alice evans illustrations

i enjoy all the illustration work i’ve seen from uk student and artist alice evans, but i think this handmade, one-off book called the book for bad days is extra sweet.

see more from alice on her blog and portfolio, and purchase this special seven page piece in her shop (she has a few other fun books in the shop as well).

share this story

catch and release letterpress

i am enjoying these pretty letterpress cards from seattle graphic designer nicole stanton for her company catch and release.

i also like her handmade, limited edition sketchbooks made from old record album covers. they are made in batches of 30 pieces and contain graph, trace and drawing paper, along with assorted fun screenprinted pages in between to keep it lively and ensure that no two are alike.

purchase these pieces at nicole’s etsy shop, see what she’s up to on her blog and see more lovely things on her website.

share this story

recycled book cuff bracelets

i think these bracelets, made from the spine covers of old and damaged books from young pennsylvania crafter jamie keiles are very clever. they are lined in your choice of leather or vinyl.

purchase them at jamie’s etsy shop, and see her blog for more interesting tidbits.

via craft

share this story

neverending bookcase by luca nichetto

italian designer luca nichetto has created some beautiful pieces for clients including salviati and carlo moretti. this undulating neverending bookcase, made of corian and inspired by the pattern a ribbon makes, was a special collaboration with andreoli, a factory specializing in its use.

i view this as more of a room divider or art piece than a bookcase; it would be really hard for me to put anything on the shelves!

see many more of luca’s designs right here.

via design milk

share this story

amy walsh silkscreens & sculpture - let’s chat!

philadelphia artist amy walsh could have easily been a scientist or an architect after having a look at her intriguing mixed media art. her gallery installations are a dreamy, intimate look into foundations, demolition and purpose. peering through little peepholes into other tiny worlds leaves debris floating in my head. it doesn’t seem necessarily determined to have a ending either; rather, it seems satisfied enough to saturate the viewer’s mind without a tidy conclusion like some romantic comedy you’d see at the cinema. it’s a private, contemplative place.

more intimacy can be found in amy’s gorgeous hand silkscreened specimen prints on vintage book pages, called the beastiarium. looking at these inspired animal combinations reminds me of thumbing through an old college biology textbook and coming upon a page covered with someone else’s notes, triumphantly bursting with rich color. it’s like some unfinished lesson from long ago, discovered serendipitously, that we were meant to find and keep in our minds. let’s have a chat with amy and find out more!

q: where do you live?
a: i live in west philadelphia with my hubby (an acupuncturist) and my cat izzy. my art studio is in fishtown in a warehouse.

q: what is your background, and did you study art formally?
a: i’ve been making things like crazy all my life. i majored in painting as an undergrad (university of massachusetts), and in sculpture in graduate school (pennsylvania academy of the fine arts). i took ten years off in between, and i am glad i did. i actually went to graduate school to continue painting, but switched to sculpture in my first semester in a moment of big transformation.

q: how are your pieces made? what types of media do you use and do you have a favorite?
a: in my 2D and 3D work i like to use found materials, decayed materials, stuff i just find around me. ever since i was a kid i have enjoyed making everyday materials like twigs and cardboard and paper and string transform into something otherworldly or totally convincing as its own little reality.

q: how large are these pieces and are they for sale? if so, what is their price range?
a: my sculptures are large, and they disappear when I am done exhibiting them. they are too fragile to move around from place to place, and they are made of materials that easily decay. so i build them in the exhibition space (after working on all the parts and fragments in my studio) and when the show is over, i deconstruct them, and often use many of the fragments in the next piece.

the specimen prints are all under 8″ x 10″ and are all $29 through my etsy shop. soon i am going to make some original gouache paintings based on the specimen designs, and those will be in the shop too.

