Brooch-ing the subject

A couple of weeks ago the family and I had yum cha at Red Emperor in Southbank (which is really yum actually), and after we wandered about the neighbouring shops and I gravitated towards Made In Japan, a quasi-orientalist shop that peddles all things Japanese and Japonisme, ranging from vintage kimonos to Hokusai-print coffee mugs. There was a big bowl in the middle of the shop that contained a hodge podge of chopstick holders, some nice and some not so nice. I pawed through it for a while a came up with these two cuties:

Usually I’m against market stalls (or anyone really) who whack brooch pins on the back of all sorts of crap or drill holes in novelty toys like lego bits, toys, scrabble letters, miniatures etc and then market themselves as ‘jewellery/craftspeople’. Its not really! All they had to do was scrounge around, pick up some super glue and stick a pin on the back. Also its ridiculous to pay for something you could make yourself. But I’m all for the DIY project of course, its just when unsuspecting people are ripped off that gets me annoyed. The old man is pretty neat although I wouldn’t really call him a cutie, but he looks so peaceful and all ‘whatever man’, and the radish is just plain rad (hehe). Neither of them are very big (thumb-sized) and the porcelain finish makes it feel abit more special than the plastic stuff I usually find. I also have a growing collection of miniature jewellery that I should post one day. My favourite is this brooch of a plate of chicken schnitzel, peas, noodles and broccoli! Makes me hungry everytime I wear it…