A flamingo was stolen from my front lawn last week and if I ever find out who the thief is, I will rip their throat out. Not really. Actually, I'm just going to sit in my house, seething.
The odd thing is that they only took one. There are several out there. The jerk could have stolen himself a small flock.
Showing posts with label official bird of suburbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label official bird of suburbia. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Friday, June 01, 2007
Return of the pink-dotted lawns.
I was just sent this news article, originally from boston.com....
In the pink again: lawn flamingos
N.Y. firm buys molds from Mass.'s Union Products, plans revival.
Don Featherstone studied art before Union Products hired him in 1956 to design lawn ornaments.
(AMY SANCETTA/ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE 1998)
By Associated Press | June 1, 2007
The original pink flamingo lawn ornament, the symbol of kitsch whose obituary was nearly written after its Central Massachusetts manufacturer went out of business, is rising phoenix-like from the ashes and taking wing to New York.
A manufacturer that bought the copyright and plastic molds for the original version plans to resume production in Westmoreland, N.Y., by Labor Day. HMC International LLC will pick up where Union Products Inc. left off last year when it shuttered its Leominster plastics factory after 50 years.
J.C. Waszkiewicz, head of family-owned HMC, yesterday said he expects retailers buying his firm's flamingos wholesale will appreciate subtle design differences between knockoff versions and the original by Don Featherstone, who studied art before Union Products hired him in 1956 to expand its lineup of lawn ornaments.
"There are other people who have tried to capitalize on his design," said Waszkiewicz, "but none that I've seen hold a candle to the quality and detail he created."
The molds are based on flamingos Featherstone sculpted from clay, working from photos of the graceful birds in National Geographic magazine.The ornaments hit the market in the late 1950s, when the color pink was in vogue, and America's exploding population of suburbanites sought to add flair to their lawns.
But the birds also came to symbolize bad taste: Some developments even banned flamingo ornaments from lawns. The bird also became a target of pranksters, some of whom swiped the ornaments from front yards, took them on the road, and then sent photos to their owners, showing the kidnapped birds at places like the Grand Canyon.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
This is very exciting news. The flamingos that currently live on my lawn have been horribly bleached by the sun, and resemble the look of flamingos that don't get enough shrimp in their diets. I bought some pink spray paint specifically for plastic applications that I may try to use to bring them back to their proper vivid pinkiness, but I'm afraid I'll muck them up, especially at the beak, where the yellow blends into the pink. I have a small hoard of brand new flamingos that I manically bought up when I heard news of Union Products closing, but I don't want to dip into my flock to replace the near-white birds because once those are gone, that's it!
Now I'll be able to replace the poor, pale birds with these second generation birds and still keep the original Union Products birds in their original boxes, safe from the elements and lawn ornament poachers.
It's really sad how happy this news makes me. Really.
In the pink again: lawn flamingos
N.Y. firm buys molds from Mass.'s Union Products, plans revival.
Don Featherstone studied art before Union Products hired him in 1956 to design lawn ornaments.
(AMY SANCETTA/ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE 1998)
By Associated Press | June 1, 2007
The original pink flamingo lawn ornament, the symbol of kitsch whose obituary was nearly written after its Central Massachusetts manufacturer went out of business, is rising phoenix-like from the ashes and taking wing to New York.
A manufacturer that bought the copyright and plastic molds for the original version plans to resume production in Westmoreland, N.Y., by Labor Day. HMC International LLC will pick up where Union Products Inc. left off last year when it shuttered its Leominster plastics factory after 50 years.
J.C. Waszkiewicz, head of family-owned HMC, yesterday said he expects retailers buying his firm's flamingos wholesale will appreciate subtle design differences between knockoff versions and the original by Don Featherstone, who studied art before Union Products hired him in 1956 to expand its lineup of lawn ornaments.
"There are other people who have tried to capitalize on his design," said Waszkiewicz, "but none that I've seen hold a candle to the quality and detail he created."
