emery strawberries

I just took a very quick spin through this week's 1st dibs listings and came across this sweet little piece from American Primitive Gallery. Cute, huh?

It's true, I'm a sucker for simple, repetitive graphics. However the strawberries' graphic simplicity—the pops of red placed on a broken grid—are made all the more interesting due to the variations of size, color, texture, and technique due to their handmade nature.

The gallery's description says women used to make these strawberries and fill them with iron shavings to sharpen their needles. So i did a bit of hunting around and found this great post that provides a bit more background on emery strawberries. I love it when I get to learn something new! 

The striking visual simplicity of this piece and it's representation of the domestic labors of women have me smitten. I'd love this for my office and it would look great in a crafting space or sewing room.

If you want to assemble your own collection, I took a quick spin around the web and found plenty of vintage and handmade strawberries available at very reasonable prices. Here is a lovely little example currently available on ebay. Biding starts at $4.99!

Or if you are feeling really crafty you can follow Martha's tutorial (of course she has one) and use vintage materials to produce your own collection. 

Happy Hunting!