All about my adventures in finding things - vintage, pre-loved or uniquely new - and, in some cases,
making them 'dandy' by adding to them.
dan·dy [dan-dee] adjective: something or someone of exceptional or first-rate quality.
I totally forgot about this recent find when I posted my Christmassy Found Friday last week - mostly because it was in our bedtime reading spot with all the other little Christmas stories we have been reading lately.
I found this 1979 Golden Book telling of an 1822 story the other week - and well it's fitting I forgot it last Friday as it's much more appropriate to share with you today.
I am away taking in the festive season with my family so may find myself too full of cheer to post for a but so until then and wherever you find yourself this Christmas Eve
My 'vintage books for how they look' obsession continues - sometimes I like the content too - like the graphic scientific depictions of Australian Insects or the swing after swing rhythm of golfers (reminds me of my Dad - although he doesn't need instruction) or the quote inside the History of The World "What is all knowledge but recorded experience and a product of history" (Thomas Carlyle). That is kind of how I feel about the old objects I collect - they have history recorded on them and other peoples experiences too. The child mannequin hand, although sadly missing 1 finger, and the foot I found at reverse garbage, a favourite recycle centre - that was all there was - I'm sure there is a history in that too.
So here is Found Friday or as I like to call it today - Sourced Sunday - oops! Better late than never.
The first of this weeks finds could see me getting all studious but really my love of these has nothing at all to do with maths. I saw this beat up box and was immediately drawn but the graphics (as grubby as it looked)
The contents for me mean inspire never ending possibilities of graphic sculptural displays - line, form and shape, building block heaven.
These books are to add to my growing collection of vintage books I have because I like the covers - why not! I love the way they go together in that perfect favourite colour combination way, red and green-blue - it makes you want to sail away to somewhere coastal - like, let's see? George Town! This mini tourist plate joins the collection featured in this July Found Friday - wall display coming soon.
Lastly here are my two favourite Instagram finding shots this week
I found this ribbon peeking out of a basket at my sisters place - material magic if you ask me - wicker and black and white stripes with a sideline of soft pink.
I found this little house with red shutters on a walk around Stanmore yesterday trying (in vain) to get a little person to sleep in the pram. It immediately made me smile and think of the Miffy book Santa bought for the very same little person the year that he was born (1 week old in fact) "Mr and Mr's Bunny lived in a house with scarlet shutters on their own" ..... "if we could have a baby now how lovely it would be then I could shop and cook and sew for three". It is lovely too!
I hope that your weekend has been lovely and that you have had time to notice things peeking out at you as you have gone along.
As if I don't have enough unfinished projects of my own I have been collecting other peoples again and the accessories.
And This 70's or 80's little rose serving plate - black forest cake anyone?
And last but not least this sweet vintage children's books which starts with the ABC's then numbers then nursery rhymes
What I'll be finding next is more time for finding - and as I mentioned earlier this week more time for making the finds I am not showing you - those projects 1 through 1005 - dandy!
What will you be finding this weekend? Or are you hoping for a surprise?
The paper posts are coming to a close and there is soooo much paper related art and craft I could show you but I have to draw the line somewhere however I can hardly do a week of paper without including books now can I? Books but not as we know them.
I am sure you are probably familiar with the recent trend of folded book pages sculptures - like this beautiful image by Curious Details.
Or the others that show incredible carved scenes made from old books.
They are beautiful and very clever but I have found and fallen in love with some works that have taken it just that bit further - they manage to retain the story at the heart of the book.
These amazing works are by artist Su Blackwell - Alice, A Mad Tea-Party and Little Red Riding Hood.
You can see more amazing book scultpures via her website Su Blackwell - and that is where I discovered this mad little moving sculpture video of her work The Merry-go-round. It feels to me very old world european fair ground and I was transported to a vintage european summer holiday in a foreign film where I was wearing a red polka dot dress eating an ice-cream - I hope you are transported too!
