Sybil Bruncheon's "A Few of My Favorite Things”... The World of Mr. Finch!...

Allow me to introduce you to one of the most extraordinary people I've ever encountered here on the internet. He makes, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful art objects I've ever seen from an imagination that belongs in the company of Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, and the great illustrators of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The precision and care he takes on his sculptures of magical creatures is mind-boggling.

I'll let him speak for himself here... and please, be sure to check out his website for a journey into the mind, heart, and hands of a living wonder in our time.

"My name is Finch – it’s actually my surname… everyone calls me it and I like it.

I’ve called my business Mister Finch so its clear from the start that I’m a man and one that sews.

We are a bit thin on the ground but we are out there!

I live in Leeds in Yorkshire not too far from the beautiful Yorkshire Dales in the UK.

I have no formal training in anything to do with textiles or sewing and apart from a short art course I did many years ago I’ve learnt all I know myself.

I’ve tried many areas creatively over the years and now I find myself sewing which I adore.

When I’m not making things which isn’t that often I love to read and watch old movies.

Flowers, insects and birds really fascinate me with their amazing life cycles and extraordinary nests and behaviour.

British folklore is also so beautifully rich in fabulous stories and warnings and never ceases to be at the heart of what I make.

Shape shifting witches, moon gazing hares and a smartly dressed devil ready to invite you to stray from the path.

Humanizing animals with shoes and clothes is something I’ve always done and I imagine them to come alive at night. Getting dressed and helping an elderly shoemaker or the tired housewife.

Making things has always been incredibly important to me and is often an amazing release to get it out of my system.

It’s a joy to hunt for things for my work…the lost, found and forgotten all have places in what I make.

Most of my pieces use recycled materials, not only as an ethical statement, but I believe they add more authenticity and charm.

A story sewn in, woven in.

Velvet curtains from an old hotel, a threadbare wedding dress and a vintage apron become birds and beasts, looking for new owners and adventures to have.

Storytelling creatures for people who are also a little lost, found and forgotten…"

Click here: http://www.mister-finch.com/

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Sybil Bruncheon’s “Christmases Past… Mr. Potter and the Orphanage"...

Mrs. Charmondeley, the Matroness-In-Charge of the Benevolent Society of the Woeful Foundling Orphanage greeted the children as they came downstairs to sing their holy songs and to then each receive their biscuit with a nice raisin in the middle of it. The children were expected to curtsy politely to Mr. Potter the orphanage's patron, to thank him for the generous portion of corn and bean chowder they had for their Holiday banquet, and then to return to their iron beds in the attic!....

… (interestingly, Santa arrived just after midnight and discussed plans with all the children about his plans for the brakes in Mr. Potter's limousine to go out as he and Mrs. Charmondeley were driving back from the Rainbow Room! There was a cliff near the Palisades that would work perfectly well.)...

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Sybil Bruncheon’s “Christmas Bulletins From Around The World!… the Complaint Department”...

"Yes, Debbie, this is the Compl--- uh--- the Post-Holiday Gift Review Department! How Can I help you?... uh huh... uh huh... um... yes, well--- oh, you DID look all around the whole tree--- ok, but I need to---- uh huh... well, Debbie, your Naughty-or-Nice file is right here in front of me... yes, I HAVE looked it over... well, you happen to have a perfect score! Yes, PERFECT. You are ranked as a perfect, Class A, 4 Star little bitch!... yes, we DO know you're only 8.... Hello?.... Hello?.....HELLOOO???? ...

… ok, Miss Ferguson?… connect me to our coal department. We need a truck to go to Miss Debbie Gregel's house in Perrysburg, Ohio... asap!"...

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*Tour-ette of my Christmas tree from my little home to yours on Christmas Eve... 12/24/2021

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... Once again, I'd like to take a minute to say "thank you"...

… to all my wonderful friends here on the Internet who have kept me company this past year. You've made me chuckle, think, get mad, sign up, sit back and relax, pause before speaking, shake my fist, pound the table, wait my turn, push to the front of the line, cry in despair, and weep with joy. And sometimes you've even let me do the same for you too. You've given me both the opportunity to teach and to learn. Each of you, in your own way, is a gift that this new age (and technology!) has given me, and I am so grateful. I want to wish each and every one of you a New Year full of adventures that bring you joy, love, and laughter.

And in addition to all of that, I wish you peace, understanding, and the blessing of being present to every part of the life and world around you. The world does indeed only spin FORWARD!... NOT backward. With all its turmoil, its struggles, its disappointments, its heartaches and injustices, the world is often still a lovely place with bright flashes of beauty, kindness, and joy. It's up to each of us to stop and savor these times, to be present, to be mindful, and to be grateful. To take the hand of someone nearby, to look into their eyes and smile from your heart and to be part of the great journey that humankind is making into the light...

Even in these very trying times, there are enormous amounts of beauty and value in the simplest things in our lives.... and sometimes they are right at the tip of your fingers… literally!... Xoxoxo!

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A little Christmas tradition... Evening tea in bed... And memories of the Ansonia...

Did I ever tell you how I love keeping little pieces of my world with me along my journey?... things that may not mean much to other folks, but when I've found them (sometimes tossed aside, or even away in the trash!) I keep them and find a use for them in life.

