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Shadow Boxes: Beautiful Christmas Gift Ideas from Etsy Part 1

A BAD HARVEST IN THE HOLLOW BY CHIMERICAL REVERIES

Shadow boxes are glass-front display cases that contain salvaged and created beautiful objects placed artfully at various heights to generate a depth of field. Some shadow boxes include mood lighting for added dramatic effect and can be used as a night light or as a piece of art in the lounge room. Others are contain nostalgic miscellanea from another time and place.

I am obsessed with the shadow boxes on ETSY, which vary in terms of quality. Here are the best ones that I found. Some vary in price. There is one there for several thousand dollars but as you might imagine – this is a singularly unique work of art and is actually worth that much money,

Here are some useless but beautiful gifts for Christmas which the arty person you know may appreciate.

A Bad Harvest in the Hollow by Chimerical Reveries

This is an original handmade shadow box complete with a glass front and ornate frame. It is finished in a dark satin stain and has been fitted with brass screws and an antique toggle switch, and powered by a 9v adapter.

This shadow box is a visually immersive model, as alluring and enchanting as it is curious. Saturated with texture, colour and detail. The box was designed to be viewed from any side and angle, every time you view it you will see something you didn’t see before. There is no beginning or end to the models inside, they are made to appear as if the end is just out of sight.

NZ$2,434.57

Shadow box di cappuccetto rosso by Creating Monkey

This is a shadow box of little red riding hood and the wolf in a birch forest made from delicate water colour paper, LED lighting in warm white and Obeche wood with an MDF casing. (I Google translated this from Italian for ease of understanding).

NZ$142.07

Curio Box by VintagebCindy

The box itself is vintage as well as most of the items it is filled with. Inside there is an assortment of treasures found at flea markets in Wisconsin such as a Victorian baby sitting in a shoe, Vintage miniature books, buttons, wood spools of thread, a porcelain vase and game pieces. Each shadow box is unique.

NZ$143.61

‘Wolf song’ by CuttingEdgeLaserSrvs

These 3D Shadow Boxes are designed and then precision laser etched, cut and inlaid. Each piece is hand stained and assembled to create a memorable scene.

They accept custom orders and will work with you to create a favorite scene. Such beautiful craftsmanship and a strong attention to detail.

This shadowbox of a wolf in forest, “Wolf Song”, has 7 layers and is inlaid – it spotlights a howling wolf, moon, clouds, forest and mountain scene.

You can choose wood stain colours such as walnut, ebony, orange, natural oak, dark walnut and pecan.

NZ$290.15

Miniature Antique French Book Store by Titowanderlust

A charming diorama featuring an antique French book shop filled with miniature books. The shadow box is made of dark wood and has a glass on the front. It cannot be opened. It can be hanged on a wall or laid on a shelf.

The background is a marbled pink wallpaper. Some of the books have leather or faux leather cover, others have pictures and titles printed on the front. The name of the shop is written in gold on black with a nice calligraphy: “Au Temps Du Livre”, with the house number “5” in the center. In a good vintage condition.

NZ$452.85

‘Paper Roses’ by JenniesHox

A slightly creepy but yet adorable shadowbox featuring an antique doll head has a striped torso, a golden crown and sits above a sea of white paper flowers, with an architectural print behind. There is a brass ring on the back so it can be hung on the wall or stand alone. It comes in a lightweight wooden box.

NZ$154.19

Star Wars Hoth Shadow Box by SuziDigital

This great shadowbox is handmade and pays homage to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. It has a low voltage so the light can be kept on safely all night. It also has a break-away adaptor so if the wire is pulled between the box and the frame the connection is broken without damaging the box. Ideal for a Star Wars lover.

NZ$70.99

Words of the Day: Shit-Ring & Bubble-Butt Bot-Net

Recently, while working away on a project, I discovered that the only way to actually grow followers on Instagram in any sort of meaningful scale above 300 or so is to either buy these followers from China or Russia, or to enlist the help of an infamous Instagram Bot. These are regularly banned from Instagram for their shady activities and I was just about to find out why.

Given adequate permission from you…stupid human…the bot is then given the ultimate power. That means it can like and follow whatever and whoever the fuck it wants and you and your silly human keyboard can’t do anything about it.

After it swung into full gear, I actually deleted the Bot from instagram, cancelled my account completely with the Instagram Bot and denied all permissions for apps on the Instagram side, but the bot continued to like a whole range of fake accounts of women in the Phillippines with rotund derriers and too much make-up.

