Monday 4 April 2022

Eggcentric Benches for Easter

  I'm eggstatic about egg benches

Dorothy Gulliver, The Collegians, 1926

No, really, I am . . .


http://www.chairblog.eu/2011/10/30/egg-bench-by-grace-chen/ 


And now it's time to come out of my shell . . . 




. . . to show you some great benches for Easter.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/halfanacre/3388382910/

But what comes first, the chicken or the Easter egg?

I'm debating this because it will soon be Easter here on Paradise Island and Easter is one of the nicest things about spring.




We welcome spring, of course.






Spring puts a, um, spring, in everybody's step.



But first there's this chicken and egg issue. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mealmakeovermoms/6905448780


My husband, His Excellency, is a philosopher: The chicken/egg thing is a tired old question. There's nothing to be gained from investigating it.

There's still life in this question though. 

Still-life with Eggs 1915, Floris Verster (1861-1927)

His Excellency: Nice still-life. Terrible pun. 

Well, the choice is to look at some fluffy bunnies.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/doxieone/5644086363/


Or chicks in pretty little nests. 


https://www.flickr.com/photos/alannageorge/4587225768/

His Excellency: Or possibly, if you can stretch to it, something intelligent.

Eggcentric architecture maybe?

Easter Egg Museum, Kolomiya, Ukraine
 

Tamsin, a very sweet local girl: The little chicks are adorable?!!!! 

You're the Queen of Cute, Tamsin; I knew you'd like them.

Tamsin: They're almost as cute as I am lol!



I like your purple Easter dress. And you all look pretty in your Easter bonnets.

Tamsin: That was last year. I look even prettier this year with my new purple hat!




Lady Brassica, wife of the Fifth Earl of Drizzly: That hat is dreadful, Tamsin. I've just been to Paris and feathered hats are what fashionistas like me are wearing this spring.




Mungo, my imaginary husband: I hate all this stuff about fashion. I thought this was supposed to be about benches.

You're right, Mungo. We need to keep a focus on benches. Specifically, benches with an Easter theme.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/bunchesandbits/5342959385


His Excellency: I am struggling to find an Easter theme here or indeed any theme at all.

Sorry. I'm finding it hard to get started because of the chicken and egg question. I haven't managed to hatch a plan.



Tamsin: Oh, is that where babies come from? 

Mungo: This is seriously creepy.

Is this better?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thekmancom/9539704167

His Excellency: is there any chance of seeing some top class designer benches? 

Yes, no problem.

Mungo: I thought egg benches would be a dime a dozen.

Eggs, yes. 

Egg benches not so much.




His Excellency: Oval-shaped benches: how hard can it be? 

Well, here's a great design though it isn't really an egg bench: it's called Harmony.  


Xiao Tianyu @ www.wuhaoonline.com 


His Excellency: And here is a mid-century Arne Jacobsen-inspired Danish Egg Chair.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/shopgirlinprint

Mungo: Looks good enough to eat. Is there a Bacon Chair to go with it?

As it happens, there is.


https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MastersOfFate

Tamsin: I saw a lovely hen going out for her shopping this morning.  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrineblue/3344868539  


Very nice, Tamsin. But there's no bench. 

Tamsin: Golly, does there have to be a bench?

His Excellency: Perhaps the title Bench and Site gives you a clue.

Mungo: Yes, it's a blog about benches so don't try to duck out of it.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/

His Excellency: I think you'll find this is a platypus.

Mungo: It's all water off a duck's back to me.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/maureen_barlin/10706275283/

Tamsin: I don't understand this. Why can't we just look at Easter bunnies like we did last year?




Mungo: Yeah, it's not like you never repeat stories on Benchsite.



Oh dear, we are getting scrambled up here: Easter, benches, chickens, eggs -   it's too many eggs in one basket. 




Mungo: The same thing happened last year. And the same old puns yolks. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/26615859@N05/


An egg bench! Thanks, Mungo! It's great that you're egging me on. 


His Excellency: As you're recycling photos, I seem to recall an excellent shot of Innocent in her Easter dress. Now that would be worth seeing again. 

Is it this one?




His Excellency: Now this makes me fancy an Easter egg hunt. 

