A tiny gentleman

[nid_dabeille]

I have come to realize that I love the word "tiny."  If something is described as tiny, I can't help but be attracted.  Just now I found this on ebay in the medical and scientific antiques category.

RARE, TINY, UNSIGNED, COMPLETE SCREW BARREL MICROSCOPE
A very rare and early screw barrel microscope with ivori (sic) simple lens on ornate brass arm and 4 numbered and capped objectives. Although unsigned, it is most assuredly from a fine 18th century maker. The flared simple magnifier eyepiece, the roping of the brasswork, the capped objectives, the shaped forceps, etc. would indicate that this was a tiny gentleman's pocket/field microscope of the highest quality. The bone sliders are numbered, the caps and objectives match, there is no damage to any part of this set including the forcep tines and black/ white disc. The threads and spring of the barrel (5/8 " or 20 mm. in diameter) are flawless, as are the optics. All beads of the objectives are intact. The case too, is flawless and is composed of black sharkskin with push button closure. It measures only 118 x 58 x 26 mm. (4 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 1" high) and every space is filled! An asset to any serious collection.

Heehee, tiny gentleman.  Misplaced modifier.  But still, TINY!  (Like Stephen's tiny sneeze!)  I also like the word "little."  And doesn't that description just sound so loving? 

And speaking of ebay scientific antique instruments, look at this, nautical people:
AN 18TH CENTURY KIT OF NAVIGATIONAL INSTRUMENTS TOOLS.

Pretty pretty.  And I love the porte-crayon and the ruling pen.  I wonder if the ruling pen fits into the porte-crayon?  It looks like it must, and that would be handy.

ETA:  And don't miss out on your chance to own:
19 antique human glass eyes!!!!!!!
They're beautiful.  And creepy, I have to admit.

Comments

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

And poppets can fit in one's pocket, so it's easy to whip them out for a snapshot on the beach. (Mine traveled everywhere with me during my UK trip, though I didn't take them out of my handbag very often.) It's a lot harder, and a little more obsessive, to cart six or seven bighuge dolls to the beach and arrange their hair and clothes and all.

Of course, it WAS flickr, specifically for photos, so maybe that doll group just attracted a certain type of bjd lover. The obsessive kind who wishes she were a magazine photographer of real people. (And has a boyfriend named Jimmy who's off at sea trying to earn his fortune...)

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Oh that is handy. You can do that with the smaller bjds but they're annoyingly more baby-like than mature-tiny. And RE carting things about-- depends on the person. I wouldn't take out my one (well that's mostly for fear of exposing to the unprepared public the horrible glory of bad sculpting) except maybe if someone specifically wanted to see it. Plus, fear of stealing. And of being called out as immature.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Don't you have more than one?

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Why no. I shouldn't like to have more than one either. I just have a load of disembodied heads :D the first one I made (that you might be thinking about) failed, so I reduced it to slush, to use in newer-bigger-shinier doll's torso.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Oh, is it a David Bowie? Can it change eyes and hair and become TEL? Is it still 1:6?

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it can do :D I'm doing it with a faceplate mechanism, rather than the whole-head-is-attached-bah-sadness mechanism, so I can remove the default face easily and give it, um... I dunno, Macca's, if I had a Macca sculpt lying around. 'Tis 1:3.

It feels strangely irreverent to have a TEL doll. (Of course it's ok with the Beatles and Bowie. looool.)

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

1:3, wow, that's huge! How huge? Like, 2 feet? Somehow I was sure it was 1:6. Well 1:3 sounds much much easier to clothe. But it's also the size of evil demon dolls from horror movies, so you be careful.

I guess a TEL doll would be hard to do without looking tacky. I kind of feel that way about Jack and Stephen dolls. Poppets, however, are so self-awarely-unreal that they don't exist on the same plane as tackiness.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Haha well the thing about TEL-- he spends about three quarters of Seven Pillars of Wisdom telling people that he isn't a hero, so stop worshiping, no, no, I ought to be punished, and about every week in the TEL comm here people post about oh how they utterly adore him, how he's inspired them to their future careers or something. TEL doll would just be strange in that context. I'd like to avoid tacking myself onto someone else's personality and going along for the ride, if that makes any sense at all.

It's 23 inches :D which is nice and makes the sculpting more easy.

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

Would you be tacking yourself onto his personality by making a doll? I mean, in the manner of people who make soap operas about their dolls? I've thought of making a Shackleton poppet - so cute with furry mittens! But I rather like having just the four poppets. I don't want to be like a crazy poppet lady in the style of crazy cat ladies.

With my poppets (how I keep harping on them!) Jack and Stephen are the most important, of course, and they're the ones I really wanted. But the ladies were so rewarding to work on, because it was so much fun to make them PRETTY. I loved making their hair and dresses. It's harder to make a male look grand but still masculine.

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

No, but that would be just the start of it. Plus it just feels rather awkward.

I prefer male Georgian clothing because it's more subtle. If it's well done and looks elegant it's because of some tiny fitting variation in the cut, or a wrinkle in a starched cravat rather than for sparkly things. (ahem. this statement ignoring the existence of Les Incroyables.) But I have no idea of female fashion of that time or even now, so I dunno really. :D

[grace-poppy.livejournal.com]

What Incroyables?

[saibrrmen.livejournal.com]

Oh, Les Incroyables. A group of French dandies during Our Lovely Era what wore flamboyant, outrageous, colourful clothing, perhaps RE the dull subtle Beau Brummel style. Ah, for the days when I could google them and not come up with the French movie site for The Incredibles.