Interesting Shops No 1: Period Features

Period Features is a small company based in Leek, on the edge of the Peak District. They are a useful source of products for period homes.
I ordered some bits and bobs from them and received this:Brown paper and string..!
I was deeply impressed...
It contained these essential items:My world is now a happier place...

Amberley Mid-Summer Steam Fair 2009...

It's very rarely that I can be persuaded to leave my workbench but, due to an increasingly alarming creative blockage, I set out to visit the Amberley Working Museum's Mid-Summer Steam Fair...

There are far to many exciting things to look at within the museum and a visit is highly recommended...
Highlight for me, after asking the man politely, was having the Tesla Coil sparked up...Wow! That's loud...

Collaborations...

Having lived together for nearly 11 years now it's rare that Linda and myself ever agree on anything but...
We both like these pieces...


Which just happen to be collaborations between the two of us...
Linda made the bowl and the head and I applied the paint finishes...

Shabby Chic Noddy Box Experiment...

Basically a distressed paint effect...Not my sort of thing really but I thought I might give it a go, it'll match the clock re-mount..
I still have to seal it, add a base and, maybe, a lid..
I think I'll keep my pens and pencils in it...

Rusty Cast Iron Picture Frame...

I'm still fascinated by the 'cast iron' paint effect...

Using it to decorate some boring Ikea picture frames for my collection of postcards featuring BIG steam engines that can be seen at Kew Bridge Steam Museum...
The 'rivets' are drawing pins which, on close inspection, I failed to measure out properly...
I've added a coat of lacquer this time...
Works well...

Illuminated Pink Octopus In a Clam Shell...

Every now and then it is 'politick' for me to build something for my companion..
I decided to make something that she could add to her treasured collection of 'tacky' mermaids...
All right, it's not a mermaid, but fits in with the general theme in her mermaid collection cabinet...
Apart from the shell, batteries, L.E.D. and baize, everything on this build was manufactured by me...
The octopus was made with a mould I struck from a piece of Nook Art jewelry...
This is 'Crap-Tech' in ornamental form..
Un-lit...Rear view...

Barometer Re-Mount...

I've re-mounted my barometer as I intend using it's original mounting for the Televisual Simulacrumating Device as a speaker mount...

I'm very fond of my barometer...
It tells me all I really need to know about the world outside...

Tick Tock Chicken Clock...

At the risk of seeming completely obsessed by time pieces, here's my current favourite clock...
It has a pleasingly loud 'tick, tock' which makes a nice change to the smooth silence of battery powered quartz movements...
It's a product of the People's Republic of China...
The mother hen's head nods with the tick...
It adds a comforting ambience to the room especially in the early hours of the morning when, I'm reminded by a stern voice, I should be in bed...

The Old Clock Face Revived...

I've wanted to revive this clock face for sometime now...

It did have it's original clock mechanism attached to the back but sadly it was way beyond repair (although I still have it stored in a box under the bench for future restoration/repair)...
I butchered the clock that I'd hung on the back wall of my shed and ended up with this 'shabby-chic' time-piece...
I even know what time I took this picture...

Beachwood Collection Cart (Luxury Model) 01

I had the cart all ready to attend a picnic...

Comfort and splendor guaranteed...

Sadly the venue was changed to a hall in in a nearby town and I balked at dragging it 7 miles there and (possibly inebriated) back home...

Smiths Selectric Mantle Clock Resto...

If there's one thing I truly dislike having to do it's removing paint...
The previous owners of this Smiths Selectric Bakelite Mantle Clock had given it at least two hefty coats of gloss white paint...
I daren't use any kind of paint stripper on it for fear I might damage the finish...

I'd love to say all this effort was worth it but...
The clock don't work...
I'll have to take it to see my man Beresford Greene (genius)
(Turns out I'm pretty crap with photo shop as well..)

Sensible Warning Sign...

It has been pointed out to me that perhaps, given the somewhat dangerous nature of of my creations, I should put up some kind of warning sign...
So I did...Though I must say that I dispute the word 'dangerous'...

Skeletal Hand...

In an idle moment between struggles I was measuring my hand...
I then made up the individual bones from canes I 'borrowed' from the garden...
And, hey-presto! Another reason for people to avoid my company...

What do you mean 'weird'..?

Every now and again I catch a glimpse of why people think I'm 'odd', won't visit and seem somewhat uneasy around me...
In my defense I'd like say that I never 'plan' items such as this. I just follow a path until I reach what I consider to be the end...
Another assumption is that I'm "on drugs"...
Well, outside of nicotine and caffeine, I've never found alcohol, narcotics, psychedelics or stimulants to be of any utility at all when it comes to 'being creative...'
This particular piece incorporates several experiments...

1. Taking a latex mold from a doll's face.
2. Casting a Sculpty replication of the doll's face.
3. Linking two 3v bulbs in parallel (or was it series..?)
4. Making a wooden support with old firework sticks.
5. Gluing bone to wood.

All completely normal behaviour (for a weirdo...)

M10 x 1 Tap and Die (sigh..)

It's probably indicative of the stage of life I've arrived at when I choose to display my unreasonable excitement about tools I've just purchased...
(I'm a laugh riot at fashionable cocktail parties..!)

Many of my project builds include bits from old light fittings...
All of them are connected by an M10 x 1 thread..
Trouble is I can't remember what things I intended building once these tools turned up...

Ho-hum..