Mungo: I'd rather have a fry-up.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/tcej/2960250633


Eggs sunny-side up! This bench is smashing. 

Tamsin: I don't like eggs. I want to see some Easter bunnies. 


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Easter_riley_


Tamsin: This is soooooo cute! 

His Excellency: However, there is no bench here. And rabbits are beside the point; they have nothing to do with egg benches. 

Tamsin: Who wants to see egg benches? I want to see bunnies!

OK, who wants to see benches? We'll take a quick straw poll.  


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Easter_Bunny


Tamsin: Ohhhh I love this scarecrow bunny! 

Here are the results of the poll.


Want to see bunny benches - green
Want to see chicken benches - purple
Want to see egg benches - red
Want to see no benches at all - blue



  
Mungo: Hard luck, Seashell. Looks like not that many people want to see benches.

I think this story is beginning to go off the boiled egg boil a bit.


 http://yrkubus.tmall.com


The truth is, it's rather hard to find egg benches.

Mungo: Maybe they're hiding in their cartons?

You're right. We'll have to sit down very carefully.


http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/axn_sonys_satellite_tv_channel_eggs_sofa


His Excellency: According to Egg Bench designer Grace Chen, an egg it not as fragile as you might think. Each egg on her egg bench can hold 120 pounds of weight.


http://www.chairblog.eu/2011/10/30/egg-bench-by-grace-chen/

As for Easter egg benches, I'll just have to chick it out.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/2347726277/


Mungo: This is the wrong date for Easter this year. 

Golly, there are quite a few errors in this story. 

I've got egg on my face.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/contusion/3403068028/


Tamsin: And it's a bit boring. I'd like to see more fluffy bunnies and little chicks and cute stuff. 


https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/victorian1920

This Easter egg story is exhausting.






Egg benches seem to have stirred up a lot of emotions.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynsey_wells83/11054897226/ 

His Excellency: This blog is certainly nothing to crow about.



Mungo: Larry the Lamb could have done better. 



Well, what can I say? I'm no spring chicken. 

Tamsin: Ohhhhhh, this little chick is soooooo cute!

I'm a bad egg.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63488526@N07/ 

I'm headed for a Great Fall.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/bengillin/4468802828/

His Excellency: There is something alien about this egg. 

Tamsin: I love Humpty Dumpty!

It doesn't end well for him.

Tamsin: This is sooooo sad! 

It would be nice to end with an egg bench but I can't find one. 

Never mind. As they say in France, un oeuf is un oeuf.


Happy Easter anyway!






Credits

The hatching woman is Dorothy Gulliver, an actress who began her career in silent movies in the mid 1920's. In the 1930's she was often found as a supporting player in  westerns, but one of her very early roles was as a cast regular in "The Collegians", a series of short films in 1926 that depicted the life and antics of college students (or what Hollywood thought college students were like). This photo of Dorothy from 1926 is a publicity still for The Collegians.

The egg bench at the start of the story is by designer Grace e Chen, first seen on Inhabitat in 2010. Inhabitat is a female designer working in cyberspace from Novato, California.   https://www.flickr.com/photos/inhabitat/4612445087/  However, the photo of Grace's debut bench that I have used here was seen at chairblog.eu, together with the later picture of someone (Grace?) sitting on the bench. Here is Grace's explanation of her work: Composed of six dozen eggs delicately seated on a solid walnut base, Egg Bench was created to challenge common misconception that eggs are fragile. By researching this complex physical structure, I discovered that each egg can support and distribute a load of 120 lbs maximum. To insure success, my unique design isolates each egg into an optimum position and ensures that it remains motionless. The result is a piece that invites the sitter to suspend their disbelief and to embrace a new appreciation for this powerful, natural creation.  http://www.chairblog.eu/2011/10/30/egg-bench-by-grace-chen/   

The wax doll hatching out of a golden egg is either sweet or creepy, depending on how you feel about babies and where they come from. This a Victorian artwork dating from 1870 to 1889. It's at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. 

