Saturday 13 December 2008

Woodland sprite gives me a fright



I love freakish, silly-looking ceramics and a year or so ago I went to Oakleigh St Vincent de Paul (Crewe Rd) and hit the motherlode- there were a huge number of seriously weird ceramic vases, ornaments and containers that featured insane-looking characters, and this guy was one of the many I bought that day. The photo doesn't give justice to the sinister expression on his little face- you get the feeling he's plotting something, and you're going to find out what it is in the middle of the night...

My sister actually smashed the thing by accident two weeks ago- the 'wood' surrounds broke into several large pieces that were fairly easy to superglue back together. The little leprechaun-person was unharmed no doubt saved by his own dark power...

As an aside, a few months ago I was in the same opshop and overheard some in-charge sounding person telling another staff-member that they were intending to get less bric-a-brac and furniture at this store in the future as the money in other stores was apparently in clothes, but then went on to say that particular store did very very well out of its non-clothing sections- which made me sad! It seems fewer and fewer opshops have the floorspace or manpower to cope with larger items. I know many- maybe even most?- people go to opshops for the clothes but I've always gone to them for doodads, gadgets and household things, and this shop consistently turns up treasures. I was going to pipe up but felt rude interrupting... the charity's imperative is to make the highest turnover in the space provided so they can run their social programs and help folks in need so I can't fault them at all for following what they beleive to be the profitable path...

BUT I was thinking, if you're in the area, and you're a bric-a-bracky type like me, you really should check it out. If enough of us haunt the place and buy up the doodads, maybe they won't feel the need to go clothing-focused...

6 comments:

Casdok said...

Yes i buy doodads! And i too have noticed that they are getting less space these days. Such a shame.

Joanne said...

Garage sales will always be good for doodads! And I'm sure op-shops will always stock some.

Stacey said...

I love that shop for the very reason that they have lots of ornaments and bits and pieces.
It would be a shame to see them go the way of the other shops in the area.

Jogirl said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Trish Hunter said...

What a lovely post!
I too love the doodads. I didn't know anyone else called things doodads. It's my Dads word for coasters haha

Clare said...

My Mum had one of these when I was a child!! I never knew where it went, maybe it is thesame one :0)
Lucky You.