Book Find

I found this cool mid-century book on a Czech antiquarian book website (with the unlikely name of antikbuddha) Anyway, the book is in Czech and I have no idea what it's about but I really liked the illustrations. The book wasn't expensive but shipping to the US was a bear! The website can be viewed in English to make it ordering little easier and they will email you the shipping total and send an invoice. But back to the book. The name in Czech is "Cesty K Princeznam" which according to google translate means "Ways to Princesses" whatever that means. The author is Josef Jicha and the only thing I can find online is that he was born in Austria-Hungary in 1901 and moved to Cleveland, Ohio as a baby. His work appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and Life magazines, he taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and his art is in museums worldwide. (for more info, see http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=JJW) I would call the style of the book "Czech Avant_Garde". Check it out-these are some of my favorites from the book.

2013 Calendar

I finished my 2013 calendar a few weeks ago but it took me awhile to photograph it. All of the images are letterpress printed from my hand-cut linoleum blocks. This is the fourth year that I've done this style of calendar-I wonder how many more images I'll be able to think up!

The calendar is now available in my Etsy shop

Craft Show Display

I love to use vintage suitcases in my show booth. They add height and I can carry product inside. I purchased this suitcase from a fellow vendor at one of my spring shows. It was in sorry shape. The suitcase has cardboard sides and the frame is wood-it probably dates from the 1930's. The paper on the inside was peeling off and the the cardboard was separating from the frame. I thought it would make a perfect display! I peeled off as much of the paper interior as I could, and then re-lined it with kraft paper bags from the grocery store. (I wanted to use cork but wasn't sure if I could glue shelves to it.) My husband kindly cut shelves for me and even glued them in, clamping everything together. I stained and glued on the trim. Now, I have a great display for my smaller collages.

New Promo Postcard

Since I have a craft show tomorrow (Abbot Kinney Street Fair in Venice, CA) I did a new promo postcard to highlight my collages. I created this on the computer using scans of a vintage book cover, vintage wallpaper, old stamps and a shipping tag. The bird illustration I got from the Graphics Fairy (see her blog here) and the butterfly is from Dover (check out their clip art here).