Anna Hull from West Sussex is The Bunny Maker, Maker of Rabbits. It all started because her eldest son loves soft bunnies and what was one sock bunny became two, then five, then ....... they took over. She now has a whole album of sock bunnies, like the blue and pink sock bunnies are hatching out of their egg-like boxes on on a garden bench in 2009.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/halfanacre/3388382910/ Widget Widget was, and still is, The Most Important Bunny. You can see Widget and his friends at http://www.widgetandfriends.co.uk/  Do we have rabbit benches here on Benchsite? We certainly do! http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/sunny-bunny-easter-benches.html


Welcome Spring is a welcoming bench pillow cover from Chelsea and Charlie at Pink Door Fabrics in Colorado. They sell scrumptious modern quilting and craft fabrics, including new arrivals like Fox Field by Tula Pink, Maisie and Clementine by Blend Fabrics, Wee Wander by Sarah Jane, Littlest by Art Gallery, Sweet as Honey, April Showers Precuts, Mirabelle precuts, Helen's Garden by Tamara Kate. I could go on and on but I won't. You can see their shop at  https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PinkDoorFabrics


Poultry is popular here on Benchsite. There are plenty of rooster benches in 2017, The Year of the Rooster. For Easter 2015 we were eggstatic when we celebrated with some sprightly Spring Chicken benches at http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/no-spring-chicken-benches.html  And in 2014 we had Sunny Bunny Easter benches, presented by April, age six, who lives here in Fribble-under-Par with her parallel selves, May and June. The girls always turn up together to community events and are among the very few children here on Paradise Island. They love Tamsin's baby, Isambard, and they have a pet lemon called Squeezy, who looks a little sinister but maybe he's just a sourpuss. Here they are last Easter on their yellow benches:




Springy benches featured on Benchsite back in April 2014. The red one is in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse and comes from an ex-pat American who has travelled from the Midwest to Southwest Germany, and everywhere inbetween.  She recounts her adventures, observations, and tips for living, visiting, and enjoying Kaiserslautern, Germany.  http://aroundthewherever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/a-bit-of-neustadt-der-weinstrasses.html

I am lucky enough to have two husbands. One is Mungo, my imaginary husband, who keeps a good workbench. http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/workbench-wonders-two-husbands-lots-of.html  The other is His Excellency, who has a reputation for destruction, even when he means well. He's a philosopher and, to say the least, not a very practical person. You can appreciate his difficulties if you know his school bench history

Egg still-lifes are very popular subjects in painting. Eggs are excellent models; they sit very still and their patience never cracks. And if it does, you can make them into egg tempera and get on with your painting. The egg still-life is a 1915 painting by Dutch artist Floris Verster (1861-1927). He was a painter, etcher and lithographer who spent his whole life in The Netherlands. The painting is at the art museum in Utrecht.

The devilled egg chicks are a clever creation by Janice Newell Bissex and Liz Weiss, the Meal Makeover Moms. You can visit their website at www.mealmakeovermoms.com or see their 2012 Easter treats at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mealmakeovermoms/6905448780

We have platefuls of food benches here on Benchsite. There are some very tasty Italian benches and strangely edible benches which look quite appetising, despite the exploits of the odious chef Jench de Bench. We have creamy bovine benches and delicious ice cream benches. And then we have logs that look like cake and cake that looks like logs and logs and/or cake that looks like benches.   

Liz Kearley from Charlotte, North Carolina, loves photography and dachshunds. She used to run the Comment on Cuteness Flickr group, (now disbanded). 
Liz's dog Honey Bunny makes a very attractive rabbit.    https://www.flickr.com/photos/doxieone/5644086363/  For some very appealing dog benches see  

Alanna George is a freelance graphic designer and stay-at-home mom for her two small children. Her love of design and flair for crafting keeps her busy creating handmade gifts, jewelry and cards for all occasions.Her craft repertoire includes not only scrapbooking and papercrafting but also sewing, needle felting, jewelry making and more. One of her creations is the lovely spring chicks from Easter 2010. https://www.flickr.com/photos/alannageorge/4587225768/


Tamsin is a sweet local girl who works here in Fribble-under-Par in the Not Quite Good Enough pharmacy. Ever a follower of fashion, Tamsin likes to try anything new, even lurid purple Easter frocks. She has a French fiance, Garcon Orange, and a baby named Isambard Kevin, whose paternal origins are unknown. And she has a rather odd perspective on life, as shown in the post she helped me with about big and small benches. If you think size doesn't matter, you ought to see it. 

