Obsolescence Project

Day 49 – Chinese Tea Set

Tea pot

Partial Chinese Tea Set: 6 saucers, 5 spoons, 1 cup, 1 set of sugar tongs,  1 teapot w/ missing lid, and 1 serving tray. MIA is the sugar bowl, which also had a lid.

One of the cups is chipped, and you can see that it might be made of wood, with heavy lacquer on top, as opposed to it sort of seems like plastic at first glance. They are very light. Once, our landlord who is Chinese, and can read the language, looked at the markings on the bottom, but he was unable to identify what it says. It’s a globe with some characters. Perhaps it says “Made in China”.
Tea Cup

Most of the sheen on these is completely grungy now, this saucer best shows it in full glory. It too is fading away though. Why I like this set is for both the memory of my mom having tea-leaf reading parties, the feeling of ceremony they evoke, and  for the exquisite painting. Each scene is similar, but unique.

Tea Cup Saucer

Status: Keeping serving tray – it is very useful. Does the maker’s mark merit some more research and then sell them, or are they merely broken parts to be donated to the Sally Ann?

Posted on by Deanne in Dishes

Day 48 – Rhodos – Greek Doll

Greek Doll

Greek Doll. (It says Rhodos on the front of her apron.)

“Rhodus (Ancient Greek: Ῥόδος) also known as Rhode was the goddess of the island of Rhodes and wife of Helios, she was the daughter of Aphrodite and Poseidon. ” [Wikipedia – this is the full entry]

The image on her apron suggests she might only be from Rhodos, rather than be her, but I prefer to imagine her as Rhodos, even though I know very little about Greek mythology.

She is a classic doll sold for the tourist market. Like her Turkish pal, she also sports a rather fetching fez. Hers is in much better shape, the gold band fully intact.

Greek Doll detail

Thanks to A tale of few cities, I learned that the animated gif is 25 years old this year. To celebrate here is Rhodos dancing:

Greek Doll animated gif

[ She will stop after 7 spins. ]

Status: Snap a few close up pics of her smeared lips (reason #4 for macro lens), and then incorporate into sea monster. After all, she was a sea nymph once. Also, brush up on Greek mythology.

p.s. For daily readers, I did add another pic to yesterday’s makeup bag.

Posted on by Deanne in Dolls

Day 47 – Makeup Bag

Make Up bag

Make-up bag with various compartments.

Decorative pastoral Chinese scenes printed on the fabric. Several zippered compartments to place things in.

Note: I have a couple of other pics to add to this. But here it is 9:30pm! on Sunday, and I almost forgot to blog for today. So in the interests of keeping up with the daily gesture, I will post this now. But I might add more pics and details tomorrow.

And so here is the bag open on Monday:

Make up Bag

I did use this, but then a) got another one as a gift and b) it’s seemingly practical with all those zippers, but really it ends up being too much and too floppy. Perhaps it speaks to the type of travel that belongs to a bygone era.

Status: Into the Sally Ann bag it goes.

Posted on by Deanne in Objects

Day 46 – Green Thing in Honour Of St-Patrick

Green Thing

Green Rubber Wirey Thing.

In honour of St-Patrick’s day (who drove out the snakes from Ireland) I present you with the green thing trying to be a snake.

This is a very hard but super pliable rubber object that I believe is supposed to be a tool to help with drawing. Either for architects or just us plain ol’  artists.

I cannot google for its name as I don’t know what search terms to use. It has no markings.

Because it is bendable, reminding me slightly of that other bendy chap, I made valiant attempts to bend it into a four leaf clover. It sprung out of shape. But a semi-three leaf clover was achieved.

Green thing trying to be a clover

(yes yes, I made it more green for St-Patrick as well)

Status: Keep. Too much possible fun with bending and very compact, so little shelf footprint.

p.s. Thanks to CEO from book club for the reminder that a green thing would make sense today. I had a perfect image in my mind of the pistachio green Virgin Mary night light I owned, that alas, has either already been tossed, or escaped my cursory search through the closets.

Sláinte! Erin go bragh!

(thanks Nancy for the proper term)

Posted on by Deanne in Objects

Day 45 – Heidi Doll

Heidi Doll

Heidi Doll. Made in Hong Kong.

When I lifted up her hair to check for a maker’s mark, I got all excited because I saw an embossed stamp. Then, using a loop, I saw it said “Hong Kong”. Not quite so special. There are currently 807 vintage Heidi dolls on eBay.

She is also dressed modestly, with knickers and a slip.

Her legs are articulated, so she can be bent to sit down, but she doesn’t really stand up on her own. Her body is plastic, and her face is a softer, squishier type of plastic. Hand painted, someone paid special attention to the eyes. You can probably see the detail if you click the image below.

She’s almost ridiculously sweet. I love her little braids with the elastics around them.

Heidi Face

Heidi Doll

Status: Now this one I have had untangled from the mess of dolls and put aside in her own tissue paper, waiting to be given as a gift to a friend’s daughter. Problem is that was 2-3 years ago. Now perhaps this kid is borderline too old. 17. Just kidding. I think she is 7. So this should re-gain its status as gift . Before she reaches 17. But first I have to take close up photos of her hands. There are ridges for her fingers that make them look a bit odd, definitely contrasting with her sweet face. Reason # 3 I believe I am at for justifying the purchase of a macro lens.

Posted on by Deanne in Dolls