Fall Colors ~

birdcage no.5

One of Miss Flite's birds.

Love Little People.

middle-aged mom

cut their own hair & think it's cool.

Granny

Temporary Relinquishment of Craft

The new in-school schedule allows roughly zero time for blogging, making things, taking photos...

especially taking photos. I'm kind of grumpy about this, although I do enjoy the other things I'm doing. My time is very fragmented, & since The Schedule isn't entirely jelled yet (it only jells, never sets -) time can't be used to maximum efficiency. hehe. I try to move toward maximum efficiency, but I'd have to have an entirely different personality to achieve it.
Goals:

1. Blog twice a week.

2. Focus. Stop attempting to try everything that interests me.

birdcage no.4 ~ complete.

REFERENCE LIBRARY, singled out.

I really like looking at this blog; it's easy on the eyes. It would take some skill to convey its scope concisely, so I'll drone on & on... No, but I will recommend that you visit.

My favorite part? - the virtual collections represented in the 'items I didn't win on ebay' category. These collections are not constrained by space or money, although perhaps by time. One can refer back to this type of collection at any time, nothing is misplaced, no detail forgotten. Each item is neatly filed with information about its origin & perhaps selling price.

Topics are categorized in an intriguing mixture of 'mid century modern architecture lighting furniture toys useful and industrial tools blacksmithing graphic design interesting background info music books arts textiles decor' sort of way. There is more content than the last sentence implies.

From Nut Tree, Don Birrell

(see original blog post here)

From 1921 until the early 50s, Nut Tree was a food service trendsetter with an $85,000 kitchen and destination restaurant importing more pineapples than just about anyone else — a super popular stop off the highway between Sacramento to San Francisco. In 1953, new design director Don Birrell began a new era of bright, beautiful California modernism.

He brought Eames chairs to the toy shop — for a time, Nut Tree was the sole retailer on the West Coast for Eames furniture. He commissioned dish patterns (which are now in the MoMA permanent collection) and brought Dansk flatware into the dining room. Dishes were plated exactly as Don Birrell designed it ~

The Papercuts of Hans Christian Anderson

Hans Christian Anderson called his papercuttings 'scissor drawing;' and his paper art is now regarded as an important link in his creative process. His urge to cut & paste was nearly as strong as his urge to write, & he nearly always carried a pair of scissors. The creation of a paper-cut was often accompanied by an improvised fairy tale.
About 1.000 examples of Anderson's papercuts have survived to this day; from simple figures to complex scenes. Unlike the majority of silhouette & paper cutters of his time, Anderson never began with a pencil sketch of his subject. One last important aspect of Anderson's papercuts is that they were both extremely modern & at the same time drew heavily on ancient legends, fairy tales, & superstitions. Modern aspects were revealed in his use of materials; he included such things as train tickets, stamps, maps, bills, etc.

Anderson himself; his characters seemed to spring from within him.

A 'mill-man'; he had a ladder leading up to a large door with wicket gates in his stomach, which could be opened & closed, looked into or out of. He stood on a table.

This information & these images came from the Hans Christian Anderson collections in the Royal Library.

More biographical information, images of H.C. Anderson postage stamps, a chronological list of his fairy tales (many available to read online), along with additional links & reference information may be found here.