Asterix BubbleGum Figures Presented by Paul Howes

Those above are in played with condition.

Those below were fresh from their plastic Bag.

 Sometimes without even thinking of them they just happen to tumble my way.  

Stay Safe,Stay Well and Help Others if you can. BB

Beano Boys Table Top Adventures of Mould Making and The Column Castings They Produced

The Adventure Began But......

As always i take lots of photograph's so my clumsy way is duly recorded and in a broad way as an unorthodox author myself doing so proves my traveling way across the pages as they file their way into and upon my history of ploding along themes.                                                                                           

 After a very long extra illness, and friendly but noisy builders about the place for a couple of weeks, at long last i returned to create this brand new topic of unorthodox creative adventure... and as some turned out not up to par, they fell into the realm of  misadventure! 

 i like to show such pit falls upon my roadway as i happily pass zig-zag  along it. 

After such deep thought upon the matter of making silicone moulds i set to and made a couple and later cast them up. 

Now it is very normal that things go wrong, well at least for little i BB. And soon after much trial and constant error eventually it lead to a most certain sort of success. However, most certainly, there were spoilt pieces along with left over's from the casting up process. Soon it began to spill over and dusty pile up high , And wastage of opening my cast up two part moulds also began to add to it. So much so that it spilled out upon one of my sturdy table tops overlaid with toughened bulletproof glass. A by product from my days of working for a living that helped save lives.  This strong work bench table along with another stands on the heavy set into place stone of our  hall way floor. After a couple of weeks making two castings from each silicone mould each day i gradually got the hang of doing it as right as i possibly could. 

So i now thought to take time out to also record such a mysterious scene of devastation!

 The reason being that my own story's of lost worlds within the outer limits of sci fi fiction demand a certain atmosphere to them, therefore  having useful pieces of utter destruction on view for the average passing eye is a good sense to consider. Well being a Beano Boy, such as little i, it would be a complete waste of such a mysterious scene of utter devastation by not including some of them within another unwritten story. 

i reason upon it, after all the large black wheely bin stationed outside will not mind waiting a little extra few weeks of unending time before it welcomes it all upon another one of its greedy keen collective days. 

My Mrs B,asked me, '' Paul are you going to leave those outside in the heavy rain? 

Yes! i replied 'i am weathering them outside!' i decleared with a smile. Well they had been soaked in cold salty water for two weeks before.

After a heatwave of several days... a heavy storm rumbled in high upon its dark clouds!  Then as the lightning had flashed it way overhead i counted 1,2,3, then again came that very Loud Thunder  Clap!

Below reveals that i added a larger slab upon the crown of all my column's and also on the bottom footing too, all this sturdy work to give them an extra double strength to each one as they were cast up.

They ain't perfect or indeed of valour good ,but as i find them free falling from my silicone moulds, 

they ain't bad looking either because on all sides they will be uni-formal in wide open display.                                                                                                                 

And after a few more fair samples, i guess i'll settle for all these Ancient Columns of Greek Climbs! 

i felt it fitting to call the finer pieces sticking out from under the crown,' Biscuit's!' And gosh! They proved well worth my trouble finding the instinctive way of  those not breaking off.  And many of them did, but i am after all making extra old column's that have bourn well the riggers of historical ancient boiling hot climes!

Lets place a little light upon things that were done and dusted upon this BB's  odd side Topic!

Missy from Doctor Who, arrived with these columns and who began asking question's, ''Where is Sir Percy's Library?'' and ''Why are you needing so many stone column's?''

i guess like others who cannot determine the why of it! 

It be a lost cause to try to explain such a clear cut thought of actually making something from scratch? 

Or just add ''i simply began and finished in mindset mood!''

These were the smaller sized patterns that came my way long ago and from far away. 

They came from USA,  a place now so changed as i had determined eye of understanding to look at it. This far away place that lay beyond four great ponds, a place where i have great friends and brothers and sisters, along with their youngsters too.

