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Much of a muchness
Things that make you go 'hmm'…
7 more things about me…
Posted by on January 17, 2008
This album is much bigger than I usually make. It measures 12″ x 14″ which I think is a good size for an album but not so good for me when making it! Manouvering large pieces of gluey paper and trying to keep them straight and stop the glue getting onto the front of the paper is a nightmare, they seem to develop a mind of their own and twist and stick together despite my best efforts.
I have been tagged by Kylee over at Bijoux and Banter to tell you 7 random things about myself. I think I did this meme a while ago but being me – hey! there is always more weirdness to report… :-) Kylee makes beautiful jewellery which she sells through her studio, Lunes Bijoux, in the Aude region of France. I am envious – a limitless supply of jewellery and living in France….
So here we go
1 I have a degree in Metallurgy. Never used it other than as a springboard to do other things. I guess if I had studied precious metals (see above) things might have turned out differently.
2 I love science fiction. Anything from Doctor Who and Torchwood via Star Trek and Isaac Asimov to Sunshine, The Matrix and Heroes.
3 I adore old movies too. My favourites are ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and ‘The African Queen’.
4 I hate parking my car. I can drive happily for hours but hate parking when I get there. My confession is, in over 25 years of driving, I have never parallel parked and I once drove to Exeter in a Range Rover but as it was too tall to get into any multi storey car parks and the others were full – I drove straight home again.
5 I enjoy building flat pack furniture. Sad but true.
6 I count things. If I am sitting waiting for something, I count tiles, panes in a window, books on a shelf…
7 I collect automata. I have about 8 so far because they are quite expensive but the detail and the skill that goes into making them is astonishing. I have bought some of them from the ‘Cabaret Mechanical Theatre‘. In fact I bought my first one from them when they were based in Cornwall. It is made by Paul Spooner and this is it.
Some of other favourites were bought from a beautiful gallery in Abbotsbury in Dorset called Dansel Gallery which sells contemporary handmade furniture, jewellery and other lovely things made from wood. The caption on this one says ‘Though always keen and eager, the sheepdog never mastered the herding of carniverous sheep…’
This one says ‘Only when it was sure it was completely alone, would the camel reveal it’s secret survival pack’.
These are the rest of my collection. On the left is a wooden articulated slug which wriggles when you turn the handle. The leaflet that came with it said ‘All the fun of a slug but without the slime’. Exactly :-)
I am going to tag some people I’d like to know more about, hope you don’t mind – if you feel like doing this, then please do!
Brit out of water
Creechman
Ange’s Biz
Little Aussie Cynic
Tulibri
Rotus
Much of a muchness 
Diane – you are my new hero. I love those automata gadgets. That penguin one in the back looks pretty neat.
That carnivorous sheep was funny. :)
I used to hate parallel parking because I grew up in rural areas and never had the need for it, but I’m getting better. Still, I get nervous when I’m attempting to parallel park and a car pulls up behind me. I hate that.
the carnivorous sheep is too funny! I love it. That’s a nice hobby, collecting automata! I hope you’ll treat us with piccies from the other ones too, from time to time! And I’ll love to have a closer look to the sex-changing thing …
I’ll take some shots of what the penguins do and the others for my next post! Glad you like them!
I am rubbish at parallel parking because I was rubbish at reversing, I think. I seem to lose all co-ordination. I hate to say it but I think it’s a girl thing- quite a few of my girl friends have the same problem! My son has been giving me lessons and now he has told me to use my wing mirrors to aid reversing I am getting better. But I figure if I have got away with not parallel parking for 26 years, then I can manage for another few :-)
As for the sex change machine – 50p! A bargain!
This was a really interesting post, I LOVE your automata! I want some of my own now! I remember for one of our technology projects back in year eight or nine we had to make one of our own – mine was a cow jumping over the moon. Nothing compared to these, of course!
Oh man!
Soph – You can get them from Cabaret Mechanical Theatre (link above) They have an online shop. The really complex ones cost thousands but there are some for less than a hundred – still expensive I know but they are so beautifully made with such skill….I’d love to have seen your ‘cow jumped over the moon’ – could do a whole series based on nursery rhymes!
Creechman – is that good or bad? :-)
I taught design technology for a while and I used to get the kids to make those. Not as sophisticated of course. They used to make things like corpses rising out of graves, and people picking their noses – I hate kids!
Oh Diane – thanks so much for being such a good sport! I laughed so much over the parallel parking, it reminds me of a friend of mine in the UK!
Love the camel – could do with a pack like that myself!
Can’t wait to follow those you have tagged!
DP – little angels. I did a DT course as part of my teacher training. We made little cars that ran on batteries, kites, airplanes, very cool.
It was difficult enough for our tutor to get US to behave sensibly – I dread to think what it must have been like organising a class of kids let loose with all those tools!
Lunes – my pleasure. More automata pics later if I can get it organised…. thanks for the tag!
I love the camel, it’s so cute!
He does have a great expression on his face!
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Hi Diane… I love your automata… it looks really cool! I had to lol at the reverse parking and driving back from Exeter because you couldn’t park your Range Rover… such is life!
I have just now written up my 7 things so when you get a chance, enjoy reading… and thanks :)
Thanks for doing that!
I enjoyed reading about and listening to, your brothers band – they are really good! And the tambourine playing is awesome…. :-)
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