From a 'Ridiculous Idea' Comes Greasy Kitsch Stuff

Housemates Turn a Profit From a Giant Jar Full of Glop

College Park housemates, from left, Mike Schultz, Miles Lamborne and Adam Boorstein display the jar of cooking grease they recently auctioned on eBay. The winning bid of $305 included a directive that they "re-market" the jar. (Photos By Andrea Bruce -- The Washington Post)

It started with a bunch of six-pound meatloaves. And it's turned into -- well, no one knows yet exactly what this will turn into.

Every day, when a group of University of Maryland housemates cooked up meatloaf or bacon or sausage, they poured the grease from the pan into a gallon pickle jar. (No way did they want to clog the drains, the sewers, the Chesapeake Bay with the stuff.) When it was completely full of orangish, congealed glop, sophomore Miles Lamborne told his housemates that he was going to sell the jar. They laughed.

Now, a month later, they've made more than $700.

Sometimes things defy explanation.

"It's making something out of nothing," Lamborne hazards, trying to explain its appeal. "It's being creative. It's taking a ridiculous idea and then taking it to the next level."

Lamborne, for one, thinks this is only the beginning. That means grease jar T-shirts, parties, pint glasses, contests. And of course, he envisions essays by art students about the layers of meaning in the jar.

Who wouldn't want more of this?

"People are just interested because they never would have thought of it," Lamborne said. When Lamborne posted the jar for sale on eBay, with photos of it (a still life of the jar and a house portrait, with senior Adam Boorstein cradling the jar like a baby), he tried to create some buzz. He wrote about its aesthetic appeal as a piece of modern art. He suggested philanthropy for the not-starving, but definitely broke, housemates.

There's actually quite a bit of grease for sale on eBay -- more than 300 items, including a one-pound can of rifle grease, clock lubricant, vintage grease jars made of copper and ceramic and glass, a 120-pound complete air grease pump system and Sandy, Rizzo and Frenchy dolls from the musical.

So maybe he knew his market. Anyway, he had good timing. Lamborne posted it at the beginning of NCAA March Madness, so he thinks some people searching for U-Md. stumbled on it. He told his family, hoping to elicit some pity.

The jar started getting bids right away. Someone told him it was funny and promised to send $5. One of his uncles, Leesburg graphic artist Sam LaFever, sent money. "It could be the next pet rock!" LaFever said.

The winning bid of $305 came with a directive, Lamborne said one recent afternoon at home with a couple of his housemates and the jar. "He told us to re-market it. So that's what we're doing --"