Vintage 1970s Sindy Food stuff

Small collection of Sindy drink bottles and food stuff. The bottles measure around 25mm high and have fabulous Seventies graphics on paper labels. All great fun!

Belinda Lyon clothkit oxfam cut out doll

Last week my brother in law was clearing out his parents loft and he found this old doll. It looks remarkably like a figure I posted back in 2010. It turns out that she is designed by illustrator, Belinda Lyon who created a whole series of dolls for Oxfam, called cut out dolls. Sold as a pattern, and printed on a cotton tea towel, which you then, cut, stuffed and made up as the doll. It was a pretty impressive series, and so, of its time.

This doll is Malee, a Thai Temple dancer, you can see Nada, the Algerian girl from the series at h is for home, who have also set up a small flickr site celebrating Belinda Lyon.

Optimistic German miner doll & wife

At last the days are getting longer, and the weather seems to be improving, Hurray!
Im sure its not a coincidence but there were certainly more stalls at Sundays boot, and as result some nice finds! The lovely couple above, turned up, which I presumed were East German. Made from lightweight plastic, they are hollow. But without a makers mark, its been difficult to find out much. The guy on the left, is indeed a German miner, but no news about the girl. Hes 6" high, while she is 5".

Miss Twist. C'est Peynet

My parents went to Paris for their honeymoon in 1953, and I was always lead to believe that one of the things they came back with was the Peynet wedding dolls.

It turns out the dolls werent made till later. Born in 1908, Peynet is famed for his books "The Lovers". However in the early 50s Galeries Lafayettes commissioned Peynet to produce a window display for them, the display was so successful that Technigom, a french company had the idea of producing smaller versions in latex, that measured 21cm.

What then followed was over 250 different dolls, that sold over six million. The boxed doll above is Miss Twist, that my wife bought for my birthday. The images below come from a small catalogue that belonged to my father.

Oxfam Rosita Doll by Belinda Lyon

This classic 1970s cloth kit rag doll was found at the car boot last summer. She came with a similar purple cat. This doll is called Rosita and was one of a series of dolls from around the world created by Belinda Lyon for Oxfam in the 1970s. Rosita was from Panama, she is 12" tall and comes with printed floral poncho, and dress. I love her daring underwear!

Clothkits was an English clothing company based in Lewes, East Sussex. Founded as a mail order business by Anne Kennedy in 1969 . You can view some later patterns here.

Clothkits specialized in selling pre-printed kit clothing for children and adults. The kit would comprise a pattern printed onto the fabric so that it could be cut out and assembled without needing to pin a paper pattern. The kits were also notable for containing all the materials needed to complete the garment. The spare fabric around the pieces of the main pattern would often feature a doll sized pattern for the same garment.

Postscript. 5 January 2012
Ive just found, a small but rather good flickr site devoted to Belindas work, you can find it here.

Monkey Noggin

As a child I know I had many a Viking Noggin, and Im sure I loved them dearly, but they were very Seventies. Like much of the era, they were consigned to the dustbin, and it wasnt until a visit to Camden market in the early Nineties that I considered Noggins again.

Back then Mark Pawson ran a little stall, full of rubber stamps, mail art and other plastic kitsch. Whether at that point he had already released his Noggins book, Im not sure, but he could well have been selling the actual figures.

The monkey, above, turned up last week, and Ive got to say we baulked at the £1.99 price tag. Since first seeing Pawsons book, we began picking them up, if the price was right (20p or less!), but more as a joke than anything. The problem with collecting as I think Ive written before, is that once you have one, youre always on the look out for the next.

I do like this chap, theres something very Yeti about him.

Wooden zoo animals

More joy ! this time from a Jumble sale in South Wales! Under the table, amongst some Fisher Price Little People, these fantastic wooden zoo animals. Its been a while since Ive been to a jumble sale, and I have to say it was all a bit frantic!

There are no stamps or markings, on the animals so I cant tell you much more about them. Although the Hippo reminds me of Roger Duvoisins character, Veronica.












They all looked very pleased about something. I hope its about finding a new home!

Marching Mexican Mariachi band

Recent purchase that turned up on our summer travels . I thought they were a Mariachi band , but it turns out they may be Jarochos! They dress and play in the Veracruz style. The big difference being their traditional white shirts, trousers and hats!

Monkey Business

Three CHIMP CARDS Printed by GRAVO, in Holland.

1966 World Cup Willie Mascot

Another great find, this time from the Stables at Camden Market, probably sometime in the early Nineties. To think I actually ummed and arrghed over paying the £8 price tag!

World Cup Willie was the mascot for the 1966 World Cup in England and what a handsome fellow he is too. There've been some good mascots over the years, but this soft toy version is my favourite. Sadly I cant find a makers mark, so I cant tell you much more about him.

Willie was the first World Cup mascot, and while he was emblazoned on all manner of items one of the strangest Ive found is this rollerball figure below by Marx Rolykins. The base has a lead ballbearing that makes Willie glide along.















To see all the mascots, since Englands finest hour head over to Wikipedia.

one, two three and away!

One, Two, Three and Away was a reading scheme series of books for children written by Sheila McCullagh, and illustrated by Ferelith Eccles Williams aka Eccles. First published in the 1965 by Collins in the U.K, the books were still being reprinted in the 1980s.

My first encounter with the characters was in the Collins books but on picking my son up from nursery recently I discovered his class had these deligthful wooden dolls and what a find!

The story centered around The Village with Three Corners and featured Roger Red Hat, Billy Blue Hat, twins Johnny and Jennifer Yellow Hat and Percy Green Hat. The tallest doll measures 130mm.

There was also a video and a set of rubber stamps to accompany the series of books.

The Good Soldier Sveijk

Amongst one of my most cherished possessions and possibly earliest, are these postcards from Czechoslovakia from 1977. I was always lead to believe that they were from a film by the master of puppet animation, Jiri Trnka.

Ill be happy to be corrected and even more delighted if anyone knows more. Ive never seen the film, or read the book for that matter. But I do have two rather nice egg cups featuring him!

The story of Sveijk is set in World War I and follows the bumbling soldier as he attempts to follow orders and impress his superiors invariably lead to catastrophe.