ANDY PARTRIDGE PROJECT
(not to be confused with Alan Parsons Project)

INTRODUCTION

XTC is a band that not only means a lot to me, but one that means a lot to many people who mean a lot to me. When my mother was young, she'd heard a strange song on the radio called "Senses Working Overtime". Hm, she thought to herself, These guys sound like they're trying to be like a happier version of 'The Cure'. That's so strange. From that point on, she was enamored and for many years made a point of purchasing every single one of their records the instant they released.

I think the obsession may be genetic, they've quickly become one of my favorite bands, and my collection of their records is growing ever-larger (My copies of Black Sea and The Big Express are due to come sometime in December) as well as my admiration for the band's frontman, Andy Partridge. Of course, as one does, I've made a little shelf-space honoring him because I think he's a cool guy. Below are some photographs of what I've made for this space.


THE SHELF



CONTENTS:

  • 2 handmade Andy Partridge paper dolls
  • Various CDs
  • An old (broken) KanColle figurine
  • 2 plush dolls (Muffin from Sanrio & Moomintroll)
  • Unopened heart-shaped tealights set
  • Fujifilm camera & film

    • As you can see, this space is being shared with other non-XTC related things. I don't exactly have enough room to make a full "shrine", but whatevs. It's a cozy little space full of all tons of things I enjoy, and I hope to fill even more in the future. I'm still trying to think of more ideas for dolls to put here.


    THE DOLLS






    BLACK SEA SAILOR ANDY

    I made this one while listening to the Black Sea album, but I also had the song "All You Pretty Girls" in mind because he sings about being a sailor in that song. Even though he doesn't wear a sailor suit on the cover of Black Sea, I thought it fit with the theme. Funnily enough, there are NO nautical-themed songs on this album, which is kinda fucked considering, y'know, it's nautical themed? What the hell were they thinking?

    Anyway, rambling aside, I thought this was a cute idea and it turned out really nicely. The front side is Andy in a little sailor outfit with his guitar strapped to his back, and the back side's got a really crappy sketch of the Black Sea album cover sans the XTC lads in their diving suits. The standee part's also got "BLACK SEA" and "XTC" labelled on both sides in my attempt at the album font.















    SERIOUS ANDY

    For this one, I used this very handy-dandy tutorial on how to draw the members of XTC. It's closer to Andy's current look, although he's way more bald now than he is here. I took the liberty of giving him a little bit of hair, although it's hard to spot under his hat. This one is quite a bit larger than the BLACK SEA SAILOR, and he's got some weight to him. I wrapped his standee with some tape to bulk it down slightly so he can stand on his own. His back side is also plain; I couldn't figure out what to draw or write on it so I'm leaving it blank for now. Maybe one day inspiration will strike...? Until then, blank blank blank.

    Also, funny note on the Skylarking album, Jesus Christ is it packaged in the most impractical way. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, but basically it just cannot close correctly and I'm worried about damaging the discs every time I take them out to listen. Very fast way to raise one's blood pressure.


    MISC. IMAGES


    The view from my bedside. This shelf is directly across from my bed.


    Size comparison. My guitar is much larger than both of them, obviously. Sailor Andy is roughly the height of a Furby baby (well, not counting its big puff of hair), while Serious Andy is about the height of my Flandre fumo plush without her bonnet.