My birthday gifts

My birthday was 10 days ago, but I was so busy these days and I neglected my blog. I took a sick day today, in order to heal from a flue, that kept nagging me for some time now. So, I have found the time to take pictures of some of my birthday presents, of the hand made, vintage and second hand ones, my favorite kind of presents.

My friend Rodica made me these beautiful bags. The bigger one is from an interesting fabric that looks like paper.

She also made me the white blouse in this photo. The vintage Japanese yellow cardigan is also a gift from her, but form last year.

This beautiful fancy dress is also made by Rodica, initially for her sister who wore it for some special occasions. But her sister decided to give it to me, as I usually wear fancy dresses with cardigans and such in informal situations, too. I was very glad to receive it. 

My friend Maria gave me a ring for my figural jewelry collection. Also, she transformed for me a nineties troll doll without any hair or clothing. She made the hair out of a mineral and she created for the doll a cosmic dress :). She never liked troll dolls but I like them a lot, so she spend a good deal of time on it :). 

Also, she transformed the cover of a notebook that I used to have since a long time ago, but I didn’t want to use it as I was embarrassed by the colonialist map on its cover. This transformation deserves its own post, in details.

My favorite coworker gave me this set of geometric shapes used by teachers in the eighties. I wanted such a set for a very long time, but it is kind of expensive to buy online and I have never found it at the flea market. I was very happy to finally have them! They were produced in a factory from the town I grew up in. Another coworker gave me also a beautiful gift of a book she illustrated,  a tasty syrup and this soap she had made herself and wrapped in a doily. 

Oti found at a second hand shop this cute t-shirt. 

And the kids at school gave me these flowers that we have planted in our urban garden. 

It wasn’t only my birthday last week. Our dog Cici was born sometimes in October, this is the time frame our vet estimated. So, he put down in her id the same birthday as mine. We had celebrated together :).  

Bear

This is one of the very rare toy finds in this busy time of the year. It’s from a junk store I used to like a lot, but it’s not so great anymore (too many stuff piled together and sometimes ridiculously high prices). But this old wooden bear was very cheap (around 2 Euros) and I think it’s from the twenties or thirties. It’s a nice addition to my toy collection.

Dala horses

I really like these horses and how cheerful they look on our kitchen shelves. I found first the big blue one, for less than 1 euro in a second hand shop. It’s a vintage one and I don’t mind at all that it has some small damages to its paint. The smaller orange one is also vintage and also a very cheap flea market find. I have bought the unpainted one in a vintage boutique. It was awfully painted in white with some sequins and glitter on it, probably some kid’s project. I managed to sand down most of the white paint, but I still have to do some detailed sanding in some parts. I plan to leave it unpainted.  

Linking up to Vintage Charm, Vintage Bliss party and Thriftasaurus

Bear

I have bought  this very serious looking bear to celebrate a job related exam I passed. I was looking at this bear online in the last 3 or 4 years, considering from time to time to buy it but always changing my mind. It’s not that it was terribly expensive (I payed for it around 20 Euros), but it was never a priority. It’s nice to have something as a physical object, after looking at photos of it for such a long time. It is a silver plated baby rattle, but I plan to wear it as a pendant (if the soft sound it makes won’t be too annoying :). It has a very small hallmark that helped me find out that it was manufactured in Germany by a company called Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik. The hallmark is kind of faint, so I’m not completely sure if it was produced in the twenties or the forties (the hallmarks are kind of similar). But judging by the aesthetics of it (the fact that the bear is closer to a real bear and not made like a sweet toy) I think it is rather from the twenties. I don’t really care much anyway, I like it a lot.

I also have this alpaca rattle from the forties. It’s bigger in size than the bear and even if I find its design funny, it’s too funny to wear as a pendant.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.

Metal animals

I like small animal figurines, so I usually look for them at the flea market. I realized I have a small collection of metal animals that I have bought in the last years. The silver plated wolf is quite nice, it looks a bit like our dog Souris. The sterling shark ring was bought online by my friend (for very cheap) because she didn’t realize how big it is. When she picked it up from its owner, she was quite amazed. She gave it to me, but neither of us is wearing it, it’s too crazy and also kind of dangerous (I would most definitely hurt myself with it). So, he is now on one of my improvised jewelry boxes, menacing the colonialist ship :).

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays party.

Wagner Kunstlerschutz animals

These three little flocked animals are a junk store find from a while ago. They were among other, uninteresting toys and they seemed special to me, really detailed and well done. They still have their labels and searching for it online I have found some information about Wagner, the German company that started as a family business and produced these handmade flocked animals. Mine were produced (according to the design of the label) between 1966 and 1983. The donkey was supposed to have a cart that is now lost, but I actually prefer him free of his burden.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.

Robot

This little robot was mine in the eighties. I have rediscovered him a while ago in a box on my cupboard. It’s made like a puzzle, you can build him from pieces. It was a very common toy in my childhood, but I think that at some point the plastic pieces could broke or become too loose. I’m glad I have found mine intact. This funny little fellow has for me so much of the atmosphere of my childhood, with robots and space travel and friendly technology and a serene and untroubled hope for the future.

Vintage troll dolls

I didn’t have trolls as a kid, didn’t even know they existed. I think I was slightly aware of them in the nineties, but I was already a teenager then and wasn’t interested, of course.

I have found these Thomas Dam trolls from the sixties at the flea market. I think they are very sweet, with their kind smiles. They have glass eyes and their original felt clothes.

Vintage wooden animals

I collect vintage wooden animals. I don’t mind if they are slightly damaged (as many of the ones I have are), actually I really like to buy something that wouldn’t be appreciated in general, but which is very nice in the context of my collection. I really like the textures of the old wood and the way these animals are carved. Most often I find elephants, some from beautiful heavy wood like ebony, some of them with clean modernist shapes, others with really funny and endearing faces. But I have found other animals, too. The lion, rhino and bear are really small, but the bear especially is quite detailed. The two monkeys were found in different occasions. The bigger one is from a vintage shop. I found it without ears. We searched a place were they recycle wood and we found a right piece of wood, of the correct thickness and actually from the same period as the monkey to cut out some new ears from it. It is not really a Kay Bojesen monkey, it is a made in Japan copy but it was made in the same period, in the fifties or sixties. The small monkey, a flea market find, is a Hans Bolling monkey, and except that it was really dirty when I have found it (and it spent some time in bags in the freezer and then it took a really good bath) it’s in quite an ok shape.

Lots of celluloid

I have finally went to the flea market today after a two weeks break, which feels like a lot to me :). I have found lots of celluloid things.

This collection of dolls from the forties, I think, were really clean, obviously someone cared for them. I think most of the damages happened to them during transport, some of them were under piles of other, heavy stuff. I’m glad I have so many of these really frail toys. They are marked Japan with a clover logo. I have found online that this logo belongs to a company called Sekiguchi Corp. I will try to find out more about them. I will keep them in this needlepoint box, found also today.

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I wanted this kind of celluloid dog brooch for a long time now. My friend spotted this for me in a pile of other things.

The ring and lizard pendant are also celluloid.

I have also found this barrette for my collection.

Other non-celluloid things were this really pretty art deco brass pendant and chain.

A glass and brass pendant, from the twenties or thirties.

A small glass and brass box.

And another old brass ring for my collection of modest jewelry.

Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.