Valentine's Day

I have a few new items for Valentine's Day. All are letterpress printed. The "Hello Love" card was done with my collection of wood type and the "Owl Love" from hand cut linoleum blocks. They're available in my shop here.

Wrought Iron Gate

I took this photo down in Venice (California) along Abbott Kinney Blvd. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the shop name. I like the rusty look of the flower.

Rant

Today I am going to rant. I love to carve my own rubber stamps and have used the Master Carve "cuts like butter" blocks by Staedtler for years. Super high quality, they don't crumble and are easy to carve. Alas and alack- Staedtler apparently no longer makes these blocks. I searched for a replacement and decided to give Moo Carve a try. The packaging is almost identical but the similarity stops there. (Note- not to be confused with Moo Cards - those super cute little business cards)

I ordered 7 large Moo Carve blocks from an online art store for a project. I waited with anticipation, checking the tracking daily. Last night, THEY ARRIVED. I couldn't wait to start carving my first stamp. When I unwrapped the block (came in a plastic bag, just like my old favorites) I noticed something was amiss. What are these lines all over the rubber? There were raised striations across the whole block. I sat down to carve anyway. I carved my first image - a heart entwined with leaves. The carving part was ok although not quite as easy as the Staedtler Master Carve blocks. But then I printed my image. Such disappointment. Those pesky striations were showing up in my image. NOT what I had in mind (in case you're wondering, the two final images are about the same size stamp).

I tried to email the maker of Moo Carve but the email bounced back. Hmmmm. 6 Moo Carve blocks are going back to whence they came. I have to pay the postage (each of the 4" x 6" blocks weighs a hefty 1.1 lbs!) and will be charged a 15% re-stocking fee but to me, it will be worth it. Now I just have to find another alternative. I know, I know...I'll bombard Staedtler with emails BEGGING for the return of Master Carve!

Retro Graphics

I found these vintage language magazines in a local junk shop. They date from 1966 and each magazine features articles in five languages-German, French, English, Spanish, and Italian. I was attracted to the covers with their cool retro graphics.

My Favorite is the cover for August. I have them available for sale in my vintage shop-Two Hand Too

It's Christmas!

My holiday card for 2012 using my collection of wood letterpress type and tiny ornaments.
Happy Holidays!

Holiday Decorating

I love holiday decorations and here are a few that I have set up on my desk so I can admire them for the season.

The two snow globes are hand made by myself ( a really easy project using an old jar, plastic or ceramic decorations, oven bake clay like Fimo or Sculpey, water, glycerin and glitter). The pottery snowman was purchased from One Clay Bead on Etsy. I found the dyed trees in a local shop and the crochet covered rock was purchased from Hallo Jak at a local craft show. The fox card in the background was designed by British artist Claire Curtis and was published by Art Angels.

Holiday Cards

Holiday cards that I've saved (and sent) over the years.

1. Bowerbox Press
2. Hello Lucky
3. Vintage (unmarked)

4. Designed by Sarah Young for Robot Design Ltd 
5. American Greetings (vintage)
6. Illustrated by Esther Wragg, Wragg Designs for Woodmanstearne Publications

7. Illustrated by Claire Heminsley, Wragg Designs for Woodmanstearne Publications 
8. Papyrus
9. Illustrated by Gustave Baumann (German 1881-1962) Art Institute of Chicago

It's Begining to Feel Like Christmas

It's just over a week until Christmas. My gifts are all wrapped and ready for shipping. My Christmas cards are half written. I finally have some time for my poor, neglected blog. I'll be posting Christmasy things, and the first is this vintage book. "The Friendly Beasts" was written by Laura Nelson Baker and illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov (a Latvian-born illustrator who won the 1961 Caldecott Medal for Illustration for "Babushka and the Three Kings"). The book is copyrighted 1957 and the illustrations are done in the groovy colors of pink, orange and avocado green with black line art. Enjoy!

Alice in Wonderland

I have a lot of vintage children's books, but I also have a number of contemporary ones. I thought this book by "BabyLit®" was really cute.

It's part of a series of baby books based on classic literature. Other titles include "Romeo and Juliet", "Pride and Prejudice", "Dracula" and "Jane Eyre" to name a few. The company also sell art prints, totes and stuffed character toys. I believe that all of the books are written by Jennifer Adams and illustrated by Alison Oliver. You can check out Alison's website here (I can't access Jennifer's website at www.wordmusings.com)

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).

I found this bowl at the flea market but I can't find anything about it. The bowl is really thin white glass and the design is done in black and gold. It looks a lot like pieces by Georges Briard (you can see samples of his work on flickr) but my bowl is unsigned.

Lovely Clusters

Some of my cards have been featured in the Lovely Clusters Autumn/Winter 2012-13 Catalog. The catalog is really beautiful and when you see the fabulous photographs, you really want to buy EVERYTHING! I can't believe my photos made the cut.

You can see the Lovely Clusters website here and my cards are available in my Etsy shop here.

Talk Like a Pirate

September 19th is the official "Talk Like A Pirate Day" Aargh! I did this illustration a few years ago.

Tea in the Garden

At one of my craft shows, I was approached by a woman who commissioned me to do a tea party collage for her daughter's birthday party. She backed out after I had completed it so, I gave it to a very special little girl-my niece-whose family has just moved into their first house. It's now in her brand new bedroom.

The collage combines acrylic paint and handmade papers on canvas. It's the largest thing I've done at 16" x 20". The quote is from a song by Raffi.