I went for a little finding outing today - very briefly. I love to look at the children's book section of op shops in the hope of finding a little vintage or classic gem. I never overlook the torn or falling apart ones as often the illustrations are beautiful enough to be framed art in their own right. I would never consider breaking up a perfectly good book to produce art for the walls, books are sacred like that, but if the book has seen better days then they are worth a look for a single page that is perfect. I found a book today that was just that 'A Home for Bunny' - it isn't that old, a printing from 1983, but the original book was published in 1956. Here is the page I have taken from it with an idea of the frame I will put around it. I think it would be beautiful in a little boys nursery or possibly twins "And that was his home".
If you’re like us and have a 4-year-old boy who is active, inquisitive and who loves to build (is there another kind?), then there’s a good chance you’ve already amassed an impressive collection of LEGO. It’s as ubiquitous in our house as matchbox cars and as on equally high rotation as the breakfast milkshake.
A few weeks ago we decided to indulge Cohen’s LEGO passion and took him to see The Art of the Brick exhibition on its final day in Sydney. Nathan Sawaya is a New York-based artist whose creates large-scale sculptures and portraits using LEGO. His works were surprising and impressive and included a series of skulls, the Earth and a several full-scale human figures (the swimmer mid-stroke was a standout).
Unsurprisingly, Cohen’s favourite was the massive T-Rex skeleton. But the apples were what caught my eye:
Also unsurprisingly, after Cohen took a lightning quick lap of the exhibition space with the requisite “this is so cool… awesome cool”, within about five minutes came the familiar “please can I have some LEGO, Mumma?” While his consumer instinct is already finely attuned, not so much his appreciation of (albeit pop) culture. Maybe we’ll just have to slap a bit more yoghurt on him.
From Cohen’s passion to one of mine: children’s books. Well, it’s more of an obsession, really. I love kids’ books – mad for them. I especially love the ones that rhyme cleverly and the ones where the illustration takes up the whole page and don’t even get me started on the books that have both. I try to limit my purchases to a few a month, supplemented with a hit from the local library every three weeks. I have it under control and it’s for Cohen and I can stop whenever I want, okay?
While I was researching appley goodness for this post I happened upon this book:
How to Make an Apple Pie and see the world by Marjorie Priceman. It starts, “Making an apple pie is really very easy…. Unless, of course, the market is closed. In that case go home and pack a suitcase.” The book then takes readers on a journey around the world to collect the necessary ingredients and at last bake the pie (recipe included).
I’m usually a touch-it-before-I-buy-it kinda gal, and in the case of a kids’ book, want to read it cover to cover and be swept away by it before I make it mine, I mean, Cohen’s. But finding little finds is not always a predictable business. Sometimes you stumble across a treasured trinket in the council toss-out pile in front of your neighbour’s house; others, you spend days or weeks scouring the internet and wearing out your dialling digit to no avail. Alas ‘twas the case with this book. After many failed attempts to track down a copy in Sydney, I gave in and ordered it online.
I was taken by the whimsy of this book and hope that I love it, I mean, I hope Cohen loves it when it arrives next week.
My final nibble of the apple is the Big Apple, New York. It started late January 2012 when a friend sent me this clip, part of the marketing campaign for the movie, The Chronicle. It features three human-shaped remote control planes flying around New York.
I showed Cohen and he was enthralled. His first question with wide-eyed wonder: “Mumma, where is that? I want to go there.”
Ever since then the idea of a holiday to New York has been a faint but fairly constant buzz in the back of my mind…kind of like the low hum of a party down the street that you’d like to crash. Then last week, I came across this photo on Pinterest:
Painters on the Brooklyn Bridge Suspender Cables-October 7, 1914, Eugene de Salignac http://www.flickr.com/photos/mopa1/5710937421
There’s something about this picture that I find utterly enticing. I want to climb up on the suspension cables and disappear into the vanishing point, into New York’s vanishing point.
Logic and a quick glance at my bank balance tell me it’s unlikely that we’ll find our way to New York this year. Then again, there’s that background buzz, which I’m rather enjoying, so who knows.
Some people would probably say that New York is drawing a bit of a long bow in terms of ‘an apple a day’. I guess I can only say this… long bow; bow and arrow; William Tell, famed 14th century marksman; William Tell, famed 14th century marksman who is said to have shot an apple off his son’s head; apple.
