Malvern Flea And Antique Fair–August Bank Holiday 2021

I think the August Bank Holiday Malvern Flea/Antique Fair Lu will be the last one Lu and I attend for this year ……..

…….. there’s a couple more in the coming months but as the days get colder and wetter we’re pretty much fair weather friends and we can wait until next Easter now I reckon.

As I always say, for us it’s the best day out for pure pleasure for just £5 (there’s not even a charge for the parking) we could wish for …………

…….. with hundreds of antique and/or bric a brac stalls all in one huge field and under several assorted sheds ……..

……. and as per usual I took plenty of photos of the things we drooled over wishing we both had much bigger houses to fill ………

…….. made us smile ……..

……. or lusted after as objects of great desire.

We both fell in love with this tableware by Rob Turner, I don’t think there’s any age to it, but it was just so pretty.  I love my Royal Doulton Minden, but this sorely tempted me ……..

……. and I intend to do some further research on it when I have a spare five minutes.

The cocktail cabinet above is what I will regret and remember for the rest of my life!  It was only £40, I would have bought it in a shot had I got somewhere to put it and then bought it lovingly back to it’s former glory. The picture doesn’t do it any justice at all.  The mirror on the back was painted with red and gold cocktail shakers, glasses etc. and the red and silver mirror section at the front only turned all the way round to reveal spaces for bottles and glasses!  Can you imagine what state I was in, in the presence of something of such great beauty?  OMG I wanted it soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo badly.

I am still looking for my little bit of Lourdes, this (above) was a little too battered and I did find a tiny holy water bottle, but the price was a little to much for my purse, it seemed as if the seller was just throwing prices out left right and centre and I couldn’t be bothered to haggle, so my quest will deliciously continue.

I did however buy this ………….

I’ve never seen anything like it before.  I thought it was glass but on picking it up it was a heavy plastic. It was so unusual and quite large. I picked it up and put it down several times and then decided to haggle as there was one broken flower on it. I got down to £3, which wouldn’t even buy a cup of coffee and it now sits in my autumnal themed lounge atop a Poundland mercury glass candlestick with a smaller glass encased candle inside.

It was another brilliant day, I bought a couple more things, one in particular that required Lucy and my taking turns in carrying it round for the rest of the day  ……….but that’s for another post!

Autumnal Door Wreath

This is the first bit of crafting I’ve done in a long, long while, summer adventures and the school holidays have just got in the way, as they should have!

I used a basic twig wreath (£1 I think) bought from the Home Bargains Christmas Range (2020) with this sort of idea in mind.

Considering just how out of practice I have become, it all came together quite quickly and well.

I started by glue gunning fabric leaves from The Works (£1 for a bag of 50 assorted Autumn colours) all the way around at various angles.

I then added three packs of these paper flowers, also from The Works. I believe I bought them in the Christmas sale, possibly a couple of years back now. I don’t think they’ve had any in recently.

I had collected some small beech cones (well, I think that’s what they are) from the nearby park the other day with this specific purpose in mind. I think they work really well, despite such a mismatch of materials, something I don’t usually feel comfortable doing, but they successfully filled in the gaps.

Smaller gaps were then filled in with sections cut from a green glitter necklace I’ve had forever, but knew I would eventually find a use for.  I’m not now 100% sure about including them, but I think that’s me being super picky.

I thought I was finished at that point, but when I held the wreath up there was still something missing, more foliage (?) but I didn’t have anything of a natural type nature, then I remembered some wooden laser cut sprigs I had, would they work?

I coloured the sprigs with a green pen and think I got away with it ……….

…… despite, as I said, being totally out of my comfort zone using so may varied materials.

The wreath is now hanging on my door as I post.  On looking at the pictures I can see it’s not quite as rounded on the left hand side as I would like, but I know I am super critical of my own work.

It’ll be in place until just before Halloween when I will probably replace it with something more spooky and then put it back for perhaps for more few weeks until December 1st when I will going into festive mode.  Happy days!

Antony Gormley’s Another Place, Crosby Beach, Sefton

No trip to Southport would be complete without a trip to Antony Gormley’s Another Place, an installation of 100 cast iron, life size figures on Crosby Beach, in Sefton.

Another Place, Mariners Road, Crosby Beach, Liverpool, Merseyside, L23 6SX

The haunting sculptures are spread out along three kilometres of the foreshore and stretching almost one kilometre out to sea.

