now buy my little pots from a local model shop and so far I have been the only woman in there! But do not let this put you off. The enamel pots are not just available in Khaki and army brown but bright gloss colours that are ideal for jewellery. Gather your paints, brushes, kitchen paper and newspaper together first

 

Clean the jewellery that you want to paint and allow to dry. Use a just damp cotton wool bud for this.

 

Lay onto a piece of newspaper or a piece of kitchen towel

 

Make sure you are not smoking as the paint is flammable and use in a well ventilated room

 

Use small craft paint brushes and wipe after wards on a towel.

 

When opened, stir the paint well before use and a little goes a long way.

 

Paint the area and allow to dry, then paint again - gives a good colour that lasts longer

 

Either match the original paint and you may have to blend different paints to match the colour

 

Or you can experiment and paint new shades to be slightly more modern

 

Experiment on some junk jewellery first before going to paint a more expensive piece though

 

A great way to recycle jewellery that has small chips or the plate has worn. But be careful it can be addictive

 

Have fun!

 

There are a large variety of locations where you may find fabulous vintage jewelry. But if you don't have experience buying vintage treasures then it would be best to take some time and do a tad bit of research before you head out to shop. Having said that, the following are outstanding places to check out when you head out to hunt for your vintage earrings or brooches.

 

Vintage clothing shops and consignment stores: These shops don't just sell fun clothing. You may also find fantastic vintage brooches, rings, earrings, and other gems at local vintage consignment stores and clothing shops. Often the shop manager will be able to tell you a few things about the vintage treasures they have for sale. They will very likely be able to tell you about the type of gemstones (or fake gemstones) that are in each. Prices will usually be a bit higher than at the resale shops but you will probably be able to find vintage pieces at a reasonable price.

 

Resale shops: Think Goodwill, Salvation Army and other thrift type stores. Many people make regular donations to these stores and they generally have a very large inventory that spans all of the vintage periods. These shops are a fabulous resource for finding vintage jewelry especially costume pieces. And, if you keep your eyes open you might just find a few fine vintage pieces.

 

Estate and garage sales: Yep. Wake up early on the weekend, jump in your car, and head out to some garage and estate sales to find great vintage jewellery. You may have to claw through a bunch of items to find just a few good vintage pieces but they are there just waiting to be found if you do a little work.

About the Author

Kristin Johnson, Owner & Editor. A Winnipeg native, (who doesn't say "eh") she loves icy, fresh winter days, sauerkraut & perogies, Saskatoon berries and year-spherical hikes at Bird's Hill Park. She's the eldest of a family of four, but being a twin let her shirk her role of "first born" to her added disciplined twin sister, in favour of a life less pre-planned. Being raised in an "artsy" home helped her acquire an appreciation of each one things handmade plus set her on a path dabbling in pott

Modern speakers for vintage receiver?

I have a Technics SA-500 FM/AM stereo receiver that my dad bought in ~1980. Recently the two old speakers that were bought with it died (one even began smoking!) So I am in the market for new speakers. My question is what modern speakers are compatible with this receiver? I'd like to spend somewhere around $200, I don't need the best speakers out there just something for my (small) living room, but good quality that will last. I use the receiver to listen to the radio and my turntable (Technics SL-5200).
I liked the two old speakers, each one had its own subwoofer built in, so I would prefer 2 new speakers that are similar to this but perhaps smaller.
I just checked and the old speakers are EPI model 100V, are they worth trying to repair?

Those EPI speakers were good, but not great sounding by today's standards. You'd have to pay a lot for a cabinet that heavy these days... It's hard to recommend you fix them or not without knowing how bad the damage is. The tweeters sell for between $25.00 and $50.00 each on eBay and the woofers could be reconed if damaged. Substituting new drivers with different specs is NOT the way to go. Any electrolytic capacitors in the crossovers should definitely be replaced considering their age. Electrolytic capacitors have about the shortest life span of all electronics and are usually the cause of most problems in older electronics.

You're probably pushing your luck with that old receiver. Any electronics over about 10 years old could go at any time and might not be performing to spec. There was stuff made in the '60s and early '70s that lasted a LONG time with no repairs, but by the time the '80s came around, things just weren't built like that anymore.

You probably blew the speakers by pushing the amp into clipping (where the amp runs out of clean power and starts to sound distorted). This distortion heats and fries speaker components very quickly. If the receiver is no longer working to spec, it may not be able to play that loud without going into clipping, or there may be a DC offset problem at the speaker outputs. This will also damage speakers. You can test for DC offset by playing the receiver and using a multimeter set to DC to test for DC voltage between the two speaker wires. Anything over 100mV probably means your amp isn't sounding very good. Anything over a couple volts could damage your speakers. It might be you just played the system too loud and didn't back off when you heard clipping distortion. But, speakers just don't fry like that for no reason. If you weren't abusing the speakers, I would strongly suspect the receiver is putting out a damaging amount of DC and I sure wouldn't hook a new pair of speakers up to it without having that checked out first.

The Sony SS series speakers sound very nice on a budget. If you don't want to repair the EPIs, you could pick up a pair of the Sony's that are about the same size for $100.00. They might even sound a little better than the old EPIs...

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SS-B3000-Bookshelf-Speakers-8-Inch/dp/B000OG6I6A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307297385&sr=8-1

The BIC speakers are a little smaller and also sound excellent on a budget. They may not go quite as deep in the bass as the EPI or Sony...

http://www.amazon.com/BIC-America-DV62si-Bookshelf-Speakers/dp/B00006JPDI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1307297785&sr=1-1

Good luck! Hope you get your system up and running again soon!

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