Flea Market Sunday

I haven't been to the flea market in awhile but last Sunday I went to the Long Beach Antique Market in Long Beach, California. It takes place on the 3rd Sunday of every month at the Long Beach Veterans Stadium. I brought my camera but was so busy shopping that I forgot to take a lot of photos. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

 A nice Asian ceramic vase...

Glass orbs...

A very cute cat from the 60's or 70's...

Plastic bracelets in bright colors...

A retro blanket in pink and orange...

A lion with lots of character...

Glassware in all colors...

Stacks of vintage suitcases...I wanted them all!

I purchased way more than I planned, and left a few regrets behind. Oh well, there's always next month...

Letterpress Exchange

I am participating in a letterpress exchange with the Ladies of Letterpress (LOL). Our assignment was to come up with a broadside using a poem or a quote. Here is my submission.

Letterpress broadside

The quote is by the 13th century Persian poet Rumi. The broadside is printed in 5 colors on a speckled white recycled card stock. The pattern on the bird and the type were printed from metal blocks, the leaves and solid part of the bird were printed from my handcut linoleum blocks, and the star shape in the background was printed from a wood block (purchased from Virgin Wood Type). This was printed in an edition of 60 with 50 going to the Ladies. I have a few of the extras in my Etsy shop for sale.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a fun & festive holiday

Holiday Crafts

I love the holidays with all the sparkle and shine, festivities and decoration. And, I love to make things for around the house. A few years ago I made snow globes using old jars, oven bake clay and small ornaments. Recently, I've been seeing apothecary jars with little scenes inside so I decided to try one. I found, at Jo Ann Fabrics, packs of tiny little trees in a variety of sizes (these seem to sell out quickly so shop early!) They also had small cardboard houses covered in glitter. I loved the little houses but couldn't find a jar quite big enough. So I went to my go-to shopping place, Etsy, and found a tiny clay cottage from Blue Bird Clay. At that point, I didn't want to shop for the perfect sized glass jar so, in my stash of vintage items, I found a tin jello mold, filled it with salt for snow drifts and voila! A tiny winter scene.

There are so many cute clay cottages on Etsy that next year, I want to make a tiny winter village

Vintage Illustration

I have become fascinated with vintage Polish illustration and recently purchased a few children's books on Ebay. Here are 2 versions of the same story. The name translates (according to google) as "As it was with Flax".  It is also translated as "The Golden Seed". It is a story of long ago about a stubborn King who wished for gold, written by Maria Konopnicka.

The first one, dating from 1970, is illustrated by Bogdan Zieleniec.  I can't find anything about the illustrator in English but I particularly like the horses.

The second one dates from 1962 and was illustrated by Janina Domanska (it is for sale in my Etsy shop here). I love the cover of this version.

New Product

I've been getting ready for a few shows - this coming weekend is the Holiday Market in Ojai, California - and so I've been madly making things. In addition to my lavender sachets, I made some filled with balsam pine for the holidays. The pomegranate image is from my 2016 calendar and the bird is from last year's calendar. The sachets are available in my Etsy shop.

I also finished some new holiday cards which will go to my shows.

New Collages

I got motivated and completed two new collages. The first one is done on an old Bingo card. I letterpressed some pattern carved on linoleum block in the back ground. One pattern is printed with a clear varnish. On darker paper, the clear varnish shows up a little darker and is transparent. The other pattern is a light gray which didn't show up as well as I had hoped but does add a little texture. I then used some of my vintage wood type and printed the X and o's. For the rest of the collage, I used rubber stamps and vintage papers. (I purchased the large letter X at lschneeman on Etsy. The shop has a nice selection of letterpress wood type and other print blocks!)

My second collage is done on the back of marching band music. I was originally going to print on the music but I turned over the card and really liked the hand writing across the back. I printed my pattern in gray going 2 directions. I then letterpress printed the X, ampersand and exclamation point from my wood type collection. Rubber stamps and a few vintage postage stamps still on their envelopes complete the collage. At the top is a 1955 postmark from Vatican City.

Collage1 with the letter X

Collage 2 with wood type

Street Fair Find

I went to the street fair yesterday in my town. One vendor who really caught my eye was The Pemberley Woods. Artist Kayla Harris creates remarkable castles and other items from the pages of vintage books. I snapped a shot of one in her booth.

