Your Gran Wouldve had This

Someone commented in a blog post the other day remembering the Tina print that was popular in the 1970s.

 J H Lynch painted many scantily clad ladies, usually relaxing in a wood somewhere, in soft focus.

 We keep 'our Tina' in the gap below our dressing table at the moment.
She's a must-have print.

Claire

Gypsy Dolls. They come for your Soul.

Some holiday kitsch now. Along with the good old straw donkey, another common souvenir purchase from the 70s was a doll in traditonal dress.

 Package holidays meant we working class folks could get away to the sun for the first time, and trinkets were collected like trophies of these grand adventures.

 I remember my own parents having flamenco dancing lady dolls, and I too have one in the cabinet collection.

 Today's blog however are these spooky looking chaps.
Handmade in Cyprus & wearing traditonal dress, this pair were found at yet another car boot sale.
Love that they are still boxed, although unlike my husband's original boxed Star Wars figures, I very much doubt my dolls would sell for much these days!

Claire

Garden Kitsch - Help!

I've hit a stumbling point when it comes to the outside of our house.

 I'm not too sure how to do garden kitsch, or if there is such a thing.

 The immediate answer would be gnomes, but I've always found them just too far into the realms of bad taste. Maybe I'm just repressing some fear.
In fact my earliest memory is that of a garden full of gnomes down the road from us when I was a toddler.

 I have some funny little bits & pieces in the pots at the front door. A reproduction pink flamingo, smaller & slightly lighter than the authentic ones. Also a tin crab & lobster from a pound shop, but I think living this close to the sea, anyone could get away with those.

 The pink bird house is a bit cutsey, steering toward the Cath Kitson look, which I personally find a bit too twee.

 It'll be a challenge for me investigating garden kitsch & getting the place into shape, but I think I'll leave it till next summer.

 Does anyone have any ideas? What did your granny used to doll her garden up with?

Claire

Indoor Lawn Flamingo

The Trailer Park Special! My very own lawn flamingo.
A rare species, I previously only had cheap knock-offs (see my garden kitsch blog post next), but when we moved to our new house my mum spent the £20 it costs to import these plastic beauties & bought me two for a house warming present.

 It's such an iconic piece that I wanted one indoors & keep one in the large tiki flower pot beside the tv. The flower pot belongs 'to the house', chosen by our landlady as part of the furnishings.

 We are very lucky to have a landlady with classic taste, and I'll dedicate a post soon to some of the amazingly stylish vintage furniture she picked for our house.

 I managed to kill the plant within 2 months of moving in, my husband says I have 'grey fingers' when it comes to gardening. Luckily the rules of floral decoration & kitsch is "the more fake looking, the better".
Think of kitchens adorned with fake vines of grapes & onions and you have the right idea.

 So I used the pot to plant one of the flamingoes & draped him in some tacky, light-up red flowers from Ikea's 2008 Summer Range.
I

Claire

Exotic Table Mats

These are an eBay buy. I think buying kitsch on eBay is a little bit like cheating. To me part of the joy of kitsch is that you found each piece yourself, hoking in a junk shop, or bartering at a car boot sale.

 I'm a bit snobby about buying faux-kitsch reproductions & feel like it would be totally cheating to buy items from a retro shop like the one near St.Annes in Belfast.
That's ready made kitsch, someone else has done it for you.

 When your decor looks odd like mine, it's a reflection on me, and I don't want someone else picking what furniture will make my house look 'properly retro'.

 Of course shops like the retro one & books about other people's kitsch homes are fabulous places to steal ideas, but put your own twist on them!

 Back to the placemats, an eBay buy, so not as much a trophy as if I'd found them buried in a pile of magazines in a charity shop.

 Six separate prints on hard table mats, I remember my own granny having something similar.

 They came in a hard box, so are in as new condition, so I don't use them, just display them.

 My favorite is definitely the 60's orange hued photo of the canal boat.

Claire

Traditional Sacred Heart Picture

Final installment of my religious kitsch collection.
A classic!

 Would love a matching Mary.

Claire

Religious Kitsch Continued

These pair of Christs (unusual phrase) actually belong to my husband.

 He isn't Catholic, or even remotely religious, but he loves a good Jesus statue.

 'Baby' Jesus was bought in the Catholic Wares shop near Castlecourt in Belfast & the bust was a second hand treasure found at Holywood May Day Festival two years ago.

 Incidentally my very own 'Bible', the coffee table book Kitsch Deluxe can be seen in this snap.
Anyone who wants some inspiration of how to get the look right, this book is a must have.

Claire

Light Up Last Supper Rainbow Clock

Hold onto your hats, people, this by far is one of my worst/best, ugliest/most glorious items.

 Bought in a little cheap shop in Dublin, it's the light-up, rainbow revolving, Last Supper Time Keeper.

 Why anyone would want a purple shiny, rainbow radiating version of the Jesus' final fling with his disciples is beyond me, but I'm sure you agree if I had left this clock on the shelf I couldn't count myself a professional bad taste mogul.

 Religious kitsch is another easily accessible branch of the trend anyone can pick up.
One or two religious statues can bring kitsch to a bathroom without having to go the whole hog (like I would).

 Remember it's not exclusive to ol' Jesus, any religious icon can bring a bit of camp to your decor.

Claire