The North Wind & The Sun - Illustrations by Brian Wildsmith

I was really pleased to come across this book at the local op-shop, because it features the wonderful lively and quirky illustrations of one of my favourite illustrators, Brian Wildsmith, who I've blogged about previously with his books The Owl and the Woodpecker and Python's Party. 

The book is called "The North Wind and The Sun" and is a fable by La Fontaine, first published in 1964. The fable centres around the Northwind and the Sun, and how they compete by different methods to get the horseman to remove his new cloak.  

The fable has a great moral lesson (see below) but it's the whimsical and playful illustrations that transform this story into a delightful book to look at and read.  Using a multi-media approach Wildsmith's imagery mixes gouache, some kind of crayon or oil pastel (I imagine the latter), collage and inks to create his trademark expressive illustrative style full of energy and movement. 

"The North Wind and The Sun" - A Fable by La Fontaine:

One morning the North Wind and The Sun saw a horseman wearing a new cloak. 

"That young man looks very pleased with his new cloak" said the North Wind.  "But I could easily blow it off his back if I wanted to"
"I don't think you could" said the Sun.  "But let us both try to do it.  You can try first."

The North Wind began to blow and blow and blow.  People had to chase after their hats.  Leaves were blown from the trees.  All the animals were fightened.  The ships in the harbour were sunk.  The North Wind blew with all his might, but it was no use, for the horseman just pulled his cloak more tightly around him.

"My turn now," cried the Sun.

And as he gave out his gentle heat, insects hummed and flowers opened.  The birds began to sing.  The animals lay down to sleep.  And the people came out to gossip.  The horseman began to feel very hot, and when he came to a river he took off his clothes and went for a swim.

So the Sun was able to acheive by warmth and gentleness what the North Wind in all his strength and fury could not do.

A great lesson for us all I think!

Blue found treasures

I don't have many blue things in my house, with the exception of a stack of blue Willow plates it's not normally a colour I'm particularly drawn to.  Or maybe it's just the era of designs and patterns I like weren't really doing a lot of blue designs.  Either way, it's resulted in a distinct lack of blue things that I've collected. 

However, I picked up two blue things on the same day and thought they worked so well together.  I bought the very cute enamel blue and white polka dot teapot (I do actually have the matching enamel coffee pot in the same colour) and the rather lovely creamer featuring a stylised floral pattern in the same royal blue hues.  The ceramic creamer was manufactured by Sandland in England, it's not a pottery company I've ever heard of before but looks like they were producing designs from the mid 1940's up until the 1970's. 

Lovely to have some new blue treasures to add to my collection! 

Strawberry kettles & crochet mats

 

On two separate op-shop expeditions recently, I picked up this very sweet old-fashioned whistling kettle and a collection of crochet mats.  I already have a couple of vintage whistling kettles, but it was the pretty strawberry pattern that appealed to me with this one, and it was just too cute to resist.      

The crochet mats in assorted sizes and patterns were picked up for the pricely sum of $1 for the lot!  I don't really use crochet mats for anything, I just loved the different patterns (they're rather like enlarged snowflakes) and figure I'm sure to find a use for them sometime in the future.     

Lovely patterned old tins

I seem to be adding old vintage and second-hand tins to the list of things I find myself collecting these days! I've picked up the above beauties over several months from various different places - second-hand shops, vintage markets, and the rather lovely blue willow patterned tin was given to me by a very sweet friend. 

The blue willow tin and the yellow floral tin are old Australian 'Willow' brand designs, whilst the tin with the bird illustrations and the gorgeous floral tin tray are vintage designs made in England. 

Vintage teapot & jug

Several months ago I bought this very sweet vintage teapot (I think I bought it when I visited Inglewood), which is made in England by Arthur Wood, with a pattern called 'Summertime'.  I was really drawn to the stylised floral pattern, and the colour palette of the florals on the yellow glazed teapot - definitely not the usual old-fashioned florals found on English vintage ceramics. 

Then a few weeks later in Daylesford I came across this large jug, and instantly recognised the pattern as being the same as the teapot.  I thought it was a bit unusual that the jug was white, whilst the teapot had a yellow glaze - and on turning the jug over I learnt the jug was made in New Zealand, and wasn't part of the English Arthur Wood collection. 

