Road Trip to Find......... A Player Piano?

Ready for an adventure, we,  Katherine, a fused glass artist friend and me, always up for a road trip, packed up the car and headed south about 45 minutes to Duncan. Katherine is on the hunt for a piece of furniture but because her house is small it needs to certain dimension.

One of the shops we popped into was  Ray's Furniture and Antiques for just a "quick" look.

What a place! Sitting in the second, or was it third, room I found the most gorgeous player piano.

Ray was about to eat his lunch but when he saw my excitement at seeing the piano he started chatting with us. He had two boxes of music rolls and told me I could have it all, including the piano, for $ 4,000.

My sigh and sad face him to jump onto the piano bench and start pumping the peddles. We were treated to a song and some comical acting by Ray.

Ray at the player piano.

One box of player piano music rolls. 

The music roll being pulled along on the player piano.

Made in Canada. 

The pumps below the keyboard where you pump like crazy to make the paper move and music flow.

Ray pumping the piano. Note the keys are playing along with each pump. 

Now this story all ties into a story about going to The Butlers Market in Prince George last month. Within that shop are small rooms where vendors sell all sorts of things. I mean ALL SORTS of things.

One vendor had two player piano music rolls, also in their original boxes. We started talking and low and behold she has at least 30 more at home! I immediately bought the two and asked if she could bring another 30 into the shop.

The box arrived a couple of weeks ago.

I'm so excited to start working on them for an installation piece I'm hoping  a few galleries in BC will show. Aren't these beautiful!

Okay, enough rambling. Time to get back into the studio. I have a few other things to get done before I can start working with these rolls of music! I'll let you know when I come up for air.