 So i am not anti America and all its people. No never that.BB

Two Events That Happened to Be True............. a short story... By Paul Howes

Two Events That Happened to Be True

Copyright Therefore Applies  From 07/06/2026

It was as it slowly turned in line with every clock that recorded its shadows and chimes, a wonderful warm day which was a nice change after the heavy rain that had fallen upon Fiddle Wood, here in Old Catton a small hamlet that  snuggled gently  inside the great City of Norwich. But it the day was about to turn upon its heels as a loud thud sounded. Followed closely by a noise that of a large hound made in its last few seconds of life. The car that hit it upon the St Faiths Road sped away from such a bloody scene followed by the fast speeding traffic flow of time saving machines! Although i never witnessed the act of this poor hound trying to cross the road on its own. i heard it all, and screamed out aloud to attract my dear Mrs B's, attention! She appeared and entered the garden where i was shouting,'' Is There Anyone With That Dog?'' over the garden hedgerow that skirted that busy roadway.  Apart from the traffic noise all was then quiet as i finished making a din of a noise. The other sound that stopped was that of the poor dog, that then lay dead.  i was heart broken even though i did not see it plain with my watery eyes. Yes looking at my Mrs B,i said plainly in a low voice the poor thing is dead. i knew it, she knew it and everyone in earshot or passing by in their tin cars knew it. And yes indeed i was so sad with welled up tears that soon flowed down both cheeks.

And so it was as the day ticked its time away, i returned to what i'd been doing before in our little white Fiddle Wood home.

 Later as the bright Sun was beaming down playing with every shadow that slowly turned to its will, there in the lovely garden only a few short steps from our back door i noticed a beautiful Butterfly helpless flouting in the water of one of our bird baths. i could see it's struggling movement's trying hard to escape its dead certain end, but failing again and again to do so. It was at this point i grabbed a small stick that lay nearby and scooped it up from the water and gently placed it upon a small bushy plant that was growing in one of our large clay pots. i watched as it gradually recovered with its wings now upright and sound without even one tear to them ...and then there at that time they were moving up and down just drying out in the Sunshine! After a short while, the Tortoishell Butterfly fluttered away exploring our Fiddle Wood gardens that flank five sides of our little white home. Then it was gone upon another fresh breeze of its meandering life.

i felt relaxed and happy again ,content even when i realised that i was unable to aid the Dog, but then saved a little creature without any real effort upon my part. Yes it was only an insect true! But i felt true'ly rewarded by being able to save the Butterfly a little later on in my day.

 i thought it apt to write of it while it lay safely remembered in the fancy of BB. 

                                          Stay safe, stay well and help others if you can. Paul Howes.

MORE OPEN BOOK COVERS FOR PRINTING OUT... presented by BB

MORE 1920's and 30's OPEN BOOK COVERS FOR PRINTING OUT LATER

As the invisable library expands  so it is the books have to arrive upon this scene too.

Double sided archways await the filling.

Using a cheap brush four coats of acrylic white paint, was applied and it dried quite fast, i can no longer bear that quick spray paint from a can, which is more suited for choking up a bleeding lung than helping me save up some of  the  time i have left.                                                                                                         

i determined it to be 'My Way From Old Magazine Covers to Book Blanks!'     Simply because after producing thousands of actual book covers i needed to expand upon another voyage above and beyond. 

                                   

Nearly five years on and the process i developed has made things a lot easier.

That sure is true, thankfully however  it did take up lots of my time durring Covid and that ongoing bloody Russian waged war upon Ukraine. But upon my word i was and i still am comfy here at home with my Dearest Mrs B,and we two are going nowhere else,because wonderful happens to be here living thankfully free on the leafy evergreen edge of Fiddle Wood, Norwich in the United Kingdom. 

