Friday Postcards - Signs of Spring

I thought this week's postcards should reflect the feeling of Spring that we're enjoying here in Britain at the moment. Of course, in Dollyland, it's Spring all the time. The sky is always blue, the grass is green and sprinkled with flowers, and animals are always young and cute. 

Having said that, the dollies in the postcards below are haymaking which is more of a late summer activity, I believe. But the lambs look Spring-like, so I don't know... Well the weather's always good in Dollyland, whatever the season.

Thought I would just share the message of sisterly love on the back of one of the cards, written in a child's hand-

Dear caroline
I hope you are alright
in everdon
I like it without you.
I rode my scooter down
to the Town
I liked it this afternoon
Love From
Veronica
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

All Laced Up

Look closely at the photo above.  It's an advert from 'Pins and Needles' magazine 1968. But what is it advertising? A lovely lace dress? Or is it something to do with that chic dining table?

It's both!! Send off for a fashionable lace tablecloth, and it comes with a pattern (pattern?) to turn it into a dress. Just drag it off the table, cut a hole for your head, and away you go. So groovy!

Just be warned - it's probably best not to wear it to any dinner parties. Imagine the embarassment of wearing the same thing as the hostess's dining table!

The Cat that Squeaks

You're probably familiar with the Japanese Lucky Cat or Maneki Neko, but I think this one is unusual as it's a rubber squeaky toy. It's also the only one I've seen holding a fish with money coming out of its mouth. They often hold coins, and sometimes fish, but not together. And did I mention IT SQUEAKS?! Brilliant.

I used to think these cats were Chinese, as you see them in Chinese takeaways everywhere. But apparently they have just been adopted by Chinese communities, and their origin is Japanese. Lucky Cats have become quite a popular symbol, with kawaii versions popping up all over the place. I even have a T-shirt with a Hello Kitty version.

Not appropriate clothing for a woman my age, I daresay, but who makes these boring rules, anyway?

Japanese Pose Doll

Have you ever heard of pose dolls? They are one of the kitschest types of doll around and definitely curious too. I wrote a blog a few years ago about how I started to get interested in them. They were usually made in Japan, and I think that probably explains their weirdness. (If you want to see some of the different kinds there are lots of collectors putting their photos on Flickr.)

To me, this is one of the weirder ones (although to collectors she's very cute and lovely, believe it or not). I find the arrangment of her features... well... disturbing, quite frankly. To start with, her mouth is on the same level as her eyes, and she has no discernible nose. Then there are her eyebrows - green dots more than halfway up her forehead. She also has no hands or feet, poor stumpy thing. And given that she's black, her yellow wool hair is not exactly natural, but really that's the least of her problems.

However, there's a happy ending to her story. After she left me, she went to Canada and took up a career in modelling. It's true!

Party Time!

 I think a small celebration is in order today, as this is my 150th post on this blog! (Slight pause while I sip a small glass of sparkling Vimto, nibble on a celebratory cheesy wotsit and put Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart's Pop Party on the record player..) Ah, those memories of 'Junior Choice'...

And what a groovy time we're all having at the party! I've prepared the gingerbread men and a rabbit-shaped jelly with marshmallows in it, I've ordered in plenty of bottles of Corona (if you're my age, you'll know that means fizzy orangeade and cherryade and not Mexican beer), and we have some super fun games to play while we listen to a bizarre mixture of children singing 'Oranges and Lemons' followed by T.Rex with 'Ride a White Swan' and 'Hot Love'. It's an unexpected DJ mash-up from Stewpot, I have to say.

Look how much fun all the children with the weird nasal complaint are having. What is with their noses? Never mind.
Of course, fun was A LOT simpler then. Just look at the list of things you need for the party games -
- Plastic washing up bowl
- Pack of playing cards
- Tin plate for spinning on the floor
- 12 sheets of paper
- A potato wrapped in silver foil
- Box of wrapped sweets
- Tin to hold sweets
- Small prizes - bag of balloons, pencil sharpener, coloured chalks, box of gums, etc.
- Book to balance on head
- Combs and paper
Would that kind of fun satisfy the Wii generation?

Rather marvellously, Stewpot's Pop Party album even comes with invitations. And I'm going to follow his lead, and issue invitations to you all to join in my Curous Objects fun, and submit one (or more) of your own curious objects for inclusion on the blog. Ideally, it will be something that you own yourself, and can provide a good photo of, but so long as I'm allowed to use the photo on the blog, anything will be considered. Send me an email with a photo or link to a photo and tell me more about it, if you'd like to. The best (i.e weirdest, kitschest, most curious) in the next two weeks will win a prize, and in future, I hope to have a regular slot for 'readers' submissions', so may end up publishing them all. Look forward to hearing from you!

Friday Postcards - Spanish Embroidered Cards

 I've been indulging my postcard collecting habit recently, and where I just used to have a few embroidered cards, I now have ..um... several. But you have to admit, a bit of embroidery (or lace, or fabric) adds a wonderful element of kitsch to any card. The first group are the ones that start as kitsch big-eyed illustrations. Could these be any kitschier? These cards generally come from Spain, but there's one French one in there, bottom right.

The next bunch are also based on illustrations, but rather more traditional. Top left is from Madeira, top right from Attica (Greece). These two have very basic embroidery.

But the bottom two are a lot more fancy...

I love the tambourine with the bullfighter on it.

The last group is where the embroidery and frilly fabric has been added to photos. I love the seriousness of the dancers' faces. I don't suppose they knew they were going to have frills and glitter added to them in such a clunky fashion.

I've seen a few different versions of that card bottom right, each one with a different colour dress.

And this last one has been layered, with lace behind, and in front of, a cut-out face. How brilliant is that?

So yes, I now have quite a few, and no, this isn't quite all of them...

The Glass Menagerie

I suppose at some point, someone, somewhere has made a really lovely glass animal, but I'm blessed if I've ever seen one. Instead, I've found a parade of weird misshapen little effigies with eyes that protrude in a most disturbing manner. Just look at these 'cute' deer. And what's with the chains? There was a phase for attaching animal ornaments together with chains - deer, poodles, horses, you name it.

These other creatures are no better - freakish boneless limbs, eyes on stalks, stumps instead of wings. Quite frankly, the only saving grace of glass animals is that they break easily...