O.S.M. Runic Print

Since I can no longer afford the ink cartridges for my printer (it would be cheaper to buy a new printer) I thought I re-visit potato printing...
Which failed due to the inferior quality of today's rubbish spud..
So...
A bit of hard-board and a few matches and about an hour of getting covered in black paint later I have a stack of sheets of paper printed with O.S.M. in runic form..
(I hope that's what is represents, probably means 'arse' or something similar...)
Now what am I to do with all these sheets of runic printing and how will I get the paint off my keyboard...?

Building A Raised Bed Planter...

I've been staring from my shed window at these two large shrubs in plastic pots for a while now...
I have been given some old floorboards...
Hmmmm...
Where's my Work-mate, saw, hammer and nails...?

Linda tells me (coz she 'as the Latin) that the plants are Fuchsia and Podocarpus...

A Sensible Purchase...

This is, probably, the most sensible purchase I've ever made...
BSCy dies...
5/16ths & 3/8ths....
Excuse me while I change the world with bicycle wheels...

The Pavillion of Innocent Pastimes...

I draw your attention to Mr. Webster's new blog...!
In this knowing, cynical world it's refreshing to have somewhere to visit that promotes the simple pleasures of being alive on a rock spinning in the void...
Visit the pavilion now...
The Pavilion of Innocent Pastimes

Beach Wood Collection Cart...

Whilst out on a countryside ramble I found some old pram wheels in a ditch ...
Using bits of wood washed up on the beach I spent Palm Sunday re-living my childhood by building a cart...

Of course now spring has arrived and the weather has become (slightly) warmer I won't need it until next October...

Build a Better Egg Cup...

I set out to build a candle-holder...
And succeeded...
Then...
Unable to find the other egg-cup this morning, I discovered I'd built an emergency egg-cup..

Awww... Dangerous Little Cherub...

Inspired, once again, by a post on Hooting Yard...
I have created a malevolent putto...

I suspect the Freudian interpretation of this construction might be quite disturbing...

Another Light Fitting...

'When in doubt make an amusing light fitting..."
I've had the frame of this lamp 'weathering' on the roof of my shed for some time now...
An afternoon of threading bits of wire through boot-laces equates to some authentic looking fabric covered wiring, add some ceramic connector blocks, flicker-flame bulbs and hang it from the ceiling...

It features some amusingly exposed 'live' conductors in the ceramic connector blocks but what kind of idiot would stick their fingers in them...?

(Hang on, I'd better check all the connections are screwed up tight...)

Hiding in the lab....

The nature of my experiments means I have spent far to much time on my own in my workshop...
I have become somewhat disorientated and appear to be growing a beard...
Who knows where this will end..?

The O.S.M Ind Radiophonic Receiver...

At last I have a decent method of entertaining myself...
For a short (badly made) video watch this:

Being 51...

I have now reached the age where I really have to make a decision about what to do with my life now I've 'grown-up'...
I have decided to be an elephant...

I'm your biggest fan...

I despair at myself sometimes...
I start out making a little face for a model I'm working on and I turn out this horror...

To achieve this level of unease first strike a mold from an Action Man's (G.I. Joe) face using silicone sealant....
Press Femo into the mold, remove and bake...
Dremel the eye sockets out then paint the face white...
Add the facial detail (badly)...
Then cut a pair of eyes from a magazine picture of your favourite celeb and glue them, upside down, to the rear of the face...
Put it in an envelope and post it to your chosen celeb with a note saying 'I'm your biggest fan'...
Wait for the restraining order to turn up...

The Steampunk Cardboard Box....

In answer to that oft asked question "how do I "steampunk" my (insert choice of techno-crap here)".
I present the The Steampunk Cardboard Box...!
Select your piece of techno-crap and place the Steampunk Cardboard Box over it...
Hey presto...! It's steampunked...

First select your cardboard box. Then glue external strengthening around the edges...

Bake up some Femo 'rivets' then glue then around the external strengthening (I also added some Femo sconces at this stage....)

Spray, or paint, the box over with a dilute wood-glue solution then cover all over with a dry mortar mix. Repeat as necessary...

Spray, or paint, the box with matt black paint. Allow to dry. Apply a burnt sienna wash...
There you have it...
The Steampunk Cardboard Box...

O.S.M. Ind. 'Viper' Mk 1. Machine Pistol...

What better way to ensure your survival in 'difficult' situations than the O.S.M. Ind. 'Viper' Mk 1. Machine Pistol...?
None, I suggest...

O.S.M. Ind. Voice Projection Contraption...

Do you have difficulty in getting your minions roused to action..?
Then worry not...!
You need the O.S.M. Ind Voice Projection Contraption..!

(I feel a little guilty about butchering one of my trusty SM58's....)

Re-Housed Plasma Ball Lamp...

Plasma ball lamp re-housed in a hardboard case with the cast iron effect paint job...

The Pink Buddha Light...

I was messing about in the lab and suddenly I'd built this...

Rusty Cast Iron Mask...

Rusty cast iron mask...?
Well maybe...
In fact it's papier mâché, sprayed matt black then washed over with burnt sienna...
The papier mâché was mixed with sand and cement mortar though I don't think it added to the end product significantly..

The Steam Engine Build...

It seems to me, in these modern times, one needs some form of motive power if one is to be considered normal...
To this end I'm build my own steam engine...!
Let's start with a boiler made from an old aerosol can...
(During the construction of the boiler I set the smoke alarm off at 4 am & 3 am on consecutive evenings...)
Then I'll need something to boil the water in the boiler...

Does it work..?

Yes it works...
Now let's see those components together...

Hmmmm... Nice..!
Now, how about some cylinders to turn that steam into motion...?
Something like these perhaps..?

Good...
Now I'm going to put the whole lot in a cupboard to let them 'mature' for a couple of years...