On "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm"

Today marks the US release date for one of my all time favorite fairy tale movies, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, which came out August 7, 1962. It tells the fictionalized story of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm and their journey from more serious scholarly work into the world of fairy tales and is delightfully interspersed with three fairy tale segments of "The Dancing Princess" (a pet peeve of mine--the Grimms' story is "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", but I do like the segment), "The Singing Bone" (complete with puppet dragon), and "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and presents everything in true 1960's fairy tale portrayal goodness!

Earlier this year I finally broke down and bought the MGM Records Deluxe Edition album, so I thought today would be a fun day to spotlight it and share some interesting facts about the movie! 

The fun thing about this album is that under the record is an inset with a book about the making of the movie, so that's where the images you'll be seeing come from.

This was one of the first films MGM made using the three camera Cinerama process (the other being How the West Was Won, which they actually devoted a page to in this book).

I absolutely love all the little sketch images!

The legendary George Pal directed the stop motion fairy tale segments, with other segments being directed by the notable Henry Levin, and it is made up of a truly delightful cast including stars such as Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Barbara Eden, Russ Tamblyn, Terry-Thomas, Buddy Hackett, Jim Backus, and Ian Wolfe (the seemingly perpetually old man that appears in a ton of 60's shows usually as a grump and who's career spanned the 30's-90's).  

The movie was filmed in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a Medieval Franconian City in Germany. According to the book, props used in the movie were enthusiastically provided by local museums including a cannon used by Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars, street signs, and books by the Grimms. At one point in the movie, the brothers travel on a steam propelled side-wheeler, which in real life was named the Oskar Huber. This was used for film service "just three days before it was scheduled to retire to a spot of honor in the famous ship museum at Mainz". The film crew also had special permission to "borrow" so to speak a cobblestone road

In terms of award nominations, the movie did fairly well, being nominated in 1963 for Academy Awards for Best Music, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design (It won this one!); and with Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor-Motion Picture Drama (Laurence Harvey) and Best Motion Picture Musical.  

For added fun you can watch the trailer on IMDb here!

♥🏰♥

On a 60s Craft Kit and Other Fun Finds

I haven't been inclined to write very much lately or if I am inclined to write haven't been inclined to finishing anything, which means that drafts for various posts on a variety of subjects have have been piling up over the past few months.

Having been to the thrift store about a week ago for some cheering up sort of shopping, this is the post everyone is getting today.

As usual I ended up coming home with an odd assortment, the weirdest being this craft kit from the 60's that was my least expensive purchase of the day at 2.99. As you can see, it still has all the pieces, the elephant isn't even open, the instruction sheet, and horrible little foam noodles that were to be used for the filling and are in a state of disintegrating.

I have a thing for Alfred Hitchcock books and magazines (enough that they probably deserve their own post someday) and very rarely when I come across them can I resist buying at least one. In this case, I bought two. This larger sized glossy covered book published in the 60's has a nice selection of writers including Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and, a favorite of mine, Cornell Woolrich.

There were quite a few of the mass market paperbacks, but I settled for this one because it was the older one in the bunch and I like the way Dell paperbacks from the 60's smell. Upon flipping through it at home I have discovered that it fittingly has a spiderweb sandwiched near the middle. 

 

I don't know how old these chicken plates are, although I'm inclined to say 50's or 60's as they got my attention because they remind me of my grandma's egg plate. 

I spotted some wooden owls a little over two inches in a grab bag (Heaven forbid I make it through a visit to a thrift store or the swap meet without coming home without an owl of some sort!). The one on the right has some vision problems, but is very lovable, in my opinion.

The grab bag also had a pretty wooden egg timer and, due to the bag being so small, an unidentifiable wire thing that I reasoned I would just get rid of since I was really getting the bag for the little owls. 

Turns out it was what I'm now thinking of as a kitchen themed dangle-ly with a bunch of miniature utensils and household implements--I love it and am absolutely keeping it!

Upon getting ready to buy my items, I spotted another very shiny and appealing looking small owl, so it came home with me too.   

My random item for this trip was a miniature tea set. I've always wanted a fairy tea set and now I have one!

Other items not pictured were a few dresses, several dvds including Lost Horizon (1937 version) and The Shari Show (Lamb Chop makes everything better!), and a Big Band Romance cd.

On Christmas Trees, Cats, Candy Canes, and Knit-Wit Decorations (Part 2)

And now to wrap up this year's Christmas crafting...

