A Handicrafts Calendar and a Handmade Wax Picture

Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to why something particularly floats your boat, is there?

One such item is a little Handicrafts calendar kindly given to me by a friend earlier this week. I'd never seen one before and was immediately taken with it.

The calendar measures just 4cm square. Judging by its long forked tail, I think the bird depicted on the front is a swallow—very apt with its associations with the changing of the seasons and the arrival of summer here in the UK.

 The Handicrafts logo and factory address are printed on the back.

Inside, is a neat little month-to-a-page calendar for 1929. It's in amazing condition considering that it's 97 years old!

Given its diminutive size, my guess would be that it was made to tuck into a wallet and would have been given away to customers and/or suppliers.

But of course it's also perfect for a dolls' house.

I've looped it onto the string from a Christmas gift tag—never throw anything away!—and have hung it on the wall in the bay window office of Agar Hall (the Tri-ang No. 82 wing) where I'm sure it will prove useful to the Grecon owner-managers Joyce and Rabbie.

Of course, if I was being pedantic about it, the No. 82 wasn't produced until 1933 at the earliest, so a 1929 calendar is a complete anachronism, but hey ho!—time does has a habit of warping now and then in my dolls' houses.

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Another new arrival this week that I'm particularly chuffed with is this lovely little wax picture:

I'm very drawn to the cheerful splash of colour created by the lovely lemon and orange daisies. It looks very 1930s to me—reminiscent of the barbola decorative work popular at that time—but I really don't know how old it actually is.

Judging by the back of it, it does at least have some age.

There is also a little label that says "Wax picture hand made". I love the fact that it's made from wax - how clever!

It has also gone into my Tri-ang No. 82, where I've hung it on the back wall of the grand staircase.

The original wallpaper in the hallway and on the staircase of this house is awful - I don't know what they were thinking in the Tri-ang factory when they used it. Maybe it's supposed to look like wood panelling. Whatever the case, it's dark and dingy and very much in need of a pop of colour, so just the right place for the new picture.

Until next time,

Zoe

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