Wednesday 16 April 2014

Matchstick Museum

Jimjams - Layout detail - layered sticker - for SJ Crafts
Hubby had a must-do on our Scandinavian road trip last year and I had a must-see: I wanted to visit the match museum in Jönköping! Not that I'm an arsonist with a fascination for matches, you understand.  No!  The one thing that I could remember learning about Sweden in school Geography lessons was that matches were manufactured in Jönköping.  Only I pronounced it "John-coping" in those days because I didn't speak any Swedish; nowadays I know that it's pronounced "Yearn-shurping".  I spotted the name when planning our route between Malmö and Västerås and when I saw that there was now a match museum instead of a factory it seemed an ideal place to break our journey.

I have a thing for mechanised processes and was fascinated by the match dipping, drying and boxing machines that were on display.  These particular machines were a mixed blessing for the locals; they reduced the risk of Phossy-jaw for the workers, but they also took away people's jobs and caused hardship.

Jimjams - Layout LHS - Jönköping Match Museum - for SJ Crafts

Hubby and I spent a good while there enjoying the displays and videos (thankfully in English as my translating skills are beyond rusty), admiring the myriad matchbox designs and making our own match packages from paper (and in true scrapbooker fashion I've included the packaging stamp on the page).  

Jimjams - Layout RHS - Jönköping Match Museum - for SJ Crafts

The sculpture was part of an art exhibition ... there was a film clip of a replica (or the original) burning to nothing.  After giving up on a Google search, I've just found out the name of the artist via Facebook (!) - Jill Lindström - the full video is here.  It takes 4 minutes for the statue to collapse and 10 to burn out!

Jimjams - Layout - Jönköping Match Museum - for SJ Crafts

I've used the Teresa Collins' My Name Is Collection along with some grey cardstock, fabric Thickers and made a little dent in my collection of brads!

10 comments:

Missus Wookie said...

Looks fascinating - I also have a thing for mechanical processes, probably all that hanging out with Wookie I do :)

Sian said...

A great layout for a fascinating trip. You'll have me thinking about the Little Match Girl in a minute. Gulp.

Lesley G said...

Another fabulous layout using the collection and a great history lesson! We visited a barbed wire museum in the US, far more fascinating than I'd imagined!

Sandie said...

I love unusual museums - this looks great fun

Chidkid said...

The pencil museum in the Lake District is worth a look too! Sad but true! Great LO. I'm loving your use of this collection.

Melissa said...

What a great two-page layout! Sounds like a very interesting museum.

Lisa said...

the two-pager is great. Really fab. I love how you manage to fit so much in and yet still have so much white space to breathe.

I just have a problem with the matches. I hate matches! One of my "things"!

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

My Dad would love that museum as he has collected matchboxes as long as I can remember. Great pages to document your visit. I always wonder what possessed me to buy *quite* so many packs of brads when I started scrapping!

Tina Campbell said...

Wow cool layout love the white against the black mats it transitions well to each picture

Susanne said...

What an interesting post - and a great two page spread documenting your must-see stop.