It's a bit of a mystery how the two pieces have the same pattern (maybe the pattern was licensed for the Australia-Pacific region?) but either way I like that the two pieces don't match perfectly, and they make a great addition to my random collection of vintage chinaware.

Little Golden Book - Animal Book

Cats cuddle. Cats purr. Nothing's as smooth as cats' fur.

Mice scuttle. Mice squeak. When the cat's about, Mice sneak.

Owls hoot and Owls blink. No one knows just what Owls think.

I'm always on the hunt for second-hand Little Golden Books, and I've collected some fabulous ones recently.  One of my favourites is this My Little Golden Animal Book, which is full of very cute animal illustrations - farm animals, domestic animals, flying animals and swimming animals are all here.

The book is dated 1963 and features little rhyming dities to accompany each animal, with the very sweet illustrations drawn by Moritz Kennel. 

Vintage children's chalk-board & lettering set

Several months ago, I bought this rather cute vintage children's chalk-board and lettering set. The reason I bought it is that it is exactly the same one I had as a child, and it bought back all-sorts of memories when I saw it!

It's a rather nifty little set - the top of the case is a chalkboard that also doubles as a magnetic board, and on opening the case you find two trays of magnetic lower & uppercase letters and numbers, chalk, a chalk-board rubber and a set of descriptive cards. All housed in its own carry case with handle. Tres chic!

The assorted descriptive cards fit onto the chalkboard, and you can either trace around them with the chalk, or pop the magnetic letters into the blank spaces. You can also just put the letters directly onto the magnetised board and create your own words and sentences - or you can simply draw on the chalkboard with chalk.

It all seems very simple and naive compared to the sophisticated toys and video games available on ipads and iphones for children these days, but I think it's much more inventive and imaginative....although sadly it's not as light, and it doesn't fit in a handbag!

Mixies

 'Mixies' card game from the mid 1950's

 

     Mixies colourful characters in thier 'correct' bodies (above) or a little mixed up (below)

I've been collecting a few second-hand and vintage children's bits and pieces recently, and one of my recent purchases is this fantastic set of 'Mixies' playing cards.  The cards are from about 1956 and is a puzzle-style card game where you can 'mix colourful heads, bodies and legs to make thousands of the zaniest, funniest circus figures!'

I'm loving the crazy circus theme, and of course the fabulous 1950's graphic-style stylised illustrations.  The cards are reminiscent of a non-digital era - pre-computer games, i-pads, Nintendo's, Wii and Angry Birds!      

Vintage teacup trio's

 

I'm loving this Autumn weather we're having, cool mornings and evenings but with beautiful warm sunny days. The tree's and shrubbery here in Kyneton is changing and every evening the garden is full of fallen crunchy leaves.  All around the town green leaves are changing daily into golden yellows and firey reds.

The change of seasons reminded me of these vintage teacup trio's I picked up a while ago from our local Salvo's.  They have an Autumnal air to them with decorative red roses, deep teal leaves, and bronzed leaf patterns.  Perfect for drinking endless cups of earl-grey tea.          

Inglewood - a collectors treasure trove

 

One of the many second-hand and collectable stores jam-packed with old wares

vintage furniture, books, kitchenware, kids toys, ceramics etc.......

     Some of the decorative signs, window and doorway details on the historic buildings

 

Inglewood...... it's a tiny little town north of Bendigo and there aint' much going on.......HOWEVER, what it lacks in size and population it certainly makes up for in its concentrated selection of antique, vintage and collectable stores. 

 

Once a small gold mining town, Inglewood is a great example of a Victorian Gold Rush town demonstrated with it's period architecture.  But most importantly I'd heard it was a great place to visit for finding second-hand paraphernalia, and it didn't disappoint!

 

There are at least 4 or 5 large shops filled to the brim with all-sorts of vintage, retro, antique, second-hand and collectable items - from ceramics, kitchenware, tins, old packaging, furniture and books, to childrens toys, clothing, machinery and tools.  Phew!  

