Ruby Tuesday #1

I work in science at a university – my ‘day job’. I’ve been experimenting with some techniques that allow me to take pictures of crystals down a microscope. I’d like to share a couple of these with you for my first Ruby Tuesday post (thanks to Work of the Poet for this great Tuesday theme!).

 

Both these images are of a dye called safranin. The liquid dye was evaporated, leaving these amazing crystal patterns. This one deposited crystals in a fractal formation.

I love this – it reminds me of a red night sky.

Blue Monday #1

 Thanks to Sally for hosting Blue Monday!

I’d like to share with you something that I think is better than fairies at the bottom of the garden – bowerbirds at the bottom of my garden (well just over the fence)! I live in the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia, and our local bowerbird is called the satin bowerbird. Males are deep iridescent blue with lavender eyes. Females are olive with lavender eyes. Young males are apparently the same colour as females – they get their new plumage when they become mature. I was lucky enough to see one in the transition phase once.

They build a bower on the ground out of small twigs, and decorate it with blue objects. If you own blue plastic pegs, chances are they won’t last long in the peg basket. They also like pale gold, such as straw or pale yellow flowers. The bower is for courtship, not nesting.

 

This one built a bower under a big stand of feral lantana in the bush behind my place. The bower is built with the opening facing north / south, and usually in dappled shade where the sun can dance on the leaves.

Here’s some of his collection. Bowerbirds make the most wonderful sounds – whirring and clicking noises like a rickety old sewing machine. For the past 25 years I have had a bowerbirds bower on or near my property. It was a lovely treat to show my kids when they were growing up.

Addendum: D’oh! I named my blog and my website after these birds, as they surround themselves with things they’ve collected – and so do I!!

Happy Monday everyone!

Pink Saturday #1

 

Welcome to Pink Saturday! I love buttons, so here’s a few pink buttons from my stash:

   

Glass buttons, the first one is pierced.

   

 Barbie, and vintage confetti lucite.

  

Beautiful cut celluloid.

   

Cute children’s buttons from the 1950’s.

 

1950’s flower, and antique MOP set in metal.

 

Vintage Thingies Thursday 5….

Thanks to Confessions of an Apron Queen for VTT.

This week I’d like to share a lovely symbol of harder times – Depression glass. You may know that I have a fondness for pink and green; and these are the two colours of Depression glass that I collect.

 

According to Wikipedia, Depression glass was manufactured by a number of glass companies in the US, and was added to boxes of food as an incentive to buy, or was handed to patrons when they went to the movies.

  

It was also made in clear, amber and blue colours, but my favourites are pink and green. I have a small collection on my dressing table; I particularly love the translucent jadeite vase.

You can also find vintage buttons in the same colours as Depression glass. I don’t think they were manufactured in the US – most glass buttons seem to come from the Czech Republic – I’ll have to research this a bit more!

  

 

Some of my “Depression glass” buttons!

Cheers til next week!

7 Random facts about me…

I’ve been tagged by Marion to divulge 7 random facts about myself.

So let’s start at the beginning.

1. When I was born, my left arm was paralysed (Erb’s palsy). It was in a cast for 6 weeks (my mum still has that souvenir!). Thankfully, after 3 months of physiotherapy that my dad carried out, my arm started to work. Aside from looking a bit odd when I exercise, you wouldn’t even know I’d had an injury. I’m extremely grateful that the physio worked, as I’m told that many people with that kind of injury don’t get the use of their arm back.

2.  I have an irrational fear of cats. I remember being chased screaming around the yard when I was three by a terrorist kitten called Fluffy. My best friend’s brother took full advantage of my fear by constantly picking up their cat Molly, and flinging her in my face, claws outstretched, whenever he got the opportunity. And one day my brother’s cat, Wussy, decided to leap on my back and hang there using all its claws. You could hear my screams and expletives for miles… I’m now the happy owner of three dogs, Penny, Napoleon and Bob.

                                                      Terrorist cat!!!!

3. I spent my 21st birthday in Bali. A group of us went on a bus tour  that day, and there was a mad rush for the toilets when we got to our destination. I was the only one who didn’t have Bali Belly.

4. Ever since I was little I’ve wanted to visit East Africa, particularly Tanzania and Kenya. I even started to learn how to speak Swahili. I’ve travelled a lot in Asia, but haven’t got to Africa yet. Maybe one day ….

 Jambo na karibuni kwa yangu blog!

5. After spending most of my early working days as a dressmaker, supplemented with some clerical work, I had a mid-life crisis and became a scientist. After graduating with a B. App. Sci. Horticulture, I went back for more and got 1st class Honours. Then I did a Grad. Dip. in Microscopy and Microanalysis, and I’m now about halfway through my PhD. I might stop for a while after that….

That’s me in the pic.

6. Later this year I’ll be turning 50. I’m planning on getting a tattoo – something nerdy to do with plant cells, I think. Maybe a row of buttons down my back. I’m gonna send a picture here.

