TOYS – Spotted Photo Challenge

Toy – Camera

Let’s start with a toy which is the basis of all the things you see here. My camera. Obviously. This particular camera is with me since xxx. Before that I had a Canon camera which I bought in 2008 before our trip to the US and Dominican Republic. My first own camera was gifted to me at my confirmation by my aunt. It was a very good point and shoot film camera from Leica which had a few more options than most cameras. After that my then boyfriend and now husband gave me my first digital camera. Also a canon. My first photos however were taken on a Praktica camera – an Eastern Germany brand. It was many years later handed down to me from my dad when he received his first Canon camera at the 40th birthday. Later that one would also be handed down to me (read I adopted it) when he bought himself a DLRS camera.

But you probably want to know more about this particular photo. The time it was taken I was in the midst of my 100 day project #100daysofcraftaliciousimages. That year it was all about photography. I had a very cool set-up for this one. I had a bowl of blue paper slips the number of weeks the project was running. Those held prompts for getting to know my camera and pushing my creativity (like motion, exposure, texture, reflections, perspective, F8+, product photography, etc). Then I had a bowl with white paper slips. I think there were ten in total and they gave me prompts of things to shoot (like blue, self portrait, dark, airy, beauty & beats, old & new, etc). Each week I would draw a prompt and then each day the thing I was going to shoot. It was a cool project. And most fun was that I actually did some of the photos with a fellow photography friend I had met online the year before and who happened to move two blocks from me that year. Silvie was working on her book “Berlin for Instagrammers” and we did a few days of shooting together. So fun.

photo taken xx xth, 2019 in Berlin Friedrichshain.

Toy – Tigerente

There is a children’s book author well known in Germany called Janosch (if you don’t know him make sure to check him out). He had different characters one being a little tiger and a little bear who went on adventures. But his most known character was a little wooden pet on wheels that you could pull behind – Tigerente / the tiger duck. Of course every kid wanted that toy. And I decided that my godchild would get this. I am not sure when I gave it to her and if it was a birthday or a Christmas present. It was the first real wood project I did with my dad. He showed me a few more ways to work with wood. I wasn’t really allowed using the power tools though. I must have been around 15. I searched for kid friendly wood paint. It was so expensive. I was almost crying. That is the reason the duck has no stripes because I couldn’t (wouldn’t?) effort enough black paint. My god child loved this toy. Years later I asked my aunt if they still have it and that is when I took the picture.

photo taken November 25th, 2018 at my aunts house.

Toy – Scissors

This is my pride. I grew up learning that tools are valuable and that good tools need care and can be very expensive. Early on I learned that there are scissors for different task. Like a fabric scissor can never be used for paper. Same as if cutting hair you better have some hair scissors. As you can see I have a multitude of scissors these days. The two big ones are my sewing scissors. I mainly use the Ikea one. The one behind is a heirloom from my granny. It may even be from my great grandma who was a seamstress. Then the three tiny ones. Two are for nail clippings. I use them for my Fröbel star making or if I need to cut small things. These I use for all materials. The purple one o top is only for haberdashery things. The red one below is mainly for when I have kid visitors. The blue on is my go to for most paper things and what ever needs cutting. And the golden one behind is a gift from my sister I don’t really use besides in photo shoots. I have moved the hair scissor to the bathroom since the husband started cutting my hair. As I mentioned in a previous post my scissors hang on a cabinet door next to my desk.

photo taken September 15th, 2024 in my craft lab aka home office

Toy – Mikado

Here is a photo of another toy I made. It is the game Mikado. For some reason I needed some kebab sticks and couldn’t find any in the stores ending up ordering them on Amazon. For some reason I didn’t check that these were giant sticks for half a leg or something. After having them for years flying around I decided to make them into something useful. So when my god child was visiting the country home I took some paints and those sticks and went to the workshop (where the Tigerente was made as well) and we spent a morning painting the stick after taping them off. It was a fun little project. In the afternoon it was all dry and we could play a game. I need to figure out where it ended up. I could play that on my terrace. Maybe something for the next White Summer Party to entertain the guests.

photo taken August 16th, 2019 in Forst/Lausitz, Germany

Toy – Books

We finish this up with another favorite toy of mine. Books. I mean it’s the best toy there is. It can take you places. It can educate. It can relaxe you or excite you. It is small enough to carry anywhere but also can be pretty enough to showcase in your home. I wouldn’t want to live without this toy.

photo taken December 10th, 2022 at Humboldt Bibliothek in Berlin Tegel