Scrambled Egg Decorating 101

In this DIY culinary clip narrated by Joe Emminger, artist Julie Paschkis dishes up a delectable hand lettered recipe for a perfectly scrambled egg. One serving guaranteed to please the whole family! 

Disclaimer : No eggs were harmed in the making of this video.

Sm;)e

This makes me smile. Mona Lisa is seen through the eyes of 6 and 7 year-olds and a few grown-ups. Another great project from illustrator Marion Deuchers, with animation by studio aka in the UK. The book makes me happy too. 

Some of my favorite Mona Lisa smiles. More can be seen here. 

See a whole crowd of Mona's here.

Toys for Teaching Design

"Toys That Teach" was the official slogan of the The Embossing Company of Albany, New York, who were considered a giant in the field of manufacturing wood embossed toys, such as dominoes, checkers, wooden blocks, puzzles and building kits. The company was formed in 1870 after inventor John Wesley Hyatt (1837-1920), improved the manufacturing process of embossing and painting the wood surfaces of dominoes and checkers. Even though Hyatt held the first three patents which were instrumental to The Embossing Company's initial start-up, he was most famous for his invention of celluloid, which he discovered quite by accident. As the story goes, Hyatt became a printer's apprentice in Illinois at the age of sixteen. In the process of making the metal cuts, a bottle of collodion overturned and solidified, giving him the idea of making celluloid. He later used the celluloid to win a $10,000 prize for the competition to replace the ivory billiard ball. Over the course of his lifetime Hyatt went on to develop 236 successful patents, exceeded only by a few other inventors, including Thomas Edison.
     The Embossing Company released the "Curved Designs" boxed toy featured above in 1935, long after Hyatt's death. This toy is a bit of a mystery to me beyond this, yet it appears as if it could be a very effective educational toy for teaching the mechanics of working with typographical printers' ornaments. These individual ornament devices are color-coded which may simplify some of the organization initially, though I presume the blocks are not individually color-coded. Even so, I believe it would assist in the visual thinking process. 
     The Albany Institute of History and Art describes this set of toy cursive design blocks, as having game pieces included, but has little other description. I discovered the source of it after researching the history of a recently acquired chromolithographed label for The Embossing Company's Toy Blocks, dating back to the late 19th century. 

This 5 inch square label of a charming circus clown and pig was originally glued to a wooden box of embossed and painted wooden toy blocks, such as those seen in this later 1930 edition of this toy. My research also lead me to learn more about some of the many other wonderful toys from this company, such as the set of Illustrated Cubes (wooden blocks) circa 1900 and the Wonderwood, Play it With Flowers toy, circa 1925. 

The illustrator of this box design with the wonderful wonderwood title created with flower petals, happens to be Norman Price (1877-1951), a 1978 inductee to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.

Color Cubes is another great teaching toy which I think could benefit a budding designer of any age. These simple and timeless toys are not just for blockheads. They are produced in four color variations, and one can create a myriad of designs within a square—again, much like miniature type ornaments. The examples below of this timeless toy originated from Sushipot.  

The Kolor Blox, also from Sushipot, is another similar learning toy, but with the addition of the half-circle shape, which invites all sorts of new options.

::Source of 1926 advertisement: Old Wood Toys

Winter Cold Remedies

Aside from a homemade pot of hearty chicken soup, this Mt. Fuji tissue container is the best cold remedy ever. It warms my heart. Cleverly designed by Tomohiro Ikegaya for his company, Good by Market.

More signs of Winter cold 

Source: Marc N



Source: Mrs. Easton

This letter could use a good T cozy.
Source: MyOrb

The Second Lives of Books

After viewing the new Chronicle Books edition, Art Made From Books, by Laura Heyenga, it appears the literary landscape is being altered more than I could imagine. The work of twenty-seven international artists, including one anonymous artist who participates in guerilla book sculpture, are recognized in this anthology for their sculptural interpretations, transformations, and REcreations of the book. These engaging new works are about the book as object. Their medium is the raw materials of discarded, damaged, and abandoned books. Their message is the telling of new stories. 

In some cases, the books revert back to nature where their pulp originated, such as in the work of artist Guy Laramee, seen above, who carves volumes of books into beautiful zen gardens and remarkably accurate representations of steep topographical terrain. These carved literary landscapes reveal a new message about time and the erosion of our culture, yet they are inviting enough to step inside and explore if one only could. 

No anthology of altered books would be complete without the remarkable work of Brian Dettmer of Atlanta, Georgia. Dettmer, who contributed the preface to this book, cuts up books with the deft skill of a neurosurgeon. As he cuts away, he reveals new words, stories and images, and breaths a new life into each of his works. As one would imagine, Dettmer's intricate handwork requires some very sharp x-acto blades, and he claims he buys them by the thousands. He admits he often replaces his blades about every ten or twenty minutes, depending upon the thickness of the paper he is cutting at the time.  

Dettmer's collection of used x-acto blades. 
Source: Austin Kleon

In an informative introduction to Art Made From Books, Alyson Kuhn addresses the notion, impulse and debate surrounding altered and augmented books. To give us some historical context, she describes a popular pastime of embellishing books in 18th century England called extra-illustration. Publisher's often included blank pages in their bound editions so people could insert their own artwork, and customize it with prints or clippings from other sources. As Kuhn so aptly describes, "the original bound text was supplemented by the owner, who then possessed a uniquely curated edition—an interesting variation on vanity publishing." 
     This genteel hobby of embellishing lost favor in the 19th century, after critics justifiably accused the extra-illustrators of dismembering treasured books. In recent years, many of these historic augmented books have since become highly prized by librarians and book collectors. The Huntington Library in Pasadena currently has an exhibit of 40 extra-illustrated works in their collection dating from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. "Illuminated Palaces: Extra-Illustrated Books from The Huntington Library" is on view until October 28th.   

Argentinian artist Pablo Lehmann transforms books and text by cutting them, leaving it to the reader to interpret the lovely web of words he weaves which resembles a net of lace paper. 

British artist Jennifer Collier treats paper like cloth and stitches it with thread. She works with pages from books to create everyday household objects and clothing. 

In a completely different take, Jeremy May of Littlefly in the UK, creates literary jewels fashioned from the laminated pages of books and colored papers. His wearable jewelry of rings, bracelets, pendants and more, come nested inside the excavated space of the original book. Each unique object carries a serial number.

Lettering, paper and book artist Pamela Paulsrud turns books into stones. Touchstones she calls them—which carry the weight of time and storytelling—just as the wave-washed stones found on the beach. 

These artworks are just a cameo of the many engaging examples featured in Art Made From Books. The twenty-seven artists featured in this anthology have each found new narratives in the raw materials of discarded and damaged books, and their altered, augmented and eviscerated works have become the beautiful ruins in a new literary landscape.