Weirdo Supremo

I have borrowed the title of this post from a text just received from my friend-the term made me laugh! The pictures below are posted at the risk of my seeming either weird, not that bright or both, so the title seems appropriate. Perfectly normal scene of a baby on a chair in front of the houses of parliament. I bought 3 of these little babies-I think they are plaster-last weekend in Greenwich. They are currently residing in the dumping ground that I call Dolls House 1, and, at some point, will either take up residence there or become part of a miniature room.

I found this poor, discarded Frankenstein's monster mask behind my car in the local carpark today. I went out in search of pens to continue writing my learning journey books, (I am always on the lookout for the perfect pen-smooth writing, a joy to use and not blobby-and found one recently-which had run out) but took a detour to the charity shop, my downfall and addiction. I could not resist this book. From the author of 'Why Cats Paint'!

I am hoping I can teach Tiger, Lily and Cassie a few moves!

This quote is from a recent read, and made me wonder why I don't think about things more deeply. I love it!

Teddies. 45. Pertinent points from this page in my latest journal.

Envelope gouache doodling. More fun than work.

Thanks for all the comments on my previous post. I see I am not alone!

Some of those purchases I was talking about!

A boy using his new camera.

Illustration of the lens.
The first one is the Kodak Autographic Camera
(the link is to the instruction manual-the internet is a wonderful thing!)
All I saw in the charity shop was the beautiful worn leather case. I had a quick look but waited until I got home to investigate. It is a beautiful thing! It concertinas out of the case and has all sorts of satisfying little controls to twiddle. The photo the other day was taken through the lens-I have no idea how to do ttv (through the viewfinder) photography so that was my version!
In the back of the case it is described as a 'pocket camera'.Maybe my Oxford Bags will have the pockets for the job.
(What I imagine the boy above would be wearing)

The camera was first patented in 1898. It has a wooden film spool and would take either postcard size plates or a film on a roll that was backed with red paper. The picture above is of a little door that opens. It is fastened with a little metal pen. You would open this door, peel back the red paper and then you could write directly onto the film, and your writing would appear when the film was developed. (Hence 'autographic')


The instructions explain why this was a good idea for the amateur-

'The Autographic Record as a Guide
Many amateurs have distinctly improved the quality of their work by making notes, at the time of exposure, of the prevailing conditions. As. Bright light, 1/25 sec., stop No. 8, which, by the way, can be easily abbreviated to: B. 1/25, 8. By keeping such records the amateur can quickly find the cause of failure, if any. By comparing negatives and records he will soon get a line on his errors and when he knows what his errors are, he can easily rectify them. It is obvious that the best way to make these records is autographically - on the film, at the time.'

This is all very well-but what a faff! I like the way it says 'the cause of failure, if any',
conceding that even the amateur may be able to succeed!


The other purchases take less explaining.

Loved the colours of these cups.

The gold boxes contain incense and look lovely with my temple dog! I bought the card recently too-the one on there is eighteenth century-I am not sure about my broken one though. I have had him for a long time, and he is one of the things I always find room for somewhere.

I think these are napkin rings.

They are bone china and from the Philippines.

They add to my growing collection of faces.

Saturday Morning

We went to the cafe for breakfast this morning and the first thing that fell out of the paper was a beautiful poster for this clothing company. I had a look at their website when I got home and whether or not I buy any clothes-(I would like to but hate the sizing difficulty of internet clothes shopping)-the website alone was pleasure enough. The way they have got the sound of the wind on the part I linked to is just lovely! I love catalogues that imagine a lifestyle as well as showing the clothes. Especially if they are beautiful and gypsyish like these are!

On a different subject-I am going to attempt to make our computer connection wireless tomorrow so if it all goes wrong that will be why I am not responding to any emails, should there be any! Hopefully it will not go wrong but I just have this feeling.

When we walked back from the cafe-via the Cat's Protection League charity shop-I found a great chalkboard/easel. Modelled on it are a crochet handbag from Greenwich market on Thursday and a gingerbread girl from the same stall. There is something so jolly about her that I loved when I saw her hiding at the bottom of a basket of various crocheted and knitted items. These are all examples of things that can be procured for £3!

The gingerbread girl is made by the Knickerbocker toy company of New York. The slogan on the label is 'JOY OF A TOY'. There is a lovely picture here of a gingerbread couple-with a girl like mine.

Charity Shop Goodies and An Award

Today I had to go and rescue the lovely Raven I bought from Sonia from the post office. We then treated ourselves to a cafe breakfast in Gambardella's. I treated myself to a visit to the two local charity shops. The Cat's Protection League yielded the goodies today although Andy did get a Ken Hom cookery book from The British Red Cross. Lovely Laura Ashley chintz-it is very pretty chintz and at least a metre and a half-£1!

A golden hands patchwork and applique book-you might like this Anne! I want a patchwork shirt like this but sadly have not got the patience or skill to make one. The picture is just so summery.

I got a book about exploring the woodland-quite interesting but not very exciting pictures. Apart from one of a Jay with a very bouffant hairdo!

My favourite purchase though was a World Film Publications 1949 Preview. It has colour pictures of lots of actors of the day as well as articles and photo story strips from films. My favourite part was a section entitled 'The Stars Read The Book Of The Film'

I didn't scan that page though-just a few of the stars themselves. I love the colours in these old photos.

I saw a girl on the train today who looked just like this. (Rita Hayworth-not John McCallum!)

Love the dog tooth checks!
But look what they did to Kathleen!

Anne of Gaal Creative has kindly given me an award. Thanks Anne!

Anne makes beautiful cards, is a talented photographer and has just opened an Etsy shop. Go and visit her to find out more!

There are only two rules to follow with this blog award:
Post the award on your blog.
Pass it along to whomever you want.

As Anne said, the passing along part is hard-I love lots of blogs. The list is always getting bigger. I am going to choose a few.

1. Siepsfabriek

2. StevensHappyAccidents

3. Poetikat's Invisible Keepsakes

4. The Dark Raven's Nest (Sonia mentioned above)

5. Geninne's Art Blog

I could happily give everyone in my blog list this award really as I love all of them. I don't want anyone to feel left out which is the problem I have choosing only some of them! Indecisive Libra that's me! I love where else they might lead me too with all of their lists. Endless possibilities!

Back tomorrow for SSS!