My growing collection of vintage photographs

Well firstly, thank you for still paying attention to our little blog (I say 'our' - Mr BL stays away and just reads what I've been babbling about!), I'm going to pop around in a bit, drop in for a cup of tea and say 'hi' :)  Mine's milk with one sugar thanks.

Today I'm on strike and I was hoping to stand side by side with my fellow teachers in the march - unfortunately our washing machine is broken and I have to wait in for someone to fix it.  SUCKS!  The joy of teaching and Mr BL's crazy hours, we never have time for repairs to be done.

While on the subject of work - it seems that Ofsted will not be coming to our school this side of Christmas now.  They haven't called this week and the next two weeks our Year 11s are on an intensive time-table, which means we'll be teaching a different time-table with lots of different cover/ supply lessons.  Ofsted call for these details before they make their arrangements so it will not be in their interest to come.  Well, what happens now?  Now we have to have training over the next two weeks because Ofsted change the way they do inspections in January.  We've been expecting the 20 minute walk-ins but this will be changing - so we have to rethink everything again.  It's all been so ridiculous, stressful and exhausting.  I feel in good-ish shape though.  I'm virtually marked up to date, I've got 'outstanding' in my last two observations and I know what I'm doing.  On the other hand I still feel stressed because I always want to 'do my best' of course.  Ah well - enough whinging!

BACK FROM THE MARKET ...
It's now a couple of hours later (from writing the mind-splurge above) and I'm on the sofa watching a documentary about the mind and money - I'm so glad we have PBS here now - I love NOVA.

So onto my ever-growing collection of vintage photographs:

For the men to look at (e.g. it's above the toilet!)

Anyhoo - onto what I was going to blather on about.  Our collection of old photographs and what we're doing with them.  I think I mentioned before that the toilet is slowly getting covered in some of these and I thought I'd show you a couple of photos (Hipstamatic I'm afraid) of how it's coming along:

One of my favourites is the contact sheet to the left - a man had obviously gone for a photo shoot and this is a selection of shots for him to choose from. 

You can see him better on here!  The little girl next to him is really sweet too!

Really sad to see wedding photographs being dumped - I usually pick them up - they give such a sense of the era as people tend to dress their best at a wedding so you get a real feel of the fashions at the time.

The wedding photo in the middle has now been moved to the landing.  I hate to say it but it features the ugliest family I've ever seen.  I know that's really cruel but seriously - they are.  The groom looks so upset!

This is the landing leading to the smallest room in the house.

Look at these beautiful women - you couldn't not pick up their photographs and want to preserve them.  The young girl on the left was photographed at the Lafayette Photography Studio in Bond Street.  You can read about the studio on the V&A website. I have a couple of photographs from the same shoot.  You can see it below above the baby.

Look at that beard! It's a pity you can't see the small photograph under the large portrait of the woman - the guy in it has the BEST moustache.

So there you go - a little sneak preview of what we're doing with our collection of vintage/ old photographs.  I know some people will balk that I've put my old photos on the wall like this but I just know that they are in a better place than a landfill site.  People can see them and enjoy them :)  I will try and do some better photos with my 'proper camera' when I have the walls finished.

What do you think?

I used the opportunity of an unpaid day off from work to go to my favourite haunt - Deptford Market.  MOST disappointing today - there was NO paper ephemera :(  I was in a massive sulk.  However I did pick up this:

Snoopy

The gang's all here

Snoopy and I

I think he might be circa 1970s maybe even as early as the 60s?  Everything is there - the t-shirt and trousers and there is NOTHING wrong with any of the stitching - a complete SNIP at £2 methinks!  I used to love Snoopy when I was younger so it was a real no-brainer for me.  Also got a few books and records but nothing exciting.  I hope it's better on Saturday!

Successful day at the market

It's ridiculous how excited I get about going to Deptford Market (or indeed a Car Boot Sale) - I can't imagine having the same feeling wandering down Oxford Street or cavorting around Bluewater.  It's the 'thrill of the chase' I guess - never knowing what treasures you might find.  Well today I think I found a few little treasures:

I love old 'girls and boys' annuals and this one is a doozy. Such gorgeous 1970s illustrations and the stories are fun too.

More books :) I have a real love of follies growing up in Suffolk and having a love of the few that were around me. Shire books are such little treasures of weirdness and the bizarre (I have one about Egyptian shabtis and another about spoons). The gardening book has some cool little adverts (I'm currently compiling a collection of vintage advertising) and I'm really intrigued about stories within the book about Victorian sexuality.