 

It's well worth a visit for an afternoon.....take a bag......take some money.......and take your time to browse, fossick, hunt and collect for a few hours.  

yellow.....orange.....green

 some recent 2nd hand purchases in accidental colour groups......yellow,orange and green

A few weeks ago I was visiting Daylesford - and it's impossible for me to visit Daylesford without a trip to the fabulous Mill Markets to see what second hand, vintage or retro bits-and-pieces I can find.

It was only when I got home and unpacked my goodies, that I realised I'd unintentionally purchased in colour groups!  My little second-hand lovelies were all yellow, orange and green.

I picked up the very cute retro melamine cup (love the square shaped handle), saucer and plate set featuring a yellow rose pattern, which sits so happily on the ceramic plate with the orange and grey geo pattern on the rim.  I also picked up 3 jugs; a small English jug with a yellow and green floral pattern, the larger orange melamine jug, and finally the large green and white polka-dot jug (which I think is Australian).

And lastly I found an old English 'Mackintosh's' tin, with an over-scaled daisy pattern - in orange, yellow and green!    

Retro coffee pots....and diamonds

 

I think I'm a very easy person to buy presents for...... pretty much anything ceramic, second-hand, vintage or retro - I'm guaranteed to love!  No diamonds, pearls, emeralds (OK, I do like emeralds - my birthstone and favourite colour), but really, I'm not one for expensive gold jewellery or fancy gemstones, so I think Mr B has it pretty easy when it comes to buying birthdays and Christmas gifts.  

 

He did particularly well this Christmas when I received these two rather funky retro coffee pots!  The gorgeous teal coloured coffee pot is marked as 'Sadler' England, and the other pot is a 'Kathie Winkle' design by Broadhurst, England.

 

I can't find much information on the Sadler design, but it's a really beautiful colour and features an embossed geometric pattern and stripes on the body, with part of the geo design echoed on the lid.  The Kathie Winkle pattern is called 'Roulette' and features her trademark stamped black outlines with green, orange and light blue hand-painted detail, dating from about the 1970's.  The shape of the Roulette coffee pot is the same as another Kathie Winkle design I picked up recently.

 

So there I was on Christmas day, one happy lady with two second-hand ceramic coffee pots - and no diamonds!    

A rather quirky second-hand kids cook book!

'My Fun-to-Cook Book' illustrated by Martin Mayhew 

I picked up this rather quirky children's cook book from a second-hand book shop recently.  First published in 1969, it's full of these fabulously crazy child-like illustrations by Martin Mayhew which appear to have been done with coloured texta's, felt tips or magic markers.

I love the care-free and relaxed style of the illustrations, and the cute visual step-by-step diagrams to accompany the recipes and cooking methods.  The illustrative style is such a world away from sophisticated computer generated illustrations or stylised photography, but I can see how these simple and fun images would relate to children, and make cooking seem quite easy.

I love having these sort of books as reference material to remind me that everything doesn't have to be 'perfect' or too finished, sometimes a quick scribble can be just as visually effective as a fully polished piece of artwork. 

Fab vintage second-hand finds

I've been rummaging around in the three second-hand shops here in Kyneton, and I've come across a few treasures recently. 

Last week I picked up this super-cute yellow embossed Carlton Ware dish in the shape of a leaf with a design called Apple Blossom, and little silver teaspoon.  After a bit of research it looks like the Apple Blossom design was introduced around 1937 and produced until the 1950's.  I love the backstamp with the decorative Carlton Ware script, and I've since found out the 'Australian Design Registration Applied For' on the backstamp was used from about 1935 onwards, in order to prevent the Japanese from copying the designs.  In the 1930's the Japanese were copying good quality ceramics and Carlton Ware was a target, however a clause in the South East Asia Treaty Organisation between Australia and Japan meant that designs registered in Australia couldn't be copied by the Japanese - therefore many designs were registered in Australia!   


I also found this Broadhurst coffee pot with a design by Kathie Winkle.  The pattern is called Woodland and features classic Kathie Winke style of strong black geometric lines (created by rubber stamping), with a limited colour palette of orange and olive green applied by handpainting.  The tall, statuesque coffee pot is the Riviera shape which was also designed by Kathie Winkle about the mid 1960's, specifically to allow for rubber stamped patterns.  Again I love the backstamp which incorporates and celebrates not only the pattern design, but the ceramic shape design, as well as the actual name of the designer.