You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘toys’ category.
I have a soft spot for things that glow in the dark, and the members of this motley crew are no exception…
The players, from left to right: The Seeker by Jeff Soto, Ice-Bat by David Horvath & Sun-Min Kim, Chipp S3 by ProjectSquadt, Magman by Touma
Like this:
… on our recent travels.
rocks rock!
I found these wonderful polychromatic stones (l to r: lapis lazuli, hawk’s eye, blue quartz, apatite, rhyolite, ruby and ruby in muscovite) at De Oude Aarde (or ‘The Ancient Earth’) – a tiny, but absolutely fascinating, rock museum in Giethoorn. Even if the sun had been shining while we were there I would’ve happily whiled away a few hours in its darkened rooms in the company of its beautiful rock collection! Is it too late to retrain as a geologist?
If you’re ever passing through Groningen, and fancy a rummage through teetering piles and dusty boxes of remarkable vintage bits, antiques and other-peoples-discarded-junk then I can also highly recommend Klinkhamer Antiek & Curiosa (Folkingestraat 50, 9711JZ, Groningen, NL). It’s an absolute treasure-trove!
I have no particular knowledge of antiques or vintage stuff and, when rummaging, am simply drawn to things that appeal to me aesthetically (rather than things that might tick some ‘vintage cool’ box). When we spotted this exceedingly handsome owl, peering out at us from a crowded cabinet, we knew he had to come home with us!
He was, apparently, carved from German Black Forest wood at the end of the 19th Century. He is hollow inside, with a hinge at the back of his neck allowing his head/the lid to be lifted, and his beautiful shining yellow eyes are made of glass. I wondered what purpose he might’ve served, and on doing a bit of googling have discovered that he was probably once some Victorian’s string dispenser (hence the hollow body, the hinged head, and the little hole beneath his beak from which the string would have emerged)… I like to think of him patiently assisting in the preparation of brown paper packages tied up with string, or perhaps winking rakishly from his place on the mantelpiece at his straight-backed, pursed-lipped Victorian companion.
Living, as I currently do, in one of the world’s smaller and most densely populated countries, I was drawn to this tin toy eland because he reminds me of the wide open expanses of Southern Africa :)
Faded embossed writing on his belly suggests he was made by Britains Ltd, probably in the 1920′s (Britains mainly produced tin toy soldiers but between the two World Wars public anti-war sentiment permeated the market and they started making animals instead).
The old Dutch tile (no idea of its age… but I doubt it’s a 17th Century original!) is a beauty, and compliments the eland nicely!
And the meerkat skull?
Well, like its previous owner, it’s simply perfect!
from the MoMA‘s ‘B Movie Posters’ postcard collection: ‘Not of this Earth’ 1957 dir. Roger Corman, ‘Mothra’ 1961 dir. Ishiro Honda, ‘Tarantula’ 1955 dir. Jack Arnold, ‘Attack of the Crab Monsters’ 1957 dir. Roger Corman
In the spirit of the day, here’s a scar(il)y lo-fi monster movie for your viewing pleasure.
Let the T E R R O R begin!
H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N
Props that were within easy reach and used to make the above:
‘Lucky Bats’ mobile by Flensted, cardboard cut-out Amsterdam houses by vanmarledesign and the star of the show, Gamera, by Revoltech
Like this:
It has been a little damp around these parts recently (lots of rain dragged in by wild horses!)
Luckily the newest member of the household arrived fully equipped to deal with the local weather (being a Londoner he’s no stranger to a touch of the wet stuff).
The grey has been punctuated by bursts of orange and yellow (this is why I love autumn so!), and when the sun manages to break through those clouds everything *glows* as if illuminated from within… even my breakfast…
Autumn really is a very special season…
[The dunny was designed by Triclops, and is part of the Kidrobot 'Ye Olde English' Dunny series. The owl kite was made by Dutch artist & illustrator Leendert Masselink]
I didn’t expect to be absent from this space for quite such a long time, but some sort of internet service provider snafu meant we were without a ‘phone or internet connection for almost two weeks after our move. Not so good for work productivity and ‘public relations’ with my clients, but very good for unpacking boxes and… customising Munnys!
blank 7″ GID Munny from Kidrobot
Alas, poor Yorick!
This little fella was inspired in part by a new neighbour (our new home is very close to Artis and, although I have mixed feelings about zoos, I decided to become a ‘friend’ so I could visit the Red Pandas, and sit in Artis’s beautiful Japanese rock garden, as often as I like).
Red Panda Jungle Munny… on a mission to spread the word about the importance of preserving his, and other creatures’, jungly natural habitats…