The Reluctant Cook - I love the little illustrations in this - especially the inside covers where the husband and wife are sitting back smoking! Ha ha - you wouldn't get that in a cookery book now would you?

Most of us growing up in the UK in the 1970s were raised on Ladybird books and they're becoming pretty collectable now. I managed to pick up one of my favourites along with 3 others:

The Elves and the Shoemaker is such a wonderful book - I love it so much. The story AND the illustrations are gorgeous - especially when the elves are trying on their new clothes. If anyone finds a copy of the Magic Porridge Pot from the Ladybird series - let me know!
Finally with the books - another copy of my favourite book - The Little Prince. I managed to pick up a French copy last visit for Ben (I tend to give anyone who means something to me a copy of this) - this copy is beautiful. It's in a slip cover case and the book itself has a plastic cover. I don't think it's even been read:

All of those books cost me 50p each! Billy Bargain :)

A lovely little silver plated dish - currently housing some Werthers Originals on our shelf. 50p!
Some oil pastels for my art diary:

50p!

Two scrapbooks full of theatre, television and cinema ephemera from the 1980s:

Some photos for the Ghosts project:

An Ideal Home Exhibition brochure from the year I was born - I love architecture and am fascinated by the changes in housing in the UK.
(all of these were £1 each)
Finally I found this tin box:

Not that interesting? But we have a burgeoning collection of tins at the moment so I thought I'd take a closer look. Rattled it. OOooh - something's inside - let's have a peek:

Ooooh Monopoly money and ...

Chance and Community Chest cards and ...

Property cards and ...

Rules along with wooden houses and hotels and finally:

Looky at these old Monopoly pieces! I never knew they even had ones like this. I've researched them and it seems that they come from the 1950s and apparently it's the same set that the 'great' train robbers were playing with when they were caught. Not this actual set of course but a similar one. If I'd had the box and the board I've seen one sell for £59! Unfortunately I don't but for 50p I think this was a billy bargain don't you?

it's Saturday and you know what Saturday means?

DEPTFORD MARKET TIME :)

Today I will be visiting the market alone so I have all the time in the world to peruse and hunt. 

I think I'll post a wish list for today:

• Vintage suitcase
• 35mm out of date film
• weird owl
• a Martini glass to replace the one I broke
• frames to repaint
• carte-de-visites

So that's what I'm looking out for today - shall we see how well I do?
Also Monday is my birthday - Ben's managed to get tomorrow off work so he can spend the day with me.  He asked what I want to do.  I've finally decided - I want to go here.
Is that sad?  We can wander around Pimlico and Battersea too - but I haven't been to a car boot sale in YEARS.  Seriously I think I might be addicted to other peoples' crap.

On another note - it's just over 2 more weeks before I get inked again.  It's been a couple of years since I got my peacock done on my back which basically spelled the end of my marriage to my ex.  It wasn't the breaking point but when someone who apparently loves you tells you that they can't believe you got ink on a body that also belongs to them - you've gotta turn around and question your relationship!
Thankfully Ben loves my tats and my new one is going to be done on the 31st.  The scary thing is - this is the first one I have NO IDEA yet what it's going to look like.  My friend's bf is doing it - he owns one of London's most famous and old tattoo parlours and I totally respect his work - it's proper 'old school' :)  A while ago he 'tattooed' Cameron Diaz for a Vogue cover:

So I know I'm in good hands!
I was going to get this tattoo covered up:

 

because I don't really like it that much - however I realised that this is a part of me.  I was 21 when it was done and it was my design.  It was very much of its time and although it's pretty crap it's me.  It's been part of my skin for 17 years and it's a symbol of who I was then.  So I'm getting inked on the other arm.  Can't wait to see the design - should be finished next week - eeeeeeeeeeeee.  

we're off to button moon ...

... we followed Mr Spoon, Button Moooooo oooon ....
Sorry a bit of 1980s nostalgia there - for some reason it's been going through my head for the past half an hour so I took it as a hint and decided to post the first 'Upcycled Inspiration' blog for Our Second-Hand Life. 
I have a ridiculous collection of buttons and I've tried to make various things from them but I am so cack-handed that trying to do any sort of sewing, jewellery making or anything ends up being pretty naff and embarrassing.  Regardless I enjoy looking at what other people can create with buttons.  The first post on this can be seen here and it looks like I was inspired by the same children's tv programme as I was here! I'm so unoriginal.

