Gwen’s Blog

TOPIC: La France Profonde

“La France Profonde” is the French term for really rural country. Each time I visit rural France, I come across new things that astonish, amuse and delight me. Did you know that the French café half- curtain is the result of the imposition of a curtain tax in the early 20th cen?

French Flea Market Finds

April 13, 2012     

In browsing through my photos of flea market treasures, I’m reminded of what an adventure the vide greniers (flea markets) are for us.  All week we scour the papers for Sunday markets in the area to figure out which ones might be the best.

On Sunday, vide grenier day,  we get up very early to drive through fields still veiled in early morning mist to some sleepy village hidden deep in the countryside.  When we arrive, there are already many cars parked in the pasture converted to a parking lot. The thrifty French love the markets as much as we do. It’s where they find clothes, cook ware, childrens toys, tools and  more.

We rummage through heaps of plastic toys and old clothes in search of  inspiring odds and ends to bring back to the studio.  A vide grenier is heaven for mixed media assemblage artists and was a godsend for me when I was furnishing La Cascade.  As a mixed media collage artist, I’m always on the lookout for old student copy books, vintage maps and official documents written in a notaire’s elegant script. Everyone finds a few wonderful things to work with or bring home and some manage to fill a suitcase with vide grenier treasures.

Lip rouge boxes

I found this in Emmaus, a French version of Salvation Army

 

 

From the collection of my flea market buddy, Sonja

Old lace always works for me.

I did a little antiquing on the photo itself, but the rust spots are real.

 

 

 

 

By gwen | Also posted in France | Comments (0)

Durfort, Le Village du Cuivre

February 2, 2009     
One of the thirteen mills along the river Sor

One of the thirteen mills along the river Sor

Durfort, The Copper Village

At one time Durfort’s thirteen water mills along the Sor were used to mill wheat and to drive looms. It was when the textile industry slid into decline in the 15th century that the mill owners displayed ingenuity in harnessing the waterwheels to “marteau pilons”, the huge pylon-hammers that pound copper ingots into vessels.  Most of the houses in Durfort were copper ateliers up until 1930, just about everyone was involved in the production of copper ware. When the local graveyard was moved, it was discovered that the skeletons of the copper workers were green from the oxidized copper absorbed by their bones.

When the local ateliers were put out of business by cheaper copper imports from North Africa, Durfort re-invented its livelihood by shifting from manufacturing to retail. Today the copper boutiques on the square mostly sell the imported copper. Although the village replaced one of the Roman bridges with a bridge to the parking lot large enough for tour buses, cars and buses still prefer to park in the town square. The parking lot remains mostly empty except for le jour de fête, once a year.
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By gwen | Comments (3)