The molds are based on flamingos Featherstone sculpted from clay, working from photos of the graceful birds in National Geographic magazine.The ornaments hit the market in the late 1950s, when the color pink was in vogue, and America's exploding population of suburbanites sought to add flair to their lawns.
But the birds also came to symbolize bad taste: Some developments even banned flamingo ornaments from lawns. The bird also became a target of pranksters, some of whom swiped the ornaments from front yards, took them on the road, and then sent photos to their owners, showing the kidnapped birds at places like the Grand Canyon.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
This is very exciting news. The flamingos that currently live on my lawn have been horribly bleached by the sun, and resemble the look of flamingos that don't get enough shrimp in their diets. I bought some pink spray paint specifically for plastic applications that I may try to use to bring them back to their proper vivid pinkiness, but I'm afraid I'll muck them up, especially at the beak, where the yellow blends into the pink. I have a small hoard of brand new flamingos that I manically bought up when I heard news of Union Products closing, but I don't want to dip into my flock to replace the near-white birds because once those are gone, that's it!
Now I'll be able to replace the poor, pale birds with these second generation birds and still keep the original Union Products birds in their original boxes, safe from the elements and lawn ornament poachers.
It's really sad how happy this news makes me. Really.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Tub Flamingo
Although it's not a Don Featherstone, this "pink flamingo rubber duck" (what?) is doing quite well in his new home in my bathroom.
www.celebriducks.com is where you can get 'em. (Also where I snagged the image from)
The neat thing about celebriducks is that they have two flamingo versions.. A "lawn flamingo" version made to look like a Featherstone and a "flamingo in the wild" version, which is made to look a bit more like a real flamingo with whiter back feathers.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
I shed a tear for thee....
Oh Dear.
Union Products will be closing it's doors on November 1st. For those of you who don't know, Union Products are the geniuses behind the original Don Featherstone lawn flamingos.
This is horrible news, and is causing me to go into flamingo-hoarding mode. This past weekend I drove nearly two hours to snatch up a few pairs, and now I wish I had bought a few more.
Apparently, production of the birds halted in June.. so whatever stock is out there is all that will be. No more will be made before Union Products closes for good. I think I need a glass of water. I feel faint.
This truly is awful.
Union Products will be closing it's doors on November 1st. For those of you who don't know, Union Products are the geniuses behind the original Don Featherstone lawn flamingos.
This is horrible news, and is causing me to go into flamingo-hoarding mode. This past weekend I drove nearly two hours to snatch up a few pairs, and now I wish I had bought a few more.
Apparently, production of the birds halted in June.. so whatever stock is out there is all that will be. No more will be made before Union Products closes for good. I think I need a glass of water. I feel faint.
This truly is awful.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Oh my! What a lovely yard you have...
The lawn flamingos are thriving in my front yard. Right now there are four pink plastic beauties out there and I'm going to slowly add to the flock until I run out of room or my neighbors become so disgusted with the tackiness of it all that they birdnap them. So I've been hunting around the internet for the original Don Featherstones. The ONLY flamingos in my yard are Featherstones. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just look up "Don Featherstone Flamingo" and you can read all about them. I do realize how insane it sounds to be a flamingo elitist, but really.. who wants inferior plastic birds? If you're aiming for suburban splendor, you have to go with the original.
So anyway, I found a bunch of great links:
www.uptownflamingo.com
This site has a ton of great flamingo themed products. The odd thing, though, is that they don't sell the Don Featherstone Flamingos. They only carry cheap-o knock-offs. I'll overlook this fact because the other flamingo stuff that they carry is so great. This site is really worth a look if you're looking for things like flamingo tablecloths or nightlights.
www.thepinkflamingo.com
they carry a less varied inventory of flamingo related knick-knacks than uptownflamingo.com, BUT they carry Don Featherstone flamingos and also Don Featherstone Snowmingos! A Snowmingo is a white lawn flamingo, which is perfect for yards in the winter months. They are made from the same plastic mold as their pink cousins, so they have the Featherstone butt signature just like the pinky originals. I'm going to swap out the pinks in my yard for snowmingos on the first snowfall this year and then swap 'em back in the spring. The photo below is a good comparison between the two plastic species...