Firstly I wanted to show you RBK Creations

How beautiful are these bouquets?  If I got married again I'd want the black feather and red button one - how pretty is that?  Well - maybe not pretty in the conventional sense but pretty for this red and black obsessive here :)
I also found some cool tutorials to help if you wanted to make your own button bouquets - I might make one just to see if I can:
A How-To Guide to Making Button Bouquets
Off-Beat Bride Tutorial

Ok - so what else can I do with my buttons?
I really want to carry on with this but I appear to have a migraine coming ... so normal service will resume in a bit.

A thrifting morning in the sun ...

... while Ben was away at work at the South Bank today I decided that another trip to Deptford Market was in order.  It is an almost essential part of my weekend and I feel kind of lost if I don't pop down there at least a couple of times a month.  Thankfully as it's been the Spring holiday I had Wednesday AND today to go down and I wasn't disappointed.

As I stated earlier one of the things I'm always after is expired 35mm film.  I didn't manage to find any film but I managed to find these sweet expired single-use cameras; two of which were promotional items for Teachers Scotch Whiskey.  I don't know how much luck I'll have getting any film developed from them but I thought that for 50p each they were worth a shunt!

I'll obviously share the results (if there are any) when I get them developed - fingers crossed I get something!

Next I found a great Soda Fountain - I think it cost me about £1. Not sure if it's any age or not but I really liked it - it's solid and works.  I don't think I've ever used one before but it looks pretty :)

I photographed it on our gorgeous green wing-backed chair that we got for free after a show at Ben's theatre.  And yes - that's a Union Jack flag cushion on the chair - we love Union Jacks and the cushion looks great on the chair.  Unfortunately it's not a cool vintage one - just one from Primark :(  But still we like it!

These books I bought on Wednesday:

There's a stall that sells small paper-backs for 50p and I couldn't pass these up.  The Edna O'Brien book just looks pretty - I love the design of the front cover.  As for the Scientology one - well - I have no desire to become a Scientologist but thought I'd have a read of it.  So far I've managed about 3 or 4 chapters, which is already more than the angry annotator seemed to manage (see the pic above).  There are a LOT of things written in capitals by Mr Hubbard as well as some passages which could definitely be construed as racist.  Not a particularly pleasant read but it's a good addition to my collection of weird paperbacks.

Now onto why I go there so often - more goodies to my paper ephemera collection.  This 1950s Salon of Photography catalogue is a lovely addition to my photography related ephemera - some great adverts for Kodak in here which I mean to frame and hang up in the study.

 I love this BOAC in flight magazine. It's dated 1969 and includes a short story by Doris Lessing.  I really bought it for the adverts though - some great tobacco, alcohol and Coca-Cola adverts.  I'll scan these in properly soon and add to my free ephemera blog here.

Then some obligatory knitting patterns.  I don't actually knit much - I find patterns particularly hard to follow - however I love the design of these patterns and the poses of the models.  I might actually start up my Etsy site again to sell these on as they might just clutter up things.

I particularly love the knitted slippers!

Men with pipes - a real love of mine!

I'm also building up quite a collection of Woman's Weekly magazines - these three were from the year I was born (1973) so hold a lot of interest for me.  They have some great advertising in them which again I will share when I scan them in.  I'm sure I don't have enough walls for all the adverts from magazines I want to frame.

The only photographs I found that I wanted on the market today.  I have an old scrapbook from the 1960s that I found on the market a few months ago.  Each of my portrait photographs has a page in there and we are slowly writing stories about each of the people.  These two really captured my attention though as they were both so beautiful.

Now that I'm blogging all of this it looks like I bought up the whole market - believe me when I say I really didn't!
Some other little bits - a great metal Benson and Hedges tin - I love little tins and this one was a gem at 50p.

Inside the box

A cute little Elvis purse - great and kitsch (though not in the slightest vintage - it still had its label on it!) and I wanted a little purse as mine's a bit too large sometimes.

I'm slowly building back my Manics CD single collection.  I used to have them all but had to sell them as I owed my partner at the time some £.  Very sad day.  But I'm getting there.  This one was all of 50p again! Hoorah!



Now for my most fun purchase of the day.  Whenever I have been to my friends' flat I have secretly coveted their crazy Ms Wonderful doll.  And guess what? I managed to find a working one in its box :) It cost me all of £1!  Admittedly the box is pretty ratted but how much fun is this?

Though to fully appreciate her and her inherent wonderfulness you NEED to watch this short video I did of some of her phrases.  The voice is pretty ratted but it's fun!

Well there we go - my morning thrifting on Deptford Market - buying a load of tosh that makes me smile.