 

7. I love latin dancing. Its about the only type of exercise I really enjoy (well, nearly). Now that the kids have grown up. I’ll have to find a studio close by so I can take it up again. Preferably one where the instructor is tall. My last instructor was about 5′ tall (I’m 6″ tall). Very difficult to dance with a short man. Why are there so many short men in Australia?

Thats not me in the pic.

 OK – now you know some of my deep dark secrets. Here’s seven people that I’d like to know more about: Mandy, Tess, Amanda, Jennifer, Claire, Analise and Leanne.

Vintage Thingies Thursday, 4…

This week’s vintage thingies Thursday is a bit of a mixed bag.

This is a gorgeous little Victorian era chainmaille change purse that I picked up at an antique fair last year.  It’s the sweetest little thing – a nice old age patina to it.

I found these vintage hair curlers (flapper wave clips) in a secondhand shop; the bloke gave them to me along with my other purchases. As soon as i saw them I had this feeling of nostalgia, remembering how my grandmother used to use them in her hair. She’d sleep with them on, her head covered in a sheer scarf. They took me back to the house I grew up in, with its high moulded ceilings that looked like a wedding cake, and the beautiful garden my mum and dad spent much of their spare time working on. Such a lovely diversion…..

The third thingy is a vase that I grew up with, and that my mum gave to me a few years back. I always loved those big glazed pansies and the simple, clean lines of this vase. It’s such a sensible shape, and is the only large vase I own, so it comes in handy when spring flowers are in bloom.

  

Spring has just arrived in Australia, and I’m so looking forward to the warmer weather and more hours of daylight.

Thanks to Confessions of an apron queen for VTT!

Vintage Thingies Thursday, 3….

I love Japanese art. The influence it had on the style of the 1920’s and thereabouts was enormous. Last year I indulged and bought a couple of piano shawls, which show this Japanese influence beautifully in their design.

 

This one is black with a beautiful embroidered design in coral, avocado and a touch of golden yellow.

It drapes over a vintage dressmaking mannequin (a bit watermarked – but I love it nevertheless):

 

The second shawl is an absolute stunner. It’s made of the finest cream tulle and is hand embroidered in the most delicious combination of turquoise, gold, coral, pink and coppery shades. 

  

I found this picture of a young Florence Broadhurst, dressed in a piano shawl. She obviously loved oriental art, and was inspired by its beauty to create some of her wonderful designs.

Florence was a friend of my mum’s, in fact my dad worked for her husband. I remember visiting her wallpaper factory in Sydney when I was a kid. This is how I remember it, except there was a huge roll of red wallpaper that was being printed in gold along that bench that seemed to stretch forever:

Oh dear – that was the 1960’s; I’m starting to feel a bit vintage myself….

Thanks to Confessions of an apron queen for Vintage Thingies Thursday!!

Some of my favourite black glass buttons…

Black glass has been used to make buttons since Queen Victoria went into mourning for Prince Albert. Some of my favourite “modern” black glass buttons have designs highlighted with silver, gold or copper lustre. These buttons are post World War II.

 

This design reminds me of comets.

   

Oh, disco ball!!

 

Love this coppery lustre

  

                                                              I think this is my favourite

  

Faux cut steels

I think that their intricate design is beautifully offset by the single colour decoration – all-in-all some very elegant buttons.

A blog about dogs… and insomnia…

There is a definite pecking order among my three dogs. The golden retriever knows I’m the alpha male (female), he thinks he’s next in line above the two teenage boys, though he’s getting the message there. But he definitely thinks he’s way above the two smaller dogs.

At 4 o’clock this morning, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and made a cup of tea and went into my little cupboard of a study. Big dog followed me in, little dog dared to try and squeeze past big dog, and this resembles what ensued:

Teenage son eventually woke up and helped me as I tried to extract little dog’s head from big dog’s mouth. In the fracas, tea spilt all over bench, buttons, papers, laptop, floor, electrical cords……

There may have been some swearing.

Big dog is now limping around with a sore paw, looking so sad his face might drop off. Despite his size, he got knuckled by little dog.

 

Little dog (aka cutest dog in the world).   Big dog, who looks fat but really its all just hair!

My next challenge – mastering the history of metal buttons

 As I’ve said before, I really love the history that vintage buttons exude. Up until now, I’ve been swotting up on the early plastics of the 20th century. But I love old metal buttons, and I guess my next challenge will be to try and learn a lot more about them; how to recognise different metals, what kind of clothes they adorned…..

Here are some that I’ve collected over the years…

 

 

Concave hammered brass with cut steels. Cut steel moons – each of these buttons is about 1 cm long and is composed of about 30 riveted cut steels.

  

Another beautiful cut steel button on a brass? base You can see where the 7 steels have been riveted at the back of the button.

   

Metal with a pearly centre. White metal cupid.

 

Two different metals make up this lovely oriental scene. Blue tinted brass button.

  

Victorian picture button.   “Twinkle” buttons – these have a filigree top over a mirrored base which reflects the light and makes them twinkle – unusual hexagonal shape.

 

My one and only Paris-back button!

Cheers til next time!!