Each Another Place figure weighs 650 kilos and are made from casts of the artist's own body.  They all look out to sea, staring at the horizon in “silent expectation”

“According to Antony Gormley, Another Place harnesses the ebb and flow of the tide to explore man's relationship with nature. The seaside is a good place to do this. Here time is tested by tide, architecture by the elements and the prevalence of sky seems to question the earth's substance. In this work human life is tested against planetary time. This sculpture exposes to light and time the nakedness of a particular and peculiar body. It is no hero, no ideal, just the industrially reproduced body of a middle-aged man trying to remain standing and trying to breathe, facing a horizon busy with ships moving materials and manufactured things around the planet.”

I have been several times now, and love it more each time I visit.

It would be so wonderful to live close enough to visit every day, to see how the beach and installation change with the seasons, light, weather and tide.  I have only ever seen it on a dull day …………..

…….. with the sea so far out its almost impossible to pick out against the skyline.

It’s without doubt, not the prettiest of beaches ………….. but what’s been created there is special and holds a very special place in my heart …….. perhaps even more so than the beautiful beaches of my beloved Greece, this place makes me feel peaceful and calm, and weirdly, very safe.

Objects Of Desire In Southport

One of Lu’s and my ports of call for a good old mooch during our recent trip to Southport was the Royal Arcade (127-131 Lord Street, Southport) with over sixty independent trader stalls spread across 30,000 square feet of pure treasure (and a little bit of trash),  including memorabilia,  vintage toys, collectables and antiques plus a few new hand crafted items. 

Picture from :- https://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/news/southport-west-lancs/29-reasons-lord-street-southport-9268133

Although we didn’t actually make any considered purchases, there were plenty of ooooo ahhhhh moments as we explored the three floors and many fabulously filled nooks and crannies during our long mooch round, never knowing what we’d find round the next corner……….

……… though sorely tempted, we chose to allow the Simon Cowell doll to remain in its locked glass cabinet for another more enthusiastic browser to snap up for £15!

However, I was torn, either for Marc or myself by these hear no, see no, speak no evil jointed skeletons, they are soooooooo unbelievably Marc. They were £24, perhaps if they’d been around the £16 mark my money could have possibly been in danger. 

Also, way out of my price bracket and with no place to put them were these large, heavy, metal, gothic style candlestick mirrors at £345, gorgeous!

Lu wanted this Garfield phone £40 or £45. She had so many Garfield toys when she was growing up, I think she still may have a couple hidden away somewhere. This in the 80’s/90’s, she said, was the epitome of sophistication in her young eyes!

I think I’ve said before, I am on the market for a dolls house, but because I am so limited for space now, it will have to be a very small one, therefore even harder to find.  This was obviously far too big, the frame made of metal with warped, wooden floor upstairs, a project  ……. it was £65.

Lu and I both love a mirror, this was so sentimental and slushy ……and I think about £185.  I have an old mirror in my hall cupboard, I’d love to have a go at painting it one day, although painting isn’t really my forte. What do you think about using acrylic pens, would the effect be as effective as paint?

We also love a glass with gold trim, especially for our Midori melon liqueur of an evening ………. this may well have been our purchase of the day, however the whole stall was a mess and no price tags and we didn’t want to walk around with it for the rest of our visit to find out it was a bit too expensive for our taste, so its now back to the charity shops looking for something similar.

And finally, a while back Iris saw a bright red typewriter in a charity shop in Evesham for just £10 and said she’d like one.  Yes, I could kick myself now for not going back for it.  However, I spotted this children’s Lilliput typewriter in the Royal Arcade and I was really surprised just how sturdy it was, made of metal, not plastic as I had imagined, just like a miniature version of an old portable adult one.  This was £35 but it got me thinking when I got back home. I’ve found another one (among quite a few) dating back to the 1960’s in it’s original case.  After exchanging messages with the seller re: condition etc, I’ve put in a bid, fingers crossed for Iris’s “Nanny Christmas present” this year.  If my bid is successful I know I will need to buy a new ribbon (again researched and sourced on eBay).  Iris will be so thrilled and no doubt immediately set about writing a book …….. the only trouble is I know Bertie will love it equally too ……. so if needs be, I know there will be another on eBay ……. and if it isn’t the success I anticipate, well, I can see me using it on my crafting projects!

This motorbilty scooter made me smile outside another of Southport’s shops, it’s been covered with flat backed gems, not that sparkly, so I doubt they are proper Swarovski crystals ……..

……. hopefully it’s going to be a very long time before I’ll need one of these, but when I do, guess what I’m going to do with it?!!!