Illustrated obscurity

12.11.2011

12.10.2011

Brian Dettmer

aka "The Book Surgeon". More marvelous book sculpture.

"My work is a collaboration with the existing material and its past creators and the completed pieces expose new relationships of the book’s internal elements exactly where they have been since their original conception," he says.

Read a brief interview with Brian Dettmer here.

Link to Brian Dettmer's website here.

12.07.2011

Pretties, etc.

Well, you know me, I'm not immune to pretty things!

First up: these mittens, found via Pennyweight.

Next, some French Picardie Tumblers, from Alder & Co.

Hedgehog boxed note cards from B Designs Letterpress. How cute is that? (I don't care if the post office is cutting their service!)

Any or all of these Color Block Scarves from Martha McQuade's Scarfshop.

Source: eloisegrey.com via LB on Pinterest

And last, this gorgeous, gorgeous skirt from Eloise Grey. Just perfect.

12.04.2011

Quote of the day

"Your style is a function of your limitations, more so than a function of your skills" - Johnny Cash

12.02.2011

The Library Phantom returns. An anonymous sculptor in Edinburgh leaves incredibly detailed, beautiful sculptures made of paper/books/words hidden in various libraries and museums as gifts. I can't tell you how much I love this.

a complex scene in a paper cinema; punters arrayed on seats watching men and horses coming alive from the screen and charging outwards.
The tag?

For @filmhouse - A gift in support of libraries, books, words, ideas..... and all things *magic*

The tag on this reads:

To @edbookfest 'A gift' This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas...... & festivals xx

It includes a teabag filled with cut out letters, on the tag of which are the words "by leaves we live". The cup on the top has a swirl of words which read " Nothing beats a nice cup of tea (or coffee) and a really good BOOK", and on the 'tray' next to the cupcake it says "except maybe a cake as well".

A wonderfully atmospheric street scene with what appears to be a silvery moon with wisps of cloud hanging from it. This tag reads:

"@CuratorEMG A Gift "The stories are in the stones" Ian Rankin In support of Libraries, Books, Words, Ideas ...... and Writers."

Pictures and captions are from here, where you can also see and read a lot more, and find other links. Photos and captions are by Chris Scott at The Central Station Blog.

12.01.2011

Edward Gorey book covers for Anchor Books

Done between 1953 and 1960. Found via Ancient Industries.

I think this one's my favorite so far, but you find a whole bunch more here.

11.24.2011

Gratitude

A simple and brief essay on ways to choose happiness:

When we default to anger or irritability, we perpetuate the grasp of those destructive sensations in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, feeling the entire cycle of emotions is an essential part of being complete human beings, but getting stuck in the ones that drag us down is a problem. This goes for sadness as well. When something painful happens, feel it fully – go to the depths, but then rise back up. Choose to surface.

Sarah Bakewell on Montaigne:

For Montaigne as for Woolf, human beings do not live immured in our separate perspectives. We live porously and sociably. We can glide out of our own minds, if only for a few moments, in order to occupy another being’s point of view. This ability is the real meaning of Montaigne’s call to ‘be convivial’, one answer to the question of how to live, and the best hope for civilization.

Pablo Casals plays Bach's Suite Number 1 for Cello Part 1. Filmed in 1954 in the Abbaye Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa.

A recipe for Gingersnaps from The Smitten Kitchen here.