q: what is your inspiration and message you want to send through these pieces?
a: the way i work now is similar to how i worked as a kid: my first “sculptures” were little villages made out of pine needles in the woods, when i was five or six years old. i don’t know if i am looking to send a message as much as just exploring as deeply as I can things that give me a sense of wonder, hope, sadness, etc. i think of these current sculptures as evidence of a world that is fragile, transient, and decaying, and at the same time is being rebuilt and reimagined. i am also really into the relationship of the inside and the outside, and playing with people’s expectations. i like the viewer to be surprised, to be let in on a little magic, a secret, something out of the ordinary. so, i keep a lot of dualities in my mind while i make the sculptures: order/chaos, collapse/rebuilding, interior/exterior, dark/light, delight/despair.

all that said, while i am working, i am really playing. the words and descriptions come later.

with the specimen prints, i am not sure what drives them. i am drawn to the old book pages for the same reasons i am drawn to dirty cardboard and wood scraps - they already have a history and a use. the animals and plants and sea creatures that i cobble together are just really beautiful to me, and combining them makes them nicely strange and sometimes a little yucky, which is a good combo. i have so much fun finding the places where these creatures can merge and become hybrids. maybe it’s a way to appreciate how weird real animals are.

q: are you currently exhibiting in any shows or is there any other meaningful information you would like to mention?
a: i sell my specimen prints at vix, and at occasional trunk shows at the mew gallery, both in philadelphia (the next one is this friday night, february 8th!). my etsy shop is a good place to find the specimen prints online. i sell them inexpensively so everyone can have one! and i update my blog and flickr stream with new work all the time. i love getting comments and critiques about my work, so i invite anyone to visit and say hello.

see amy’s graphic design portfolio here, and check out her website to see more paintings and large scale sculpture works!

thank you amy!

share this story

tankbooks classic mini box set

look at this set of minibooks from the folks from london-based tank magazine, simply called tankbooks. they were inspired in part by iconic packaging of cigarettes - classic literature in classic packaging as they say. authors include tolstoy, kipling and hemingway.

smoke read ‘em if ya got ‘em.

purchase the set for 45 euros at colette.

share this story

poppytalk handmade market

poppytalk’s handmade market has a theme called “love transforms” this month. look at some of the goodies being featured!

run away with me photograph from bueller designs

wheel thrown poppy bowl from whitney smith

gocco print art cards from scott ballard for two guitars

felt covered journal from stacy handmade

share this story

100 spinning plates by rob christopher

i went to the renegade craft fair’s holiday show a few weeks ago, but i really could not report on it because 1)it was crowded and 2)i knew i would be getting many of my holiday gifts there and did not want to give any clues away! i think it’s safe now to reveal some of these treasures, so please enjoy several artists in upcoming posts who make outstanding things. let’s start with the 100 spinning plates book by local author, filmmaker and rogue publisher rob christopher, for his own random cha press. this is an autobiographical tome that comes in a unique package - 100 stories on 100 slips of paper in a cardboard box. it is the reader’s choice to read as much or as little as he likes, to weave chapters together and create a unique story.

clever concept, random musings.

check out rob’s website and find out more about him on his blog too. i’m a little late to this party, so when i checked with rob, i found out that he had sold out of his inventory (oh no!), and that he’s currently working on plans for his next project (oh goody!). i can’t wait to see what it will be…

christmas miracle: if you hurry you can find his book on amazon in (extremely) limited quantities and on ebay too!

share this story

pugilist round up

i’m not quite sure why i keep doing these round up posts, and yet i am still compelled. maybe it’s because i like looking at them in other blogs? anyway, please enjoy this random boxing theme (and i don’t even like boxing!)…

photograph from the future hype collective’s etsy shop

mini gloves pendant from montreal’s roadkill

velvet embroidered boxing gloves from hello craft lovers! (via craft)

nat fleischer’s mid-century boxing guide on ebay

metal boxer sculpture from the art exchange’s etsy shop

vintage lady boxers photo on ebay

limited edition boxer print from byvikink’s etsy shop

stencil painting at mark traughber’s etsy shop

share this story