Fabulous Find ~ ABC Block

Have you ever seen a block like this? I picked up this lone block at the Old Summit Antique Show I went to this weekend ~ I am dying to know what the whole set looks like. The pin shaped block is so unusual ~ I have never seen anything like it before. The graphics are printed on paper that has been applied to the 3/4" wooden block ~ wouldn't you just love to see the complete alphabet? Please leave a comment and/or link if you can provide any more information.

Q & A Journal

I have never been one to write a journal or a diary ~ I've always found them a bit intimidating ~ but when I saw the beautiful book cover of the Q & A a day Journal, I couldn't resist! Who says you can't judge a book by its cover? ~ in this case I did! Black foil typography and graphic elements contrast with raw kraft paper creating a gorgeous book that feels good in your hands.

The inside of the book is nicely designed as well and is filled with questions or prompts that make it easy to jot down a quick note each day. You can start the journal anytime ~ each page/date has room for five years of entries. Here are a few examples of some of the questions/prompts:
• Write down a problem you solved today.
• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
• What's your favorite accessory?
• What's the most creative thing you've done recently?
• Today you got rid of _____.
• What's your hairstyle?

Since this is a 5 year journal ~ I think it will be fun to look back and see how I answered the same questions each day year after year. Doesn't this seem less intimidating than most journals?

Happy Father's Day!

{My Dad, me & my brother amidst the cherry blossoms ~ Spring, 1971}

It being Father's Day today got me to taking a look through a few old albums to see if I could find a photo of me and my dad ~ I have a feeling that all the good photos are in albums at my parents home ~ all I have are awful photos from my Kodak instamatic. It was also difficult to find a photo where I didn't look just downright scary ~ after all, it was the 70's ~ the styles were not flattering!

So, this is a result of my search. . . a photo from one of our family trips to Washington, DC in the spring ~ my Dad would always take off a day around spring break so we could go on a short trip somewhere. My mom must have taken the photo and somehow managed to get us all in (without chopping off any heads) as well as the scenic view. You can tell we were a styling family ~ just look at that floral pantsuit I had on! You can also see my Dad's pocket protector ~ engineers never go anywhere without one!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there ~ thanks for spending the time to make our childhoods memorable!

Crown Center Antique Show Highlights

{love this style of illustration on this powder box}

This past weekend I dropped by the Crown Center Antique Show ~ for a change, the weather was just perfect ~ something the dealers have long deserved! While shopping I managed to take a few shots of some of the things that spoke to me. I guess I was drawn to graphic design this weekend, as the majority of the images I came home with were of nicely designed boxes. Of course, I didn't miss the drawers and cabinets I always lust after ~ it's a good thing I have no room whatsoever for any of these larger pieces, otherwise I would have been tempted to buy either the dentist cabinet or the apothecary drawers ~ both were in wonderful condition.

{tobacco tin humidor}

{nice almanac cover from 1903 ~ such sweet looking children!}

{inside box label for a sharpening stone}

{odd display of santa and seed company label}

{loved the graphics on these two pencil boxes!}

{always partial to these dreamy looking half dolls}

{beautiful metal mesh purse with a unique shape}

{simple stencil on a painted wood hamper}

{great apothecary drawers}

{lovely dentist cabinet with patterned glass windows and cut glass drawer pulls}

Enjoyed myself at the show catching up with friends and shopping! I'll share some images of my purchases in a later post, so check back to see what I came home with!

Museum of Arts & Design

{thread wrapped wire basket}

After window shopping and visiting the Folk Art Museum, we headed uptown to the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) which is on Columbus Circle. This being my first trip to MAD, I wasn't sure what to expect ~ the museum isn't huge, there were about 6 floors ~ one of which houses open studios. As we were short on time, we started at the top and worked our way down to the gift store on the street level. Here are a few items I thought worth mentioning:

{wire wrapped leaf sculpture; detail below}

{glass bead and wire wrapped bowl ~ for sale in the gift store}

The piece below is made out of thousands of paper wrapped beads that are hand-wrapped, lacquered and then woven together to form the textile. The paper used for the beads came from recycled materials from the Obama presidential campaign.

{wrapped paper beads wall textile; detail on left}

{wire & bead chandelier}

I can always appreciate when an everyday material or item is used in a different way than it was intended. In this case, yards of ball chain have been fashioned into this elegant chandelier. Even better when the item is inexpensive and yields such an impressive result!

{ball chain chandelier}

Not sure these would be too practical as I work at a computer much of the day, but I thought they have interesting texture and a unique look for a bangle. I have seen dyed gourds in gorgeous colors ~ wouldn't these be even better in a beautiful array of colors?