Red Shoes is a 2011 Bench Monday photograph taken by the ever-clever Karina at Bunches and Bits. https://www.flickr.com/photos/bunchesandbits/5342959385  In fact, I like Karina's photos so much that I've used another one in this story. It's the one with the eggs in a basket on the floor. Karina calls it Watching My Eggs and it's from a Bench Monday in 2009, when she photographed every day; this is Day 113/365. The bench was newly recovered and Katrina just had to include the rooster. https://www.flickr.com/photos/bunchesandbits/4128780564  We're cock-a-hoop about roosters in 2017 The Year of the Rooster Bench.


Ohkylel@twitter is a boring fat guy with an attractive wife, a 16 year old son, and four year old daughter. His life in Blue Ash, USA is the typical stuff a good sitcom contains, including Lego chicks coming out of their shells. https://www.flickr.com/photos/thekmancom/9539704167


Jessie Pearl  from Yucapia, California is a Boss level photographer. Her website is at http://terwilligerphoto.com/   She has a photostream full of colourful Easter eggs, one of which is the basket of eggs shown in this story.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/terwilliger911/


The elegant oval bench is called Harmony and it's a limited edition by Chinese designer Xiao Tianyu at Wuhao www.wuhaoonline.com  Working now as a freelance designer, Xiao Tianyu graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Harmony combines the traditional woodwork of China with the comfort of western materials. Harmony was exhibited at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2011. I first saw his work at  https://www.flickr.com/photos/inhabitat/5642696442/  


The mid-century Egg Chair is a classic design by Danish designer Arne Jacobsen. A great example is the yellow Egg Chair print by shopgirlinprint Caroline Moseley in Perth, Australia. At her etsy shop Caroline designs wit and wonder for your walls, such as the classic mid-century Egg Chair in yellow and white. Shopgirl in Print Mini-Art comes in a set of two, which includes 'You and Me, Baby', with a bright yellow background, and the mid-century inspired 'Egg Chair' in yellow and white. Mini-Art is perfect for a pin board, mood board or to frame. Each print measures 13cmx18cm and is printed on 210gsm silk-finish paper.  
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/191067425/mini-art-set-of-2-pocket-sized-art-for?ref=related-6

If you doubt that it's possible to find anything online, try Googling Bacon and Bench. Yep. Here's the bacon-coffee-table-handmade bench, which sold on Etsy in 2011 for round about £475.77. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/111794707/bacon-coffee-table-handmade-bench  The creator is Ryan Fitzpatrick, from Texas, whose shop is Masters of Fate at https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MastersOfFate


The lovely embroidered and beaded Easter chick is a lovingly hand-crafted work by Constanza, aka peregrine blue, in 2009. Constanza comes from Santiago in Chile and currently lives in Camarillo, California. I spent a long time looking at her brilliant arts and crafts. https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrineblue/3344868539  

Loren Javier lives in LA and photographed the colourful Perry the platypus bench at the Phineas and Ferb exhibition in San Diego in 2011 https://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenjavier/5963375484/  Loren has an annual pass at Disneyland and he has loads of photos from Universal Studios too, including a whole collection of Norman Bates and the Bates Motel. That's why he's been on Benchsite before; if you want to have the wits scared out of you, see the spine-tingling Halloween post.

The Duck Bench is in Pages Wood in London, sculpted by Andy Frost. It's on the London Loop Section 22 Harold Wood to Upminster Bridge. It was photographed by Maureen Barlin, who lives in Richmond near London and gets out and about throughout the UK with her camera. She has interesting albums of all kinds of art, culture and fun events. https://www.flickr.com/photos/maureen_barlin/10706275283/  


Jeff Turmelle has only 23 photos on his photostream, which include landscapes, a penguin, a puff adder, and the egg yolk bench which he saw on Tallman Mountain in 2009. Well, if you're going to have a very small photostream, one of the pictures ought to be a bench.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/26615859@N05/

