Saturday, January 22, 2011

Part One - Inspiring Objects from 'Chez Chaz & Dave'

We've been doing some home improvements of late which has made me thinking about lots of the weird bits and bobs that we've collected over the years that seem to populate our house. Both being creative types and having obsessions with cartoons, comics, toys, computer games, movies and all things vintage, I suppose our flat is a little off the wall and probably gives a pretty good insight into the way my brain ticks and why my work looks the way it does as no doubt the things we surround ourselves with reflect the things we create and vice-versa.

So with my iPhone in hand and the Hipstamatic app at the ready for some vintage style photo fun I've set about documenting some of the weird and wonderful things in our home that always make me smile and give me inspiration. There's lots more to come but here's the first few things!

 

My Hibiscus plants - one of three which I attempt to keep alive all year round (though one is currently looking a bit twiggy) . I love hibiscus flowers, they are just so big and bright and joyful and bring a little touch of the tropical into a dreary English day. I can't get enough of them!

 

















Mexican hand painted pottery skull - bought on our honeymoon as a souvenir. We carried this and two others around Chichen Itza, i think i got more excited about the rows and rows of of stalls selling tacky souvenirs than I did about the pyramid!

Spock vs Jack Sparrow - a never ending battle of two toys going on next to our TV - Spock is at a disadvantage being a good 4 cms smaller than Jack, however, he does have a phaser and is attempting to mind meld with Jack (I don't think that's a great idea personally!) so we think the odds are in his favour.  We collect a lot of toys, new and old. These two are some of the few that aren't Batman or Transformers related!



















 Another little slice of Mexico - our Cancun fridge magnet. We wanted a larger metal sacred heart milagro but ran out of cash so had to settle for the 2 inch fridge version, a last minute airport purchase but one that makes me smile! Personally I love flimsy kitsch religious artefacts, this is made of some sort of flimsy metal and isn't terribly magnetic so keeps falling off the freezer. Quality craftsmanship all round!

The ULTIMATE snowglobe - I have a lot of snowglobes and I love them all, the key theme of my collection is 'places', I get friends and family to bring one back when they've been on holiday. This one however is a little different and probably by far my most unusual. It was purchased at Birmingham Memorabilia Fair and it's Pink Panther (obviously!), which makes him instantly the coolest cat of the bunch, but what is so INCREDIBLY cool about him, in addition to the fact he is in some sort of James Bond get up, is that the snowglobe part is his stomach, complete with ribs and vertebrae, in his hand is a Martini and in his tummy is the olive floating around! There's no snow, no glitter, just a solitary olive floating around in his tum! Whoever thought of this deserves a knighthood! Genius! 
 
Tikis- our toilet and bathroom have a Hawaiian theme and we're starting to amass a nice collection of Tikis. The top one was bought at Tattoo Jam last year, the second down is a charity shop purchase and is from New Zealand rather than Hawaii but he has a cheeky grin so he's allowed to stay.
The third has the most colourful story as he was stolen from a Tiki bar in Birmingham, not by myself but by a friend of a friend, who didn't really want him but was rather tipsy and thought it'd be a laugh. He popped it in his suit jacket pocket and carried him around all night, when he got home he remembered that the little guy was still in his pocket. On taking him out, and in the process, tipping him up, he realised the mug had contained a significant amount of cocktail and ice still which after carrying around all night he managed to tip all down his suit. The mug found it's way to me thanks to Scarlett Daggers my Dr Sketchy cohort who mentioned that I collect tikis, so after it's epic journey the little guy found his way to pride of place on the back of my loo!
Nodding Hula Girl - This lovely lady is an ebay purchase and I believe has some age to her. To my knowledge she is intended to be on a car or truck dashboard as her legs are a big spring which makes her bob about and dance.  She's rather lovely and made of pottery, personally I love her very vintage face, she's a real cutie and keeps the Tikis company in my loo.

 
Babycham Deer - my rather tatty babycham deer has become a bit of a mascot in my studio, he was bought accidentally as part of a job lot at auction and he doesnt have any horns anymore. There was a rather serious incident a few weeks ago where he took a tumble off the top of my computer desk and lost his two front legs, some superglue later (and after superglueing my fingers to him several times) and he's looking a lot better, and standing pretty well again too.

Incidentally the painting behind him is not mine, it's part of my art collection and is an original acrylic on canvas by Steve Blickenstaff who kindly did an art swap with me a few years back for a Frankenstein pin up girl, She's a Were-cat by the way!


More weird and wonderful ...um...'things' to come in part two, look out for.....the lego pirate ship!

3 comments:

Scarlett Daggers said...

I'd forgotten about your ill gotten Birmingham Tiki! Love this post, even though I've already seen all of the weird stuff in your apartment. Show everyone your amazing book collection! x

susi said...

lovely stuff, esp the skull, inspiring!

Peter said...

I like the skull - it reminds me of some of the Day of the Dead masks I saw when I was in Santa Fe: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onlyforward/3976091240/in/set-72157622586831952/.

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