More Ephemera

The debris of everyday life is a fascinating insight into lives past lived, well I think it is.  When the old back came off the house last month, I was out there sifting through the sand and leaves and came across lots of bits of cardboard and paper; packaging and ephemera that has been preserved under our floorboards for decades.  The house was built in 1917 and there's stuff here from the thirties onwards. 

I've already done this with all the old china and glass, which I posted about here.  The flower concept, which I shamelessly copied from someone else turned out rather well, so thinking I was on to something, decided to do same with the bits of grubby paper.  I sat with a paintbrush carefully removing all the dust, trying not to rip the delicate fibres.  I felt like a archeologist and and loved every moment of it.  

It's not a perfect symmetrical flower cause I didn't have the same sized pieces, but hey, it's art, who cares.  The centre piece is, we reckon, an old car tail-light.

Sorry, I forgot to take photos before I put it in the frame, so there is some glass reflection here.

Fags, sweets, tea, shoe cleaner, lottery tickets, soap, starch, sewing thread, cigarette swap cards, cough syrup, stock cubes... to name a few.  These were the things of daily life.

I love looking at the old fonts and packaging design. 

I wonder what will be preserved from our lives today.  Will the fact that we have digital records of absolutely everything mean that nothing is forgotten, special or cherished and kept?