My clever and highly literary spouse who happens to have English as a second language has tried to describe this phenomena for what it really is. Because he is deft in both languages he comes up with complete whoppers of new words that actually aren’t yet in the English dictionary or even the urban dictionary.

Shit-ring: definition

A shit ring is a swarm of bots (automated pieces of javascript) that execute on specific tasks on Instagram and Twitter to try and drive up artificial likes, comments and follows from other ”real” people. Although…the usage of bots on Instagram is now so prevalent that absolutely nobody (who is pushing a brand that is), actually manually likes and comments on other brands’ instagram feed. To do so would take far too long. And so Instagram is thriving and selling ads based on completely arbitrary and spammy likes and comments from fake accounts. These accounts then interact and communicate with each other and with legitimate brands in an extremely shallow and fake way. It is completely non-monitored and nobody really knows how many real followers they actually have.

Bubble-Butt Bot-Net: Definition

A Bubble-Butt Bot-Net is a shitring of fake bot accounts that all have pictures of women with massive asses on them and very little substance otherwise. These are not real accounts and are actually a part of a pretty unsophisticated botnet, designed as click-bait to get people to follow.

Shit-ring peddler

Hand over heart…I’m a real boy, not a bot, I won’t hurt you.

A shit-ring peddler is a person who mongers, promotes or otherwise interacts with brands and their bots on Instagram or Twitter, in other words a social media manager.

Szambo Water World

A Szambo (pronounced Sham-bo, in Polish) is a septic tank that houses sewerage. And so a Szambo Water World is a fun park where lots of useless shit is talked about and mulled over. It’s a place where shit-rings and bubble-butt bot-nets can thrive and reproduce endlessly. A great example of this is Instagram, Twitter and any other social media platform where fake accounts congregate.

In case you were wondering, the bot’s name is Instavast. If you value your dignity, time and sanity then stay away.

Facebook owns Instagram and What’s App, and they have around 5 billion users across the three platforms. However their share price has almost halved over the past year. Here’s to hoping that it actually dies. Here’s some words from Mark Zuckerberg himself in 2010

I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses of people. People just submitted it. I don’t know why. They “trust me”….Dumb fucks.” – Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook’s share price has fallen by around 50% in the past year.

Film Review: The Distant Barking of Dogs

Another film that featured at the New Zealand International Film Festival was The Distant Barking of Dogs. It’s the story of a young boy and his family who live on the Ukrainian and Russian border, on a slice of disputed land that is being fought over tooth and nail, for years. The people in this documentary try to live normal lives, eating and sleeping to the soundtrack of the crackle and boom of bombs and machine guns reverberating around them.

Notice a theme here? All of these films I’ve reviewed are Slavic and Baltic films, well you would be right because my partner is from this part of the world and this region holds deep fascination and love for me and an intense connection for him that can sometimes cut very close to the bone.

Slavic countries are fraught with a hard-worn history. Poland particularly has been beset on all sides by conquering forces that sought to destroy it.

And so, anyone you talk to from this region, of any age is deeply and completely affected by this recent past that stirs and hangs around like an elephant in the room, evoking memories.

The Distant Barking of Dogs is a good example of how cinema reflects in an intense and raw way, the lived experience.

A feeling of deep uncertainty and anxiety surrounds the people in this documentary. Nobody is safe and everybody’s grip on life is so tenuous and vulnerable that you will feel as though you want to wrap them all up in cotton wool. This is a great film to see if you want to be thankful for living somewhere safe and away from war.

It’s most definitely not a feel good rom-com, so if you don’t want to think for 2 hours then this isn’t the film for you.

Film Review: Ancient Woods

I saw this film at the recent New Zealand International Film Festival. The festival has grown and developed over the years and has become quite a magical event. I thoroughly recommend it if you are in Auckland.

Ancient Woods is a Lithuanian production and it’s a magical foray into the flora and fauna living in a Baltic forest. This is a slow-burn nature documentary, more of a meditation on the experience of watching animals with wonder and fascination, exquisitely close up.

The viewer feels herself peering through branches and watching turkeys doing a mating dance, owls prance around, European Bison mosey through the forest on heavy haunches and wolves cavort together in the most natural and undisturbed way. It’s a simple pleasure and a joy to be a privileged voyeur here.

Ancient Woods is different from any other nature documentary I’ve seen, in that there’s no narration, no human artifice here, only the visual feast devoid and naked for the viewer to enjoy. There is no background music or omniscient British voices – just the sounds of the forest in all their hypnotic and slow-moving cadences. I highly recommend this film for nature lovers and people who are particularly enamoured of European animals in all their animated splendour.