Here's one; it's the bronze wall thermometer from the notorious Continental Baths in the Ansonia Hotel!... yes, THAT Continental Baths where a young, loud, and over-the-top, funny-looking Jewish comedienne with a brassy voice and a zaftig figure sang to Park Avenue socialites and gay boys in bath towels. Her name of course, was Bette Midler and her goofy little pianist was Barry Manilow... both of them destined in a very short time to become icons of the 1970s, and beyond. Well, as we all know, NYC has almost no sentimentality for anyone or anything... not even for itself. And, as times (and tastes!) changed, the city could devour parts of itself one night and awaken the next morning with something shiny and new. The Continental Baths was one of those "things"... it ran its course (even in its later incarnation as "Plato's Retreat"; a forlorn, short-lived, and shabby hand-me-down for heterosexual hipsters of the 1980s and finally was sentenced to the wrecking ball and dumpsters of Giuliani's "gentrification" schemes.

One night, as I roamed the dimly lit labyrinth of the Ansonia's sub-basements, I came across rooms full of the Continental/Plato's wreckage. All that was recognizable of the place was the Olympic-sized swimming pool with its three terra-cotta lion face water spouts, its brass railings and stair bannisters, and the brass stencil-sheet for "5 FT" still splashed with red enamel where the attendants had painted the water depth along the walls of the pool... it was lying on a pile of smashed marble; the dividing partitions of the maze of the infamous steam rooms where New York's, and indeed America's gay men had gone for magic, mystery, and other men!

As I dug through the rubble looking for some piece of terrazzo or tile, mosaic, or memorabilia, I stumbled over this, half-buried in crushed plaster and yet, miraculously undamaged. I had to wipe the front clean of dirt to realize that it wasn't an automobile wheel housing; it was the face of a thermometer, weighing almost 40 pounds. And when I scratched the underside with a discarded nail from the floor, the familiar rosy glow of solid bronze showed itself in the dimness of the work lights strung on the overhead beams.

I lugged it back up to my apartment, and I mean LUGGED it... 40 POUNDS, at least! I scrubbed it in my double-sized cast-iron bathtub; the type that grand old hotels like the Ansonia were known for. And as I polished it, the slivery-green of the verdi-gris began to wash away, and that gleaming, warm, coppery-gold came into view. It was far too heavy to mount on the wall of my splendid bathroom although I thought it would be wickedly witty there, but by the next morning, looking at it sitting on the sofa, I knew instantly what it would be perfect for. I thought of all those breakfasts-in-bed that great ladies of film liked to have in the classic movies, and I remembered how often I myself had turned around in bed to grab a phone call and scattered my plate all over the floor! Not anymore! With this glorious bronze steam-punk objet weighing down the covers, nary a drop of my morning cappu would ever be spilt.

And that's how it's lived in all my homes, even after my long adventure in the Ansonia... a turn-of-the-century thermometer, originally installed in 1904 on the wall of the elegant gentleman's spa of a great metropolitan hotel, before the San Francisco earthquake, the Titanic, World Wars, the Roaring 20s, the Stock Market Crash, the Depression, World Wars, assassinations, moon landings, booms and busts, and blow-jobs... oh yes, and Bette & Barry!

That's how it is for me. Things; things you can hold in your hand, and behold in your eye; things that most folks walk by and don't even notice... Things hold a meaning for me, a depth and expanse that is... spiritual... oh, beyond spiritual. And when I "save" them, when I keep them from being disposed of, discarded, or destroyed, they become... what?... my children?... Certainly they become a part of me. Truly a part of me... whatever…

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*Tour-ette in my little driveway-garden on Christmas Eve... 12/24/2021

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Sybil Bruncheon’s “Christmases Past!”… Shop 'Til You Drop!...

... and then, with just a few days of Christmas shopping left before the 25th, Mrs. Janelle Montoya was sentenced to pay the ultimate penalty for her profligate spending by the National Bureau of Beleaguered Husbands. On Christmas Eve, she was given a last meal of cucumber and watercress sandwiches and Earl Grey tea from the Bonwit Teller Ladies Luncheonette, and then, after some whispered confession to a lingerie buyer from Saks, her left leg was strapped to an old armchair with a frayed, wet extension cord, and her newly coiffed head with her favorite cloche from Lilly Daché was stuck into a floor lamp that had been on the fritz, and the switch was thrown.

Film clips of her as she jumped about and smoked were played in movie palaces all over the country to dissuade other housewives from such extravagant mischief while the Great Depression continued to rage.... Women cowered in their seats as their husbands and various "OBEY-YOUR-MAN Clubs" cheered and thumped their Old Testaments!!... (Is there a moral to this story, Ladies??... Yes! Vote!...and VOTE WISELY!).

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Sybil Bruncheon’s Christmases Past... 1919...

… of course, everyone knew how beautiful and polished the elaborate Disney franchise became with its Oscar winning films, its glorious amusement parks, and brilliant licensing and entertainment achievements!... very few people remembered Walt Disney's much earlier days... when Mickey and Minnie Mouse were still in the experimental phase... and everything had a slight German expressionist feel to it... Walt's first silent film was MICKEY UND MINNIE TREFFEN DEN WEIHNACHTSMANN IN DR. CALIGARIS DUNKLEM LOCH (1919). No prints or negatives have been found.

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Sybil Bruncheon's Holiday Hollywood Hilarity!...

“…ok, Lloyd, you ran over Santa! YOU RAN OVER SANTA!.. now let’s check the bag, take the loot, and get outta here!”…

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