Innocent married Root, the son of Lord Brassica, Fifth Earl of Drizzly. Since their Scottish wedding, Innocent has emerged from her convent nursing dress into something of a fashion icon. But just how innocent is Innocent? Last year in the Springy Yellow Bench post she turned up to a party in rabbit ears and ended up dressed as a Mexican flag. Is this a bit of fun or a careful strategy to unnerve the Easter Bunny? For a whole fiesta of Mexican benches, see http://benchsite.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/a-fiesta-of-mexican-benches.html


The fried egg bench was seen at the open Air Museum in Hakone, Japan in 2008. The photographer is Cinjo, from San Rafael, California  https://www.flickr.com/photos/tcej/2960250633


The little white bunny baby is Riley Cole Hinkle at Easter 2009. It was bright and he needed to wear his sunglasses, along with his bunny ears. The photograph was taken by Hinkle Riley and available at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Easter_riley_006_(Medium).jpg?uselang=en-gb

The Easter bunny made of straw is sitting on the market well in Neckargemund in Germany in 2009. As it happens, Mungo and I have stayed in Neckargemund and have cycled along the lovely Neckar in the area around Heidelberg. The bunny was photographed by Nemracc and can be seen on Wikicommons at  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Easter_Bunny_made_of_straw.JPG?uselang=en-gb  There are lots more alpine benches and other benches from Germany here on Benchsite. 


The very cool boiled egg chairs are from Cool Jacobs Flagship Store in China. They are made from fiberglass and sold at  http://yrkubus.tmall.com, who have sooooo many varieties of Egg Chairs that you won't believe it.   
  
The egg sofa is called Relax. If you can. It was for AXN, Sony's Satellite TV channel back in 2006. The AXN Channel is/was? focussed on energy programs, impressive tv series, high tension films, so the Relax concept is totally relevant. The clever advertising agency was The Voluntarily United Group of Creative Agencies, 1861 United, Milan, Italy. 
 http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/axn_sonys_satellite_tv_channel_eggs_sofa


Ged Carroll is Renaissance Chambara. He lives mostly in Hong Kong and his occupation is digital, strategy, social media, web X.0 type thingy. He photographed Chick it Out in a year when Easter was on March 23rd.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/2347726277/

There is a lot of fun with eggs going on in Flickr photos. The egg face is by Courtney 'Coco' Mault, dating back to 2009. Those eggs will be cold by now. Coco lives in Omaha and has a number of blogs, including one called Your Dress Would Look Better on Me. Coco's sense of fashion and general zaniness kept me amused for ages.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/contusion/3403068028/

Victorian1920 is an etsy shop featuring creative designs by Colette in Connecticut. Bunnies I Love is a digital collage greeting card featuring a beautiful little boy and his favourite rabbits. The shop is full of delights and the loveliness just goes on and on.  https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/victorian1920

Did Paddington colour all these Easter eggs and then fall asleep in his chair? No, he didn't. They were coloured by Miggy's family for Easter 2016.

The Egg Moticons are by Veronica Aguilar, who is from Granada in Spain but currently lives in London. They were Egg-actly the right thing for Easter 2013.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynsey_wells83/11054897226/ 

The huge rooster on a wall is called Morning; that's when roosters are at their best. It was photographed in 2007 by Tom Rose, who is a web developer from Philadelphia. https://www.flickr.com/photos/slurve/1410379588


Ron McNeil is an artist based in the Scottish highlands, working in both Pop Surrealist and abstract genres of painting and drawing. He has degrees in fine art printmaking, fine art painting, and photomedia. Bad Egg is one of his wonderful graphite illustrations
https://www.flickr.com/photos/63488526@N07/   His other work can be seen at  http://www.spanglefish.com/ronmcneilart

The Happy Humpty Dumpty Alien was photographed on his wall/bench in 2010 by Ben Gillin, who is a graphic designer. Humpty was apparently at the Bayou City Art Festival in Houston, as was Ben.  https://www.flickr.com/photos/bengillin/4468802828/


Miggy saw the bench at the end of the story in a shop on Main Street in Pomeroy, Washington. What a great little town! What a great window display!

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