Film Review: Cold War 2018

Paweł Pawlikowski directed and wrote this love story that’s set in the 1960’s. This film is unlike any other Polish film I’ve ever seen and I mean that as a compliment. That’s because it has more in common with one of these cool French New Wave films of the 1960’s – Bande A Parte or Hiroshima Mon Amour.

Most other Polish films I’ve ever seen have been weighty tomes that are deeply emotional and steeped in anguish. Emo to say the very least, devastating and tough-going sometimes (think The Three Colours trilogy by Keilowsky, or Ida).

Although Cold War is different from this. Don’t let the name deceive you, this is no misery-fest. This is a painfully hip, lush and gorgeous story of a man and a woman who meet in the ruins of post WWII Poland.

Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, it’s a story of the preservation of culture and of self-censorship, contrasted to personal freedom and artistic freedom. At all times the tangible tension is present of the bigger and insidious communist forces, that discipline and control in extremis. This is a love story told and reflected through music – vivid, passionate and emotional music. The film uses as another character and set piece, different parts of Europe – Yugoslavia, Berlin, Poland and Paris.

Paweł Pawlikowski won the best director award at Cannes for this film and its evident from watching this film exactly why. This is no ordinary story and the telling of it is completely genius and magical in every way.

The two big and larger-than-life characters Zula (Joanna Kulig) and Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) are restless, youthful, exhuberant and passionate in the same ways that characters in a Godard film are.

This film has gone a long way to creating a new mythology and an old-school cool for Cold War Poland. This is an incredibly classy film and a classic in the making. You should see it if you can manage.

Ancient Word of the Day: Reave

Reave

A long and low boundary wall or bank, found especially on Dartmoor and in Devon, mostly now sunk back into the landscape. Also, as a verb, to tear, split, divide or cleave.

Celestial ceilings and soaring skies in Poland — Inside of the walls of Wawel Castle, we watch the gigantic strawberry moon rise on Midsummer’s Eve 2016 and see the ballet in the castle . Copyright Content Catnip 2015

Rof/rifa

An Icelandic word meaning to rip or tear something. Rof á landi refers to the rupture of the top soils of the land or erosion,

Adventures on the Forth and Clyde Canal — A canal bridge over a road in Edinburgh. Copyright Content Catnip 2010

Reave

To take away life, rest or sight. From the Oxford English Dictionary.

Or art thou bent against thy loyal lord,
To reave his life that gives thee life and breath?
– The Cobbler’s Prophecy, 1594 (sig. E3v).

Travel: Cycling adventures along the Kamo river, Kyoto

Cycling alongside calming bodies of water is one thing in life that I adore. In the past I’ve cycled along the Odra in Wroclaw, Poland, Tamaki Drive in Auckland and along the Water of Leith in Edinburgh, along with many other places. However the Kamo River in Kyoto tops them all.

The Kamo river has a flat and picturesque sandy pathway which gently twists and forks into smaller tributaries. There is an oddly satisfying and enjoyable freedom in slowing wheeling along in the mild Autumn weather and seeing the faces of people as you ride by. Kyoto is full of soulful experiences and soulful people who care about preserving culture. As the old capital of Japan before Tokyo, the city throbs with magic, mystery and sincerity.

Everywhere you look, there are people who are passionate about their culture and artistic expression. Kyoto is the epicentre of pottery making, quilting, creative kimono making, Kaiseki or haute-cuisine, bunraku puppet-making, kabuki and traditional music.

About the Kamo river

Chilling out on the banks of the Kamo river watching the world go by.

If you do ever visit Kyoto then there is loads to see and do. However, most tourists overlook the lovely river which is a respite from the well-worn tourist routes of shrines, temples and markets. Hiring a bike and travelling along here is really peaceful and you get to see a side of Kyoto you otherwise wouldn’t see.

Travel: Cycling adventures along the Kamo river, Kyot

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Running water is particularly calming, soothing, inspiring and refreshing to my mind, body and spirit. The Japanese follow Fusui, which is a version of the more commonly known Feng Shui, which came to Japan in the 7th Century. Many of the same principles apply with Fusui including implementing running water and growing plants for raising the energy in a home or in a community. Below is a smaller babbling brook which runs parallel to the Kamo river between a row of apartments, hotels and restaurants.

Babbling brook behind the Kamo river

For the perfect day of cycling, I recommend J-Cycles in Kyoto. They are not far from the river and the process is really easy to rent a bike for the day. It was super cheap – about $10 NZD for the whole day.