Time is there to use... so i like working on my hobbies and things eventually twist and turn into the shape  that i determine that they all should be. Although upon the pathway of creating a something is not at all rocket science unless i chose to make one  or even perhaps two or three.Yes upon my word things do tend to overlape into growing abstract tuturials where my fancy can be found fully engrossed deep within them.                                                                                                                                                          

My Mother would have been a young lady of 23 years of age when these magazines were presented to the general public, and now in my own time line being way past 76 years myself that gives me a warm feeling as i fondly remember her and my former life as a young boy growing up in the post war years of the 1950's and early 1960's.    It was a cold rough tough time of making do.                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                      

 Back in the day while buying this magazine perhaps parting with a silver shilling ( a BOB! ) was well worth  it in that long ago trolly bus society of that distant past?                                                                                          

As the author here within the point of you reading it,i settled my mind well upon the question of each of my books having need of a blank backing of plain covering,when i could add a much a do about something else.  He!He!                                                                                                                         

The center spine folds over the cardboard edge thus creating that which resembles the book spine. 

Then each colourful cover like the one seen above folds over each side sliding hopefully into perfect

 place upon a fresh wet sea of  p v a carpenters glue. 

i had to spin each part into size in order to place them altogether for copying out sheets which would be cut into strips using fine sharp scissors,then into tiny idividual book sizes.

The black lines help guide my eyes when each larger size is reduced down to a tiny book size.

By then each black line is very fine to ones eye.

The best carpenters glue i will use to make these is thick glue and not the cheap bottle diluted with 50% water. When each tiny piece has dried out fully they will sound like klincker when cut off the sprue spilling down upon a table top. klinck! Sounding like fine hard china!

THE SATURDAY  EVENING POST

In my youthful day of odd fishing display my older brother Ronald, and i made do with an old jam jar suspendered on a piece of hairy string. Well it might seem strange but if one was quick at yanking that string , and gleeful jar plus fishes out of the water ,it actually worked well for the River Wensum teamed with tiny life at that time when the water  glided on idly by to the sea and it was clean, and of course not like it is now.  Such was the idelling passage when powerful men of their oppertune time cared very little upon such a deep set into place subject of keeping things clean for all those that would come after them and my  playful self of gritty determination.                                                                                                                    

Things from the past can be both free and useful,just like pictures 

                           can that when coppied and reduced into grand scale size they are                            

               most fit to stand or indeed lean a snooze upon another.                                 

For  wide awake children sitting up in their bedtime beds in the 1950's  there were old Annuals like the BLACKIE ANNUAL, that rang out their picture book storyline adventures for all those who could have a pleasent read and a good relaxing look within them. For all those  that could not because of differing wee ages and seperate beds they fell to sleep tight and in hopefull safty while lisenning upon the almost hushed night-time song of duityful quietness... 

...For children were to be good, quite and well behaved children and in their tender innocent years of the 1950's that was that. And so it was upon wishful half asleep dreams that the sand man came to visit all.

i suppose it to be very simple for me to continue onwards...

... with shrinking down large books to that bench mark of tiny small ones as i glide happily by upon the streams of lost used up time.

BLACKIE ANNUAL

 

                                                             From the year of our Lord  1930

The Saturday Evening Post

Just like Alice,of famed golden aged past time these must get smaller and smaller, Yes indeed so.

As already mentioned,

The skirting of black surround aid's my poor eyesight well while i cut them out to that which you see from high above what they will become.

Over a short period of time i being afraid of my old printer not doing what i intended it ought to do weighed heavy upon my brow, because i had to print pictures that were clear cut and crisp to the eye that would be looking at them on the Internet...Which of course was its problem and not totally mine. But what to do about this situation mattered greatly to me,  So  Yes i bought another printer to do that function but this one would also save me money because the ink colours flow into deeper set into place reserveirs within this smashing new printing machine!    Before i was buying small plastic rip off priced capsules of ink that were so, so expensive. However looking forward in time what i will save on buying my new larger size ink will eventually pay for my newest printer.   Yes in a strange way i found a good solution,and a great way to solve the vexing throb of my poor head of meager means!.                                                                                                                                                       

                                                 

                                     Well that is it for now. Thank you kindly for stopping by

                                     Stay safe,stay well and help others if you can.BB  

Ancient Column's of Antiquity ................... an Arts & Craft Topic' Athena' written and presented by Paul Howes

BB

Copyright Applies 29/07/2026

Ancient things from antiquity have always inspired me, i being the dreamer that i have always been.

