Junk Drawer

I used to think it was a bit strange to see drawers thrown away with no cabinets, or anything for the drawers to fit into. But it seems I see more and more lonely drawers hanging out in alleys with no place to go. I assume these are all older built-ins that have been discarding during remodeling. I can only guess that new cabinets and/or drawers were put in, while the old ones were removed. These particular drawers, however, didn’t appear to have any age or wear to them. They were white and bright, and lying in a pile, with a cabinet on top. Maybe somebody ordered so many drawers to have built into a room that they didn’t all fit, so there were leftovers. Maybe somebody moved in who really disliked drawers, and just took them out and tossed them. A person like that wouldn’t care for junk drawers either. It’s hard to imagine such a person. The nice thing about drawers is that they conceal things very easily, and they can be as neat and organized, or as disorganized as you want. You can designate a drawer for specific things, or nothing specific at all. Drawers are often cleaned out, like when you clean your desk, but drawers themselves are not usually thrown away. These lost drawers have no place to be. If only there were a larger drawer to store them in.

This pile of wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, and gift bags looked like the remnants of a birthday party, or Christmas day. It was actually a little of both strewn together, including a Santa bag, and ribbons in bright birthday type colors. All this seemed to be a collection of discarded gift wrapping supplies, a little scruffed up, but possibly never used. Somehow it was all open, and just lying in the alley next to an apartment building. Perhaps someone was just cleaning out their things. Or they decided not to give gifts anymore. Whatever the story was, it sure was a colorful mess.

Gift wrap is not something people usually just throw away, since there are always gift giving occasions around the corner. Some items are easy to save and reuse, such as gift bags. One time I gave my brother a gift in the same bag he’d given me for my gift the year before. It’s nice to recycle gift wrap like that, since so much of it is kind of a waste of paper. I know that many cats love holidays simply for the opportunity to dive into wrapping paper to play in. I imagine that some alley cats may have gotten into this pile.

The end of summer in the city is also the end of many leases for apartments, condos, and houses. This is a transitional period, when many people move, and their stuff moves with them. Some stuff, however, gets left behind. Whatever doesn’t get Craigslisted, yard saled, or donated, often gets thrown away. Alleys are filled this time of year. One find stood out, simply because there were three pieces of furniture together. Each item appeared to represent a different room. I could just imagine what someone’s residence had looked like. I didn’t take any of these, but I had to stop and look. It was like part of their home was now part of the landscape of the alley.

When I recognized the natural woven material of this oval shaped thing, I realized it must be from some kind of straw hat, and specifically the brim of the hat. There was no top portion of the hat around to be found. This brim must have worn off and just fallen right off the hat. I had to wonder if this had happened while somebody was wearing it. Perhaps they tossed the brim aside and went on wearing their hat without any brim. Of course, it would no longer provide shade from the sun, but it would certainly be a new style. Maybe the fashion statement would be something about continuing to wear clothing even when parts of it are falling off, and letting it disintegrate naturally. I still haven’t figured out the whole story on this hat brim. But if you see somebody around town wearing a brimless straw hat, then you’ll have an idea of what may have happened.

Every week a new find will be featured on Junk Drawer.
The find will be some random object that doesn’t quite seem to have a place to belong.
It might actually be some item from a junk drawer, but it could also be an object of interest from a garage sale, a thrift store, down an alley, or in some box of stuff at the back of the closet.
These finds won’t all be things I’ll take home, nor will they be things that could even fit into a junk drawer. They will be various odds and ends of the type most likely to be found in some grand, virtual junk drawer—a drawer compiled of finds both large and small, from places near and far. And only one, every seven days, will be featured as the Junk Drawer Find of the Week.

Odds and ends form the basis of any good junk drawer. This zine is about a drawer and the various miscellaneous objects stowed away within.  It is full of musings on what these random items are, where they come from, and maybe why they’ve been saved, some for many years.  It is a mini excavation into stuff that doesn’t really have a place to belong, except for inside that space called the “junk drawer.”
Quarter size, black and white photocopied, 50 pages, about half text and half original photos and drawings.

“Junk Days,” to one particular community, is an annual spring cleaning time to throw things away. But to anyone who loves finding stuff thrown out, Junk Days is a terrific and fun event. This zine is partly a Junk Days guide to junking, with plenty of junk finding tips. It is also a chronicle of favorite finds, plus some Junk Days history. For anyone who enjoys dumpster diving, this is kind of an upscale, suburban version of it. Half size, black and white, 44 pages full of text and original photos straight from the curbsides of Junk Days.

This zine is about the nature of getting things second hand. Whether you’re going to thrift stores, garage sales, or just finding stuff any old place, the experience gives you “indirectness.” That is, it’s apart from the direct marketing and advertising driving everyone toward typical big box retail stores. It ponders the whole interest in used stuff. Quarter size, black and white photocopied, 50 pages, half text and half original photos.