{natural gourd bangles}

American Folk Art Museum ~ Part 3

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: “Freelance Artist—Poet and Sculptor—Innovator—Arrow maker and Plant man—Bone artifacts constructor—Photographer and Architect—Philosopher” is the title of the special exhibit on display at the American Folk Art Museum until October. Quite the mouthful ~ both his name and description of his work!

I wish I had been able to get a photograph of the main display wall of Eugene's photography ~ there were probably about 15-20 photographs, mostly of his wife in various poses and lush backdrops, displayed in a long horizontal line on a wide expanse of vintage wallpaper. The image above shows a similar display only the work is ballpoint pen on scrap paper. I got a few photos before finding out that photography was not allowed in this exhibit - whoops!

These ballpoint drawings were the work I liked best ~ there were many pieces displayed on the walls, but there was also an entire book of drawings adhered to the pages of an old wallpaper book.

Below are a few samples of some of Eugene's photography and ceramic work taken from the American Folk Art Museum's site ~ visit here to read more about the artist and view more of his work. The big leafy patterns and florals seem to work their way into many of his pieces ~ it is interesting to see how it translates across the mediums.

{images above from here}

American Folk Art Museum ~ Part 2

In addition to the figural and object folk art I posted about yesterday, the American Folk Art Museum had a lovely collection of quilts on display when I visited. I thought I would share some of my favorites ~ visit here to see more of their quilt collection and read more details about the individual quilts and their history. What are your favorites?

The images above depict a wonderful, very unique crazy quilt ~ each of the inset vignettes show a different horse and rider. I don't know that I have seen a crazy quilt with round motifs used ~ most of those I am familiar with look more like the surrounding background. The stitch work on this piece was just gorgeous.

The next two images are a section and a detail from the same quilt ~ a star pattern with a tiny engraved image in the center of each star. I love the colors and patterns used in the design of this quilt. I wonder where the engraved images came from ~ were they recycled from something else? Were they cut from a piece of patterned cloth or was there a way to apply such an image to cloth? They certainly didn't have ink jet printers and iron on release paper back then!

The following two images are examples of a technique called trapunto ~ the design is created by stitching a pattern on a quilt sandwich (3 layers: quilt top, batting, and the quilt backing), then stuffing the motifs with small amounts of cotton from the back to create a subtle design.

{beautiful white on white trapunto quilt}

{Interesting combination of pieced quilt design and trapunto}

Many of the quilts I saw included typography ~ I find this type of quilt some of the most interesting and meaningful as many quilters included either names of those creating the quilt or names of family members.

{handwritten script that looks like it was applied with a fountain or dip pen}

{names were embroidered on this quilt}

{Tiny appliques applied by 79 year old Maria make up the lettering on this quilt!}

{Image from here}

This beautiful quilt is pieced together using a zillion pieces of colored felt. I couldn't figure out how the pieces fit together so perfectly ~ whether they were attached to a backing or not. The piece was displayed under glass, so it was difficult to get a good photo, but below are a few close ups that show the intricate cut work and stitching on the quilt.

This last quilt is a traditional log cabin design in a just gorgeous color palette ~ the photos don't do it justice! I've only shown a small sample of the American Folk Art Museum's collection ~ if you get the opportunity, do visit yourself ~ it is an inspirational way to spend an afternoon!

If you could have one of these quilts for your own, which would you choose? I don't know if I could just choose one!

American Folk Art Museum ~ Part 1

When in NYC, a visit to the American Folk Art Museum should definitely be on your list! This was my first visit to this museum ~ while it isn't huge, it is several floors and the exhibits covered many different art forms carefully curated and beautifully displayed. While eating lunch in the small cafe at the museum, we heard that it will be closing at its current location as the Museum of Modern Art has purchased the building. Hopefully the Folk Art Museum will be able to reopen somewhere else ~ in the meantime, if you get the chance, stop in ~ you won't be disappointed! View more of the museum's collection here.

{loved this stylish man!}

Here is a small selection of the variety of figures the museum has in its collection: carved wood, sculpted clay, mosaics of glass, and metal are some of the materials used.

{what an imposing group of relatives}

{this weather vane was huge!}

Below is a small selection of some of the objects on display ~ these were some of my favorites:

{a hand made and illustrated pillow}

{amazing crown of thorns tramp art building}

{fabulous display of tin objects: top hat, glasses, candelabra, bonnet, & fan}

{brightly colored brushwork on this tole ware pot}

{lovely stencil design and color on metal piece}

{grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!}

{cute little painted dog ~ I love the expression on his face!}

I took many photos on this visit, so I thought I would post them in installments ~ Part 2 coming soon!