I've been making again! A new Lake District necklace...
Wednesday 16 November 2016
Monday 31 October 2016
Pop it on a Postcard
The
fascination of an old postcard. Especially those that were written on and
posted. You can look for the address…is it still there? How long did they live
there? What was their life like? You get
the tiniest glimpse sometimes from the message.
Just maybe you could begin to craft a whole story from it.
A
couple of years ago I went to a vintage toy fair at Doncaster Racecourse. I
found a big box of postcards, all for a fiver. Oh the heavenly joy of going
through them and reading them all. This was obviously a collection. I worked
out that it had belonged to a lady that lived in Dawlish. I got to know her quite well from the
postcards that she had saved from family and friends. But there were some older
ones that she must have bought or been given.
Here’s
a couple:
 |
| A typically English postcard...a model village |
 |
| Jalland Street is still there! Google image it to see a row of middling-class terraced houses |
 |
| Some scenes are a bit boring and unlabelled. No idea which church this is. |
 |
| It's still there...slightly better class than Jalland Street, above. Was sending postcards a purely middle-class activity? |
I’m
selling a few on ebay…keeping the ones of special interest to me and then
giving others the opportunity pick up some that may be of interest to them. It
means that I got my fiver back, and have had tons of free geographical-based
entertainment!
Monday 10 October 2016
Bartholomew's Sheet 29
This
is my favourite map of all time, and it shows clearly why I find these things
so interesting.
It
is a Bartholomew map, which states that it is by appointment to the late King George
V. This suggests that it was produced in the latter half of the 1930s, a most
fascinating period of time.
Part
of my love for it is that it maps out my favourite places to be…ones of memory
and aspiration. Monsal Dale, Derwent Valley, Hope Valley…I would be there every
day if I could.
But
my original fascination, the reason why I had it on my bedroom wall as a
teenager, is that it is a map of where I grew up. A place of great change. This
sheet of paper was my portal to the past; my own Narnia.
In
the late 1930s, the area where I was living had been part of Derbyshire, it had
been a place of coal mines, railways and the most polluted river in Britain
that would flood and cover those train tracks. But around the time when I was
born, Sheffield had stretched its boundary and embraced the area into the
suburbs. Huge council estates were thrown up, then private housing and then
finally a shopping centre. I witnessed
this, as we were one of the first families to move into the council
estate. I played on the buildings sites
and mourned the loss of my favourite dog walking field to the foundations of
the shopping centre. That country road that was dotted with benches and little
white bungalows now sits under a retail park. It was like a scene from one of
those old 1930s films that I liked watching. But my map kept it alive.
These railway lines were of particular fascination. One lives on, the Midland ‘old
road’ between Chesterfield and Sheffield.
But the others in this tangle have gone. I found out that one was once
the Great Central main line, and that express steam engines shot down it,
heading for Marylebone. This fuelled my imagination and I took my dog and
explored the old grey path of ballast. I
found all sorts down there in the 1980s when it had merely been abandoned – not tidied
up and turned into the Transpennine Trail.
When I began to organise Young Archaeologist Club trips, I took a group
along with me and we had a whale of a time exploring the site of an old signal
box.
The
city still encroaches into this place of contrasts, and sucks the
character from it. But I still have my map and my imagination. This is the only map that I will never
upcycle.
Tuesday 23 August 2016
Back to School with your Map Notebook
I’ve
covered the subject of map-covered writing books before, but I am just returning to it for
a quick post because I think I have found the best notebooks to use!
Backing
a plain notebook with an old map is a terrific way to show it some new love. I
find staring at a map very cathartic while trying to write, I can chuckle at
place names and take myself off on an imaginary historic journey through bits
of old Britain, now lost forever. It makes your notebook both more inviting and
more durable.
I
have just backed a pack of books, and have placed two of these for sale in
my Etsy shop. The others are for me. The notebooks that I have used are
standard school writing books, and I purchased a pack of five from Ryman’s in
Buxton at a very reasonable price. The picture
below demonstrates how I have covered the book and how easy it is. You just
need an extra strong Pritt Stick to hold it all down.
Buy
one of the finished books here for £2.99 plus postage, if you haven’t time to make your own.
Wednesday 17 August 2016
Thursday 28 July 2016
Monday 20 June 2016
Vintage Map Confetti
Oh
the fun you can have with a shaped hole-punch!
I
have turned an entire 1940s map of the Plymouth area into butterfly shaped confetti.
A very cathartic activity when there are certain pent up frustrations that you
are unable to demonstrate in the preferred manner.
These
little 2cm mappy butterflies might be used as table confetti at a party or
wedding – maybe in the Plymouth area itself.
They might find their way into invitation envelopes…or in a bon voyage
card for someone off to live or study in the Devon city.
Anyway
they are now for sale in my Etsy shop…or if you fancy making your own then the
shaped hole punch is easy to obtain on ebay. Happy punching!
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