Dan Goodsell reports on Woodimals.
The Wood-imals lived on Jungle Island across the street from Knott's Berry Farm. They were great folk art animals carved from wood and varnished by Forrest Morrow.
He also made smaller ones like I have above and sold the big ones with the following flyer. They are so simple and yet so engaging. Woodimals
Pingmag interviews the creators of the highly-detailed and delightful capsule toys made by Yujin Co. in Japan.
Put a ¥100 coin in the round-shaped vending machine, turn the dial, and out drops a small sphere containing a tiny capsule toy. This very moment of anticipation giving way to excitement (or disappointment over yet the same piece in a collection) will never cease through a capsule toy lover’s entire life! Recently, the Japanese capsule toys have gone way beyond the shapes of anime and manga figurines, and now include special models of all kinds of miniature sculptures, such as insects, toilets, busts – and their variety is truly amazing. All these are the brainchild of capsule toy company Yujin Co. from Tokyo’s neighbourhood of Tadeishi. They come up with twenty-five different products every month, creating hundreds of types for sale in thirty-seven countries. Today PingMag talks to Katsuhiko Onoo, Misayo Ariga, and Chihiro Ishizaki of Yujin’s product planning department.Yujin Capsule Toys
What is important for turning your ideas into a product?
Katsuhiko Onoo: Of course, the design is important. But also, if we are not having fun with our job, then there is no spirit to a new product, and it doesn’t really catch on. Actually, the ones we just throw out onto the market don’t really last long, while the ones that we think up and decide on ourselves stay on the market.
It is also important that the designer has an intimate knowledge of the toy that is being made. Whether is is an animation character, models of insects, games, whatever. If the person is interested and enthusiastic about the subject, the finished product will be completely different. For example, the designer of our “Japanese Insects in Primary Colors” series wanted to get some specimens of bees to examine, so they went to Okinawa for specimens and actually went out with a net and cage to collect samples. (Laughs)
Though expensive to buy, it doesn't cost a cent to gawk at the photographs of this uncommonly cool tinplate toy collection.
Bonhams Automata, Dolls and Teddy Bears Auction
15 toy design students from Shenkar College were invited on a 2 week trip to China to develop bamboo toy prototypes for Ha-Pe International. The most successful designs maximize bamboo's natural attributes rather than try to pretend it is wood. The sand bucket set is particularly wonderful.
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This set of blocks caught my eye in a toy store last Christmas and I'm still dreaming about them.
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Justin Gammon of Weirdo Toys is disturbed by his "nasty, old, green monkey" toy.
There have got to be plenty of reasons to stay away from a green monkey:
1. He’s a monkey.
2. He’s green.
3. He’s pissed (probably because a scientist just made a pass at him).
4. He’s covered in blood (maybe the aftermath of the infamous bite?).
5. He’s got chunks of flesh missing, and it looks like his skull is coming through his face.
Todd Lappin of Telstar Logistics has been making customized Tonka Trucks. This Hello Kitty-themed dump truck is for his baby daughter. Link
Kids are magnets for objects. Especially plastic objects. There may be actual magnets for the industrial sorting of recyclable plastics, but I suspect that children are the most efficient tool for categorizing plastic by color. Adults, out of the noble instinct to care for those who are smaller and cuter, want children to be nourished, entertained and well-armed for battle with gender-appropriate pink toothbrushes and blue bicycles. But what if Hello Kitty was blue and Superman was pink?
Of course I am worse than all the kids combined, as I acquire at a frantic pace and have also been photographed amongst my nearly monochromatic tableau of rust and wood.
Link to The Pink & Blue Project
The Shira comprehensively covers my obsessions circa the third grade.
AM Radio - To listen to the weekly Top 40
CB Radio - To swap arcane lingo with America's last cowboys - the independent, free-wheeling truckers
Burglar Alarm - Behind every hedgerow, there were Doobie Brothers-lookin' bicycle thieves waiting to steal my bike
As a Schwinn Stingray rider, I am pretty sure this would have been the ultimate accessory.
This delightful toy duck from China blasts music at ear-splitting volume, stopping only to drop eggs and quack. Will Coco's Variety carry it soon?
Though holiday weekends are usually lackluster for garage sales, this weekend proved the bold exception as I was able to unearth some exquisite stuff. Nothing valuable, no big tool haul, no fleet of bicycles, just a wonderful sunny day of quiet treasures.
Some highlights:
Little Folks Croquet Set - Though I already own a croquet set or two, this little charmer was too much to resist. A rainy day in the parlor could not be sweeter than spent eating brownies and engaging in a mean little game of croquet.
Trim Line - Looks like a chunk of wood but the Trim Line is an ingenious device that adds a square work surface for desktop drafting, as well as pencil storage. Only after love and time, space is the greatest gift. The fellow I bought this from told me that when he was a child, his father owned a form printing business. He would sit at his father's side late at night to watch him mock-up forms for client approval.
Rocks - Coco's Variety is planning to engage in a new business line - We Tumble 4 Ya. Customers will bring in stones and we will tumble them in our corporate bank of rock tumblers. This bag of partially tumbled stones will be a wonderful inventory for those clients who do not have rocks of their own.
Turntable - We sell non-collectible, serviceable record players at Coco's.
Rocks and Minerals of California - Although I am not a book collector, I will buy any books about California ghost towns, jeep trails, rock hounding or the Mojave desert.
Starting in the 1920's, well before radio control cars, hobbyists built and raced nitro burning model cars tethered to a center point like an old Cox airplane. Eventually, there was a commercial market of such size that small manufacturers like Duro-Matic in Los Angeles started producing small numbers for sale. Tether racing is still going strong with world records in the 200+ mph range.
The above McCoy seems to have not met the $2,500-3,500 estimate and went unsold at auction last August.
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Link to American Miniature Racing Car Association - Watch the video!
Cartoonist Jim Woodring has a video of one of his "six primary mechanical child-soothers" at his blog, The Woodring Monitor. This one is called Angelica.
Found last week at a Burbank garage sale, I have been mildly obsessed with the quality of illustration on this puzzle. I have scrutinized each piece and can declare the boot, the red chair and the magpie to be my favorites. If I had 15 t-shirts, each emblazoned with a different puzzle image, I would be very content to wear different one each day and embrace a biweekly laundry schedule.
The puzzle pieces make up a sweet little utopia. Each morning, awake to check your CLOCK and crawl out of bed with your TEDDY BEAR and DOLL. While still in pajamas, pull on your RED BOOTS and wander to the breakfast nook of your charming COTTAGE as the CAT scurries across your path. Before settling into your RED CHAIR, collect the breakfast eggs from your CHICKEN and give your DUCK a sweet pat on the head. On your way back to the house, check the MAGPIE'S nest in the PINE TREE to see if any new shiny objects have appeared since last inspection. Return to the kitchen with your DOG to fill the BLUE PITCHER with juice and bring the COFFEE POT to the table. Consider, briefly, buying a SAILBOAT and just as quickly reject the idea as being too much work.
I like the idea of these images as shirts so much. Any illustrators out there willing and able to mimic this style for t-shirts? Email us! Paying gig!
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