Hasta La Ideas

Assembling the concept in my studio prior to the event
left: photo by Rambling Renovators, right: photo by Lindsay Thompson

from the Alt photo stream

For the mini party centrepieces, I wanted something colourful, simple, and something that could become an activity in itself. It also had to be compact and easily fit into my suitcase! After perusing the aisles at Michael’s for a considerable amount of time, these wooden beads spoke to me. I thought they’d look so appealing en masse and would make a fun activity for the (mostly) gals attending Alt. I also bought some packages of the classic cube uppercase letter beads. Stringing together beaded necklaces is something I would like to do at a party!

(I pretty much designed a party that I would like to attend—one that would feel comfortable and entertaining. Something inclusive of everyone, a fun place to hang out, pretty but not too fancy as to be exclusive. Basically, a party for introverts!)

A few weeks ago, I was asked to contribute to a post on eBay’s online magazine, The Inside Source. As an avid eBayer (it lit fire to my typewriter addiction), I was happy to oblige. They wanted a handmade Christmas card idea, so I wanted to combine my typewriters, typography and something easy to make. 

an UPPERCASE typographic ornament

Here’s a simple project for a greeting card that transforms into a tree ornament. Cut out a circle or other shape of your choosing so that it is slightly smaller than your folded card stock. Decorate the paper ornament with cut-up Christmas cards from years past, old wrapping paper or other pretty paper. I’ve used a page from a discarded dictionary. 

I decided to play on the idea of a “typographic ornament” by cutting out an uppercase initial for each recipient.

(Quick tip for perfectionists in a hurry: print out letters at the desired size from your printer, lay the printed letter on top of your decorative paper and simply cut around the letter, through both layers at one time.)

To attach the finished ornament to the greeting card, position the ornament on the card and use a small hole punch to pierce through the top of the ornament and right through the card. Make a loop out of pretty twine or ribbon and thread it through the holes, from the inside of the card outward. As long as the knot on the back of the loop is larger than the hole, everything will be held in place securely. Decorate the card with a typewritten or handwritten greeting and there you go! (I love to use my vintage typewriters—it is fun to type out a line of text the old fashioned way.) 

UK-based illustrator Laura Barnard was getting bored with selling the usual digital prints, so she conceived of a new way of both motivating her creativity and skills while producing something for sale online. 30×30 is the just-released result. “There are 30 copies of each edition, and each one costs £30 shipped anywhere in the world. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.” The first edition is a series of painted wooden blocks.

“The blocks are individually painted/drawn on — I wanted them to all be unique so thought that was the most sensible way to do it. Although that’s a fairly hefty number of bricks to draw on (!) it’s a small enough run to still be able to do by hand. I may not entirely hand draw Issue Two depending on what it is, but there’s definitely some scope for some hand-finishing.

I’ve really enjoyed selling prints for the last couple of years, but I think illustration can be particularly exciting when it’s applied to objects or surfaces, so the shop will be based more around that from now on. Keeping it fresh is important too, so that’s why I’m only doing 30 of each. A fixed price of £30 keeps it interesting too — for me as much as anything!”

Laura is already looking forward to the next edition. “I’ve got a few ideas brewing for Issue Two — it won’t be blocks but will be something similarly quirky and, er, objecty and interesting. Part of the fun of this is seeing how it’ll evolve and the limited runs mean I can see what people are excited by and adjust accordingly.”

I’ve signed up!

It is a major triumph when I find/make time to sew something. Here is Finley’s first Hallowe’en costume. It was fun to put together… I just made a vest that is large enough to fit over his winter jacket (it snowed this morning) and made some wings. The materials are remnant pieces I took from my mom’s stash of leftover suiting material as well as some cut-up trousers from Glen. There’s some French General linen that was part of a table centrepiece at The Creative Connection and some Fog Linen swatches that were part of an issue of Selvedge magazine. The brown ribbon is leftover from my wedding decorations and I think the piece of gold fabric was my grandma’s. It’s nice to have a variety pile of fabric on hand because if I had had to go out and buy this stuff I don’t think the project would have happened at all. Hoo hoo hooray for all of us packrats!

Nancy Straughan and her fashion and textiles
Textile designer Nancy Straughan recently introduced herself and her work via our suggestions link. (Thank you to everyone who is submitting their links and portfolios! Even if you don’t hear from me right away, I look at all of it and put you in my visual file for later reference.) While perusing Nancy’s blog, I came across her post of a video by the Victoria & Albert museum that I’d like to share with you as well.