At this point of the month, my crafting veered away from Knit-Wit-ing things and I went for my 1960s Fun With Craft Sticks book that I made angels from last year because I knew there was a tree craft in there. It was a large three layered tree craft. 

 

I went small again and reduced it to six popsicle sticks, four beads (rather than 114!!!), and a few short pieces of floral wire, with the addition of green metallic paint, red seed beads and a star eyelet. They ended up a bit lopsided because I wasn't putting much effort into cutting the popsicle stick for the trunk evenly.

After that I decided to go back to my aforementioned felt craft: holly leaves. I had purchased a pack of small metal treat bucket from the dollar store not too long ago with the intention of  making little Christmas floral decorations. I only ended up making one, so chances are you will be seeing more buckets in the future. 

Each leave has a pipe cleaner sewn to it and then I wrapped fake berries around them (here is where I learned when wire is involved safety scissors are not always safe). Then to get them to "stay", a word to be used loosely because they like rearranging themselves, in place I filled the base of the bucket with fiber-fill and tucked them in. Some sort of styrofoam base inside would have probably been better, I just really don't really like using it.

After making the snowman, it was suggested that I could make a tree, similar to a macrame tree my grandma made in the 1960's or 70's. For this one, I added beads to the center.

It was a bit of a nightmare getting the three rows connected into a tree shape. I didn't do it while it was on the Knit-Wit since the connecting rosettes were going to be on the diagonal and after knotting it on the wrong petal loop, I accidentally cut one of the edging stitches in attempt to get the two disconnected, but I managed to get it to work out and ended up with a very cute little tree! The star was created by making a rosette with fewer petals and for some sparkle, gold thread.

My final Christmas craft, completed Christmas Eve, ended up being a bit silly and Carrollian. I sewed Candy Cane bugs! They live on hot cocoa and eggnog, in case you were wondering. 

And with that, the below image concludes this year's Christmas crafts!

 ♥ ♥ ♥

On Christmas Trees, Cats, Candy Canes, and Knit-Wit Decorations (Part 1)

I was intending to spread out my Christmas crafting in multiple posts throughout the month, since I started promptly after Thanksgiving, but clearly time got away from me and so this year I'll be splitting my crafting into two post of what pretty much amounts to another year of mostly 1960s crafts.

The first craft of the season was a Holly Berry cat! This pattern is part of the 1960's Woman's Day cat pattern set that I used to make my Cheshire Cat and I have to say they really did not go out of their way to make it easy to do the legs on these patterns (which is probably why there is an option with a body that looks more like a bowling pin without distinct legs). Turned out awfully cute, though!

Following that I became interested in doing some felt crafting, but then dropped that project and didn't finish for a few weeks, so that will be for post 2.  

However, having moved on from that, I became very enthusiastic about using my Knit-Wit (previously mentioned here), which I think I finally have the hang of when it comes to making circles (I have yet to try making a pom pom)! 

When I first bought it, I had come across a few ideas of what to make with it online, including, as mentioned previously, an old magazine page with a Santa ornament. I couldn't find where I had saved the image when I set out to make these, so I did my own thing and managed to leave off the mustache, but still think it turned out cute. Then I made wreaths as pictured in one of the Knit-Wit books (see the linked post for the image, from what I think was from the "Yarn Sculptured Fantasies" book) and designed the reindeer myself. Definitely have a lot of ideas of what other circular items I could make now!

One of the Knit-Wit books also had a pattern for a standup tree made of rosettes stacked up on a folded over pipe cleaner, which looked appealing to me. 

Mine is quite a bit smaller than the book one, which involves making nine rosettes and then trimming the loops. I think I ended up with five rosettes in mine and I used a loose piece of yarn looped in and out at the top to make it more tree shaped. I also used an empty ribbon spool for a more supportive base.

After the simple ornaments and the tree, I then moved on to learning how to connect the rosettes and made a slightly lopsided snowman. I am still working on the skill of connecting them as you'll see in the next post.

To be continued...

♥ ♥ ♥

On a 1961 Woman's Day Magazine Bedtime Story Toys Pattern Set

More about the November 1961 issue of Woman's Day...

While I had the magazine out of its plastic envelop to take a picture of the page with the lion pattern (last post), I figured I might as well flip through the rest of it and came across this page with a nice array of story time dolls. It primarily got my attention for the Alice doll, which was an earlier version of the 1965 one I made (seen both here and here), but I was thinking it might be nice to make Hansel and Gretel or Mary and her cute little blue embroidered lamb. 