www.flaminomania.com
assorted flamingo themed goodies for purchase, and they carry Don Featherstones in the classic pink and snowmingo varieties.
www.getflocked.com
the flamingos on this site are a bit expensive... it's much easier to find them cheaper elsewhere. It's worth a mention though, because they sell spare flamingo legs which can come in quite handy, if you accidently bend or lose one.
www.mileskimball.com
this site is a treasure chest full of suburban tackiness. In addition to lawn flamingos, this site sells kitchen decor, barbeque trinkets, tablecloths and things like toilet paper cozies. I love this site. Below is a small sample of the great crap you can find at mileskimball.com...
How plastically cute!
And what about these....
...fantastic!
Hmmm...now, I'm more of a flamingo gal than a fan of lawn geese, but I think I may make an exception and find a place in my yard for these...
These geese combine two of my favorite things... midcentury rock 'n roll and tacky plastic lawn ornaments.
If I could only find tiny bowling shirts for my lawn flamingos, my life would be complete.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
The Official Bird of Suburbia
Yesterday, I came to the realization that many people don't know the history of the infamous Lawn Flamingo. It's such a neat story that I wish more people were aware of how they came to be. Plus, they were invented in Massachusetts, which is where I've lived all my life, so that adds a bit of extra value for me!
The below text is from Wikipedia, which recounts the history quite well...
The History of the Plastic flamingo...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Pink plastic flamingos are a symbol of North American consumerism and how quickly a fad can catch on. One of the most famous of lawn ornaments along with garden gnomes and other such ornamentation, the pink flamingo is an icon of pop culture, as well as a statement. It has even spawned a lawn greeting industry where flocks of pink flamingos are installed on a victim's lawn in the dark of night. Plastic flamingos are widely considered to be the stereotypical example of lawn kitsch.
The history of the pink flamingo can be traced back to 1946 when a company in Leominster, Massachusetts called Union Products started manufacturing products they titled “Plastics for the Lawn”. Their original collection included two dimensional dogs, ducks, frogs, and even a flamingo.
In 1956, the company hired a young designer named Don Featherstone. Don's first project was to redesign their popular duck into the third dimension. Don used a live duck as his model and after five months of work, the duck was retired to a local park.
His next project would prove to be his most famous. He couldn't get his hands on real flamingos, so he used photographs from a National Geographic in its place. He sculpted the original out of clay, which was then used to make a plaster cast. The plaster cast, in turn, was used to form the molds for the plastic. The original design called for detailed wooden legs, but they proved to be too costly and were replaced by the metal ones still seen today. While the exact date was never recorded, the first pink flamingo was born some time during 1957.
Some lawn flamingoes were cast in reinforced concrete with iron legs.
In the late 1950s, the flawless American lawn was beginning to take over, and with it the bright colored pink flamingo. Pink was a big color, plastic was still news.
The 1960s were not as friendly to the pink flamingo. There was a rebellion against everything man made. It was a time to go back to nature, and the plastic flamingo quickly became the prototype of bad taste and anti-nature. By 1970, even Sears had removed the pink-feathered bird from its catalog.
But that wasn't the end, because some people just love to do things that annoy people. If pink flamingos were the ultimate in bad taste, then people were sure to place them on their lawn to bug their neighbors. And they did so in great numbers.
By 1984, Miami Vice had kicked the sales of pink flamingos into full throttle. For the first time ever, Union Plastics sold more flamingos than they did ducks.
Today pink flamingos are sold for just about every purpose. They are purchased for use as wedding decorations, housewarming gifts, and as replacements for reindeer at Christmas time. Church youth groups sometimes use pink flamingos as fundraising tools, planting them in church members yards, then asking for donations to have them "removed."