Here we have an example whereby the loose arms were cemented into square sockets which were a huge part of the shoulders design. Being constructed around 500 BC, well they sure broke off in part's while others completely fell off. However after writing so, i find them in their own supportive function to be rather mysterious and quite beautiful in the highest degree of my imagination.                                        

And so i just had to make some while in the heat of such a burning summer, which i find is a glowing hot benefit for this my latest scratch build.                                                                                                                      

Even as a small nipper, i had always aplied the Why Factor? When viewing ancient dilapidated buildings that are always in the motion it seems of falling apart.. 

i doubt that i will endeavour to build a complete ruined temple because i realise my own measure and  being almost 78 years of age, i therefore try to stop my imagination making appointments that my frail body cannot keep. 

But,here and now being able to do a little topic here brings me a certain kind of happinees!

And upon that mention i was soon about to fly upon this topic of Athena.

Although i only have one Pattern, showing the left leg forwards, i will have to make do without that of another silicone mould showing the right leg being displayed.                                                                     So it was i began to cast the mould up.  Athena! shown within the real photograph high above  i am sure with a smile or two will not mind at all.                                                                                                                                      

The Mould  

A ready made  silicone candle mould was soon converted to my need's by using a sharp blade craft knife that cut through the middle of her back then sliced it's way up from the bottom to top then across the top of the head. This made it flip open easily while removing some real lovely smooth supportive columns for my present needs of play.  Clamp's held the two sides of the slit together and kept it nicely in place while casting her up.

 Play Time mixing up the fine white powder with cold tap water arrived which i have always found it to be excellent high quality fun.  Yogurt pots were perfect in use as casting up ladles. And they sort of came in for free.

 A little spillage from the mould is expected and so a little allowance is added to counter for this.

After a one second fine misty spray i then poured the quick running mixture in. After a few minutes 5,or 6 of them, i strickled off the top of the mould which made it level. My Dear Mrs B, asked me where her best butter knife and spoon had gone? Opp's i replied with a giggle!  i must add here and now that the top of the silicone mould actually formed the bottom slab of each upright casting.

                                                                 A Bold Return From The Star's

Below there they are, Fred once upon a time was an Imperial Dalek! 

And MayBell,is a MayBell,who will always remain one.

These unlikely pair have become inseparable friends in spite of being different in make up and looks.

 They have had many adventures over the years,  Since they came my way,

While arriving in Fiddle Wood, Old Catton, Norwich.in  the United Kingdom of 2013.

FIDDLE WOOD, where things tend to happen as my fingers type away the hours of darkness!

And yes where a head might sometimes fall off and roll away. Like for say, the one Below.

Well yes things do tend to happen but it is all part of the  Art's and Craft's Movement, because 'We', can hopefully learn a little or a lot of something by having such misadventures! Which is finding out why such a thing happened after i'd cast up 20 or so of them. And so i must admit that while carrying a bundle of them that one fell way down  until it hit the hard stone floor. But it will not be wasted it will become one of the prop's in a Fred & Maybell ripping yarn! For all throughout my life i have been a story teller. So as an Author i always got to lie every day, and every night time as i wrote Sci Fi Fantasy story's, While under the sight and sound of the Owl of Minerva!

i have enjoyed being well enough to repetitively cast Athena, up and write of such a thing from the dusty past. Here being at my home, i have cast up this one figure over fifty times, but some i rejected due to my aim of obtaining the highest quality control possible.  

A modern day look  at this famous  site upon a high rise rock solid base. i believe the invader Turk's  stored their gunpowder there, and in a fire fight  the Parthenon was hit with red hot shot and so whatever was inside and on top, it being the roof was all blown to Smithereens upon September 26th in the war of 1687.  

Deep within our own time line, repairs are taking place constantly.

There will be an Update to this endeavour later.

Have Fun, Stay Safe and help others if you can. BB