Birmingham Oddities

TAKE NOTE-If you're offended by animals stuffed by taxidermy, ghoulish collections, or the macabre, this post isn't for you. 

Just a short walk down 23^rd Street and 1^st Avenue you’ll find the home of Birmingham Oddities.  Quirky, unusual, surprising might be  a few of the terms you’ll use among others when you step inside.

I learned from the shop keeper that the owner began his collection as a child with bugs, butterflies and the like. Later in life other items were added to the menagerie of curiosities.  After a while it grew so large that he needed a place to store them. He opened this shop to share and sell his collection. The owner is from Cullman but works in Birmingham as a prosthetist.

There won't be a lot of text to this post. Mostly, there will be pictures.

The bottles list names of potions such as zombie cure, graveyard dirt, coffin foam. BTW the  B&W canvas  behind the potions had a naughty word so I covered it up. To the right is a collection of animal skulls, teeth and laboratory specimens. They threw in a scary green head for color I guess.

Stuffed birds, fish, moose, horns, skulls etc.

What do you do with a collection of turtle shells? Of course you make a turtle shell purse. Notice the back is the back of the turtle shell and the front is the under body. It has a leather lining inside and a leather flap to close it. The leather fringe is a nice addition. The purse was only $38. No, I didn't buy it.

The jewelry consisted of various animal teeth, mouse skulls, bones, pendants with  contents unknown to me, ceramic , turtle shells, dune 😮??? and various orbs

A mannequin with two lit bulbous  light covers for breasts.

This speaks for itself

Specimens you might find in a school Science lab.

I was told that the designer of these dolls buys old dolls from the thrift store and redesigns them with red and yellow eyes, paints and dresses them  to create the scary effect you see here.

The woman in the shop says the owner is thinking of having a Krampus party or parade. People who are into the macabre, supernatural, and Halloween might find this an interesting place to visit and possibly buy some things of interest to them.

That's it ***

KIlling the Hard Drive

I fell in love with computers as soon as they became a household word. I wanted to learn all I could about them. I'd stay on my computer as long as I now stay on Facebook. ☹️

Since then I've owned more than one computer.  The first was a Gateway desk top.

paysimple.com 

Mine had two speakers. 

Shout out to CHM for accompanying me when I made the purchase and helping me choose the right thing.
There was no real threat of ID theft during that time so when I finally ridded myself of it I didn't remove the hard drive. I just dumped it somewhere. I don't remember where. (That was environmentally unfriendly and I now know better)

I needed to get rid of some electronics as well as a laptop that longer  performed well.
 I viewed several YouTube videos on how to destroy a hard drive and it's easy. 

• First I swept the hard drive of all information. Then I removed the hard drive, took it out into the garage and proceeded to drill holes in it. That didn't work well because I didn't have the correct drill bit. SO I beat it with a mallet. 
  

*If you really want to do a good job think of all the things you're angry about or have been; 

*the time you couldn't find your size in the cute shoe that was on sale

*the person that rear ended you and had no insurance

*sitting in a waiting room at 2:00 when your appointment was at 1:00. 

The list is endless.

After the beating I shook it and there was a rattling sound similar to broken glass inside. According to the videos that's a good thing. I'd even broken off some other "thingie" on the front of it.

I learned from YouTube that Best Buy will recycle your discards for free. I called them ahead of time to get a current read on this and yes, they will recycle your electronics.

My new friend. 😘😘

Haven't had a brand spanking new one in a long time.

❤️💙💚🧡💔💜💛

That's It***

Next week- Birmingham Oddities

That's a Lye...

based product.

Here is my soap still in the mold turned upside down. It takes about three days for it to cure. I used lavender oil and lavender botanicals.  The unmolded product isn't glamorous. You'll see it at the end.

 Making soap the true old-fashioned way using lye is nothing to be sneezed at or toyed with.  Inhaling the fumes can be dangerous and spilling it on your skin can burn.  This isn’t that melt and pour soap you find at Hobby Lobby and Michael’s. This is the real deal.

Directions(left) Soap kit consisted of a plastic mold with lid, tooth picks

for stirring in oils and botanicals and a cloth towel to keep the heat in

once it's ready to cure. 

The owner of Left Hand Soap company   located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama   has a wealth of knowledge about soap making. She’s been in business for over 20 years. The business name comes from her being a southpaw and being the only one in her family who is. 

She watched her grandmother make soap and decided that was what she wanted to do. Most soaps in the past were made using some type of animal tallow. Most often pork or beef.  Unfortunately, Hitler had soap made from humans in the concentration  camps.  

The owner of Left Hand Soap Company uses natural ingredients purchased from local businesses.

ONE-oils, TWO-pitcher used to pour the emulsified soap

into molds, THREE-glass measuring cup containing lye and distilled

water mixture,  4-prepared molds for any remaining soap liquid

The most important thing I learned was ; Do not to pour a substance into lye. Pour the lye slowly into the substance in an open air place. In this case the substance (fat)  was a mixture of coconut oil, castor oil and olive oil. The lye had been mixed with distilled water and prepped before the class. Hence no need to be outside to do this.

The assistant is emulsifying the mixture of oils and lye mixture until it 

has traced.

I found it funny that purchasing the lye in large quantities requires her to have a permit or certification. Why? Lye is used in making an illegal drug (meth).

Essential oils 

Botanicals to stir into soap mixture

We were given a box to put our towel wrapped soap into. It takes 3 days

for the soap to cure. On the right is a sample of the soap Left Hand Soap

Company makes. I tried it and it is an exfoliating soap. 

Soap without all of the preservatives, colorings and fakeness is not that attractive. 

Looks like insects stuck in wax. They're lavender buds. That indentation

comes from taking the lid off of the mold.

Click the links for more information on making soap and what words such as trace and saponification mean.

This was an interesting experience but I'll continue  to buy ready made soap.

That's it ***