Local walking with shiba inu

The further out of the city centre you ride the more you get to see the real Kyoto, where local mums take their kids in the pram and old men walk their dogs.

People only seem to own two kinds of dog in Japan, the Akita Inu (a large yellow dog that was historically used for hunting). Along with the smaller, more docile and similar looking Shiba Inu.

The shiba inu seems to send people stir-crazy all over the world. It’s the subject of the doge meme after all. Take a look at this shiba inu vending machine series on the terrific blog Jonelle Patrick’s Only In Japan to see for yourself.

Further along the river I came upon a guy playing the saxaphone on the riverbank. This really felt like I had stumbled upon the soulful centre of Kyoto.

In the morning we had an amazing breakfast in one of the many cafes along the banks of the Kamo. At this French Cafe named Kawa we were visited by a lovely bird who sat expectantly on the terrace waiting for his fish. His name was Napoleon, and the French owner insisted in speaking to him fondly in French.

Napoleon the French/Japanese waterbird

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Enchanting floating ships by Italian Architect Luigi Prina

Italian architect Luigi Prina has been interested in aircraft modelling since a very young age. However, it was only after he met Venetian painter and boat builder Eugenio Tomiolo that he started to create flying ship models from ultra-thin paper and balsa wood inspired after Roman, Greek and Viking designs. His collection (or fleet) of enchanting flying contraptions now numbers over 200.

Beltane of the Southern Hemisphere

Medieval Icelandic Sagas: Tales of Blood Feuds, Dangerous Women and Warriors http://wp.me/p41CQf-Iu9

Today, in the Pagan calendar, the north celebrate the coming of winter at Samhainn. And all the while the sun is peaking up from behind the lush vernal trees and dancing for us once more in the southern hemisphere, as we welcome Beltane on October 31st. Or as I like to refer to it Beltane of the underworld.

A pagan spiral formation in Faerie Glenn where everything is miniature and enchanted. Copyright Content Catnip 2010

Beltane is the Gaelic seasonal festival historically held to mark the midpoint between the spring equinox & summer solstice (Là Bealltainn in Scottish Gaelic; Lá Bealtaine in Irish). Fire is the traditional means of marking this spring festival of optimism & return.

A famous Ossianic lament

“Though their chords like thunder roll,
When at Beltane brims the bowl,
Thou’rt the music of my soul,
Maiden of Morven!”

Lucky’s 18th Birthday

Lucky sadly left this planet in recent months. Here he is a year ago on his 18th birthday. I just love this look of absolute and unfettered delight at eating the ice-cream cake. He was a good boy.

My parents got him when he was only a puppy from the animal shelter. He was sentenced to euthanasia by the animal shelter because he had a faulty heart. He was not expected to live longer than a few years at the most. My mum’s friend who volunteered at the animal shelter luckily saved him from certain death and brought him home one day intending to find him a foster home. So he was christened Lucky.

Instead of dying young because of a weak heart, Lucky bloomed under the loving attention of my mum. He managed to live to the ripe old age of 18 years. This long life would have been helped by the daily walks, and a diet of lean raw kangaroo meat he was eating every day. The little engine that couldn’t – Lucky’s weak heart turned into the little engine that could. He will be sadly missed. Although this photo encapsulates what he was all about. He had a real cheekiness, a massive bark and a huge attitude as though he was owed the entire world on a plate. He would regularly snarl and strut around dobermans and great danes in the park, not understanding his size – he was a unique dog. He went wild for this cake, demolishing it within five seconds after obediently waiting for us to each cut off a piece.

Shadow Boxes: Beautiful Christmas Gift Ideas from Etsy Part 1

A Bad Harvest in the Hollow by Chimerical Reveries

Shadow box di cappuccetto rosso by Creating Monkey

Curio Box by VintagebCindy

‘Wolf song’ by CuttingEdgeLaserSrvs

Miniature Antique French Book Store by Titowanderlust

‘Paper Roses’ by JenniesHox

Star Wars Hoth Shadow Box by SuziDigital

Film Review: The Distant Barking of Dogs

Film Review: Ancient Woods

Film Review: Cold War 2018

Ancient Word of the Day: Reave

Reave

Rof/rifa

Reave

Travel: Cycling adventures along the Kamo river, Kyoto

About the Kamo river

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Enchanting floating ships by Italian Architect Luigi Prina

Beltane of the Southern Hemisphere

A famous Ossianic lament

Lucky’s 18th Birthday