Some people actually travel with their pink flamingos. The plastic birds go camping, hiking, skiing, and mountain biking. Entire web sites are devoted to the travels of these artificial creatures. Pink flamingos have also become a prime target of pranksters. Many are stolen off lawns every year, particularly by kids that have been drinking. Others are kidnapped and held for ransom. One particular pair was kidnapped and had their ransom paid in play money.
Authentic flamingos always have Don Featherstone’s signature under their tails. Each has a yellow beak with a black tip and they are only sold in pairs."
The above image is taken from www.flamingomania.com. They sell the original pink flamingos, as well as other great pink flamingo products.
Needless to say, I've got a pair of flamingos which will be taking up residence in the tiny front yard of my new house as soon as I move in. I just hope no one birdnaps them!
The below text is from Wikipedia, which recounts the history quite well...
The History of the Plastic flamingo...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Pink plastic flamingos are a symbol of North American consumerism and how quickly a fad can catch on. One of the most famous of lawn ornaments along with garden gnomes and other such ornamentation, the pink flamingo is an icon of pop culture, as well as a statement. It has even spawned a lawn greeting industry where flocks of pink flamingos are installed on a victim's lawn in the dark of night. Plastic flamingos are widely considered to be the stereotypical example of lawn kitsch.
The history of the pink flamingo can be traced back to 1946 when a company in Leominster, Massachusetts called Union Products started manufacturing products they titled “Plastics for the Lawn”. Their original collection included two dimensional dogs, ducks, frogs, and even a flamingo.
In 1956, the company hired a young designer named Don Featherstone. Don's first project was to redesign their popular duck into the third dimension. Don used a live duck as his model and after five months of work, the duck was retired to a local park.
His next project would prove to be his most famous. He couldn't get his hands on real flamingos, so he used photographs from a National Geographic in its place. He sculpted the original out of clay, which was then used to make a plaster cast. The plaster cast, in turn, was used to form the molds for the plastic. The original design called for detailed wooden legs, but they proved to be too costly and were replaced by the metal ones still seen today. While the exact date was never recorded, the first pink flamingo was born some time during 1957.
Some lawn flamingoes were cast in reinforced concrete with iron legs.
In the late 1950s, the flawless American lawn was beginning to take over, and with it the bright colored pink flamingo. Pink was a big color, plastic was still news.
The 1960s were not as friendly to the pink flamingo. There was a rebellion against everything man made. It was a time to go back to nature, and the plastic flamingo quickly became the prototype of bad taste and anti-nature. By 1970, even Sears had removed the pink-feathered bird from its catalog.
But that wasn't the end, because some people just love to do things that annoy people. If pink flamingos were the ultimate in bad taste, then people were sure to place them on their lawn to bug their neighbors. And they did so in great numbers.
By 1984, Miami Vice had kicked the sales of pink flamingos into full throttle. For the first time ever, Union Plastics sold more flamingos than they did ducks.
Today pink flamingos are sold for just about every purpose. They are purchased for use as wedding decorations, housewarming gifts, and as replacements for reindeer at Christmas time. Church youth groups sometimes use pink flamingos as fundraising tools, planting them in church members yards, then asking for donations to have them "removed."
Some people actually travel with their pink flamingos. The plastic birds go camping, hiking, skiing, and mountain biking. Entire web sites are devoted to the travels of these artificial creatures. Pink flamingos have also become a prime target of pranksters. Many are stolen off lawns every year, particularly by kids that have been drinking. Others are kidnapped and held for ransom. One particular pair was kidnapped and had their ransom paid in play money.
Authentic flamingos always have Don Featherstone’s signature under their tails. Each has a yellow beak with a black tip and they are only sold in pairs."
The above image is taken from www.flamingomania.com. They sell the original pink flamingos, as well as other great pink flamingo products.
Needless to say, I've got a pair of flamingos which will be taking up residence in the tiny front yard of my new house as soon as I move in. I just hope no one birdnaps them!
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