Hand made paper castle by The Pemberley Woods

She also makes paper bouquets, rosettes and garlands. You can purchase one of Kayla's creations on Etsy at her shop here

New Print

I carved some random linoleum blocks (the ginko leaves are from the 2016 calendar), played on the computer, and came up with this print. The final print was done on my letterpress in 4 colors - dark brown, yellow ochre, grey, and an over tint varnish. It was inspired by the birds flying south for the winter ( I say winter even though it's over 90 degrees right now and it's the middle of October). I did a limited edition of 16 and it's for sale in my Etsy shop.

"Flying South"

2016 Calendar

I printed my calendar a little early this year and it's now available in my shop. It's letterpress printed in a limited edition of 35.

LA Printer's Fair

Next Saturday, October 3, is the LA Printer's Fair at the International Museum of Printing in Carson, CA. It's a great show where you can try your hand on a letterpress or type setting machine, purchase your very own press and supplies, or just buy finished product from a variety of talented sellers.

I'll have a booth and I've been madly printing in order to get ready for the show. I really wanted to have my 2016 calendar done, which it finally is. I draw all of my designs on tracing paper and then transfer the drawing to the lino block. The image on the block is in reverse and it will print like it looks on the paper.

Lino block in progress

And here is the finished month of July

The calendar will be in my shop next Sunday, as soon as I get a chance to photograph it. And I'll see you at the Fair on Saturday!

Bird Rescue

Last weekend, our neighbors were walking their dogs and found a bird sitting on the sidewalk in front of our house. Not just any bird. A Hawk. It was just sitting there. We knew that it was either sick or injured since we were able to get quite close to it. Things always happen on a Sunday or holiday and this was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We tried calling bird and raptor rescues in the area but no one was answering the phone. I finally called our local animal shelter to see if they had any advice. "We'll send someone right over" they said. We stayed with the bird until help arrived. "Right over" happened to be an hour and a half but an animal control officer did come, put the bird in a carrier and took it to the vet.

Cooper's Hawk on our sidewalk

We originally thought the bird was a falcon but I believe that it it a Cooper's Hawk. The bird was transferred from the vet to a rescue and is now getting care. Aside from helping an injured animal, we got to meet some neighbors we didn't know.

Collecting Buttons

I have a small collection of buttons. My favorites are the carved mother of pearl but I have a lot of glass ones too. They fill up several boxes and jars. I also buy buttons to use on craft items that I sell at shows and I like to buy the more colorful ones for that purpose. Sometimes though, they just don't work so I've ended up with lots of odds and ends. Last weekend I got out my bingo cards (I admit, not an original idea) and started to lay out buttons. I had made one of these a while ago and tried to get one button in every square but that soon went by the wayside. Sewing the buttons on the cards was not as easy as I thought it would be - some of the buttons didn't come out in the correct position and some flop a bit due to their weight. But overall a fun, easy project. I had a vintage tobacco tin and the bingo cards fit perfectly. A vintage metal flower frog works great as a display stand.

Tiny mother of pearl buttons in every square

Blue themed

Shades of red

Pinks and purples

More mother of pearl buttons - belt buckles too!

Mixed bag

Buttons displayed in a vintage tin. The pin cushion was purchased from Etsy shop Namolio

Vintage Cook Books

I have a few vintage cooks books that I purchased for the illustrations.  They date from the 1940's to the 1960's and are really pamphlets, not real books, that were published by companies to promote their products. The companies include Wesson Oil, Ocean Spray, and The Wine Institute of California.

Published by Wesson Oil

Recipes include Chicken Scrapple, Wesson Chicken Divine and Fruited Chicken

Published by Safeway Stores, Inc

Recipes include Cheese Dreams, Corn Meal Muffins Baconized and Frizzled Beef in Cream.

Published by Ocean Spray Cranberry Kitchen

Recipes include Cranberry Cherry Mist, Cranburgers and Cranberry Cheese Pie.

Published by Wine Advisory Board

Recipes include Chicken Curry in a Hurry, Sherried Rocky Road Pudding and Broccoli Luncheonette.

Are you getting hungry?