However, it turned out, unlike the other toys I've made from this issue, the patterns weren't included in the magazine. As the note at the end of all the description states:

Because we know our readers like to work from full-size patterns (last year almost 50,000 of you ordered our patterns for stuffed cats), we have prepared special patterns and directions for both the Bedtime Story Toys themselves and their colorful costumes. To order patterns for this bonus toy feature, offered in addition to the 100 ideas included in our gift portfolio, use the coupon that appears on page 122.

Clearly that coupon was not going to do me any good a little over 60 years later. Based on past experience, while these patterns are out there (I, in fact, have the above mentioned printed cat pattern sheets which were given to me by a family friend who purchased them and also still had the page with the pattern grid and the cover from the magazine-my Cheshire cat was made from it), to find an actual original set that's all there, in good condition, and at a reasonable price is kind of rare. 

With low expectations I sat down at the computer. I started with Etsy where nothing came up at all, which was disappointing since I was at least hoping for the possibility of a digital pattern. Then I went to ebay and I found a set for a little under 16 dollars!! And it was complete, uncut, and according to the description not musty!!! Needless to say I was very excited and promptly bought it!

The set arrived last week and I am now happily contemplating tracing the patterns on to tissue paper for use and making that cute little sheep! ♥

On a Little Lion: A Photo Post

This is Raspberry! 

 

Raspberry was made using the lion pattern from the November 1961, Woman's Day magazine that also contains the patterns I used for my herd of reindeer and the elves I made last year. As usual, I altered it, making the decision to skip giving him a mouth and, after a little over an hour of sewing yarn on, deciding the the mane didn't need to go under the chin.

I bought the fabric I used (which hard to see in the photo, has gold, shiny streaks in it) specifically for this pattern and had a brief moment of hesitation when I started, but it ended up giving this little lion the perfect 60's look!

♥ ♥ ♥

On Some Yarn Crafting

Over the past couple of years I've been leaning a bit more towards crafting with yarn again. Not that I ever really stop crafting with yarn, it just becomes an element for something like hair for a doll rather than the primary supply for whatever I'm working on.

I tend to enjoy working with yarn and have a decent quantity on hand for someone who doesn't knit or crochet. When I was in elementary school, I used to make yarn dolls of the sort where you wrap yarn around a large book, in my case my dictionary, then pull off the loop and tie it off at the appropriate places, and then get a second loop to make up the arms. Then I when I was older I went through a very brief phase of making pompom ornaments (sheep and a cat, specifically).

Because knitting and crocheting present some obvious difficulties for me, it's not surprising that I veered towards an attempt at weaving. When I was about ten I found this 1970's loom at a thrift store for probably no more than a dollar and last year (or possibly the year before) I decided that I was ready to attempt making a sweater rather than randomly weaving squares that I never do anything with.

I picked up some yarn from the dollar store with the idea being that if I didn't finish at least I didn't spend a ton on the yarn. According to the little booklet that comes with the loom I need at least 35 squares. Moving at a snail's pace, I've now made six (one this week!). In part, this is because I became frustrated when I attempted one of the patterned weaves and couldn't figure out how to get it past the first section, which made me temporarily put the project aside. It will be interesting to see how long this endeavor actually takes me to finish. 

I also bought a 1960's Knit-Wit flower loom last year. At this point, I've made five simplistic flowers and think I have the hang of making them, though I haven't attempted connecting them yet. 

You can also use it to make diamonds, squares, and pom poms, as can be seen on the box lid, which I have yet to try. Apparently the kits each came with a different color yarn and instruction booklet for a few projects. Along with the original pink and white yarn, mine had the instructions for a flamingo, peacock, and crane! 

Because I was interested in trying to make a few of the other animals that were pictured on the basic instruction sheet, I decided to see if I could find some of the full length pattern books and ended up with three that were being sold together. 

 

 

The Family Classics one has clothing items, which, given how long I'm taking with the other loom, would probably take me about ten years to complete. 

As can be seen, the other two have some very 60's items in them.  

 

 

 

And the one book has lots of bottle covers! I find this waiter particularly funny!

 

Then there are things like this skiing doll, which would take quite a bit of yarn. 

I'm guessing the primary things I'll be making from these books will be the smaller animals and the Christmas ones (I did see a cute Santa decoration somewhere online that just involved making a flower and using felt for the face and hat), though I definitely would like to try making the mermaid. Either way, I have lots of fun options to consider for future yarn crafts! ♥