H is for Half Moon Bay

One of the trends I noticed at the Spring Gift Fair in Birmingham a fortnight ago, was the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, most of it way outside the scope of this blog, even allowing for the nostalgia element, but at least three stalls had related products on display, and this grouping of stuff from Half Moon Bay, did include a couple of pieces which might tempt some loyal readers into parting with their hard-earned!

 

Specifically the snow-shaker, but the pencil top is close to acceptable as a micro-flat and the ceramic 'thing' could qualify as a super-deform! You can also see the corner of a set of place-mats with all the characters, Blue Meanies, Apple Droppers etc.

 

Website - there's a shaped mug too!

https://www.halfmoonbayshop.co.uk/

M is for Mawkishly Meowy Moggies!

A bit of non-Toy Soldier self-indulgence today, but it is Christmas and if I can't post this sort of stuff at this time of year when can I?!!

I found - at the back of a cupboard - that I'd inherited a rather Disneyfied mug with two cracks in it, as I wouldn't normally give such a pinkly sentimental piece house room, and as the finishing of any drink in it would result in two ceramic ears butting your forehead, it rather had to go. But it was loved enough by my late Mother to be kept at the back of the cupboard, so the overly-sentimental Hugh thought something better be done to retain the memory, for another decade or two, gods willing, at least!

A sharp blow from a heavy kitchen knife seemed to be the likeliest move, so placing a folded towel on the floor and kneeling over it I'm afraid I gave kitty a bit of a sharp whack up the jacksie with said implement, which worked a treat! Glued over the glaze with a bit of slip, the slipwhere kitten popped-off with barely a scratch.

I then filled her (pink bow?) with tiling-grout, let it go off, causing it to shrink back into the hollow/cavity, repeated the exercise and gave the rough finish a bit of a carving and filing.

Ergo; one slightly surprised looking, pink-bowed, all-white kitten joins all the genuine fairings and 1950's 'mantle ornaments' in the cat zone of the collection!

Where she will be joining - among others - these Charity shop, 50p jobbies! Three chalkware (mother-cat needs replacement eyes) and one ceramic of the Siamese type, these have been in the queue since 2016! Siamese's were very popular when I was a kid, you don't seem to see them so often now.

Back when the motorway network consisted of the M1 and A1(M) and getting round the top of London involved long journey's through Berkshire, Buckinghashire, Bedfordshire and Essex (where you raced from traffic jam to traffic jam!), there was a house somewhere which had two straw Siamese cats sitting on its thatched-roof, I sometimes wonder what happened to them? There were others, one gatehouse had a peacock, another cottage had several foxes!

The ceramic one (right) was made in Sussex (but not the famous Joan de Bethel 1923 - 2017), while the chalkwear examples (left) are just 'British Made', all seem to be cheap, smaller attempts at the better known and more sought-after Goebel or Winstanley Siamese's? Which is why they are 50p, not 50-quid!

That's it, something more acceptable to the hardliners later!

News, Views etc...Around the Web

Lots of stuff coming into the Op's Room recently, so a dissemination post is well over-due!

Starting with a brilliant Blog which has escaped my radar for it's first 100-odd posts, a fantastic resource for that intermediate period between the vintage and the modern (although he does cover the modern), and a subject that doesn't get the coverage it aught to. I'm definitely going to be identifying a lot of my unknown fantasy and sci-fi figures over there, and can't believe he's only got two followers, so buckle-up people and support...

Fantasy Toy Soldiers by Shaun Christensen

Sticking with Blogs for a second; I loved this Battle Report, it's very old school! While for the politically-minded, there's a quite cerebral, yet very funny Blog at Scarfolk Council



 Meanwhile; back in the real world you can't make it up....Council Meeting or Ork hoards?

I mentioned these the other day, I'd bookmarked them some time ago, and then a couple of weeks ago they pop-up on Facebook! They've since gone viral, more than doubled the sought funding and will go into production;

Yoga Joes!



Exhibitions

An alternative look at Toy Soldiers and the world they represent over The Pond here; Bay Area, last day today for the exhibition (sorry!), if you're in the neighbourhood over there, you've got a few hours to drop-in, but some nice images with the article...it's a slow-loading jerky page due to to much advertising shite!

And missed This One by half a year...doh!



Consumables

Wall Stickers - we may have looked at these before, but this is a UK outlet, I think it was dollars last time?
Swarovski Crystal Ear-Rings - Lovely, they couldn't be anything else despite being a stack of 'random' beads!
Mugs - Every war-games club should have a couple of sets of these!
Cards for every occasion.



That'll do for now!

T is for That There Interweb Thing

A return to our irregular round-up of Toy Soldier related 'stuff' on the Internet...

Knitted Toy Soldier

Life-sized Card Toy Soldier

Personalised Toy Soldier Mug



Toy soldiers in art from 1876, I can see French Zouaves and Cuirassiers? (Lucotte/Mignot?)

Antonio Mancini - Boy with Toy Soldiers



For hollow-cast fans; auction news of a major collection coming-up for sale next weekend in the States;

OTSA - present the James A. Henderson collection



British Pathe visits Peter Cushing with his model soldier collection...

Peter Cushing and his Toy Soldiers

News, Views Etc...Links

Some time ago in my late show report for Dave McKenna's Autumn show in Birmingham, I mentioned the Gloucestershire Regiment mug I bought
and how I'd lost the guy's details! Well - I've now found them and can report that he is called Tristram Carter and can be contacted by eMail here;

qmslocker@hotmail.co.uk

And there is a website here;

QM's Locker

He is very approachable and was looking for ideas that could be transferred to mug decoration, so if you have a war gaming or role-play club or society, it might be worth getting in touch with him. There is an issue with dishwashers due to the type of decoration used (some modern convergence technology - favourite word at the moment!...laser-printing?), and they probably need to be kept out of direct sunlight for prolonged periods, but the level of detail is what counts, and...Well; go and have a look for yourselves!

While I'm sorting out business cards...a chap called Kevin was asking for help at the recent Sandown Park toy fair, he's looking specifically for old fireworks, yes - you read that right; Old Fireworks, although he is obviously interested in packaging and ephemera as well, it's the fireworks he's really after, either 'live' or shop display dead'uns! Anybody who can help can eMail him here;

para.phenalia@btinternet.com

Or, I have 'phone-numbers if you think you have something that will be of interest to him.

I have a roughly 1/72 scale London bus-shaped box for Tom Smith's indoor fireworks which I have promised him, but not until I've posted it here, and despite getting it out 2 or 3 times in the last couple of years - to photograph - I keep putting it away again un-shot...doh!

C is for Cabinet Of Curious Things 2

M is for Mugs