glass domes

Time - and dust - stops under a glass shade…

Still gathering things for the Black edition of The Paper Museum. Not sure this exactly fits, but the idea of a visual pause seems synonymous to me with blackness, darkness, shade.

it grows vol. i

So imagine you are looking at the top of a sock…

The left image is as if you were looking at the sock from its toe towards the heel, the right image is looking from the heel towards the toe…

You will note that I have managed to knit in a round…

And how to shape what is the beginning of the heel…

Onward.

I actually feel like I'm learning something.

(From this pattern here, using these tutorials here.)

historical, scientific, artistic, cultural

 

 

 

  

 

 

 Ah, the joys of local museums.  

 Fiskars Museum came up trumps the other day with modest and rather beautiful displays. 

The way I like them best.

paper peter

All images © General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

These paper theatre fragments found in the endlessly interesting Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript online library. These characters and backdrops form elements of act three from a children's theatre version of Peter Pan, published in about 1905.

Still pretty interested in Peter Pan trying to stick his shadow back to his feet with soap…

counterpane

Bull's eye quilt © The American Museum of Folk Art

Golden wedding ring quilt © The American Museum of Folk Art

Mariner's compass quilt © The American Museum of Folk Art

Seven sisters quilt © The American Museum of Folk Art

Star of France quilt © The American Museum of Folk Art

Quilts based around the theme of stars at the American Museum of Folk Art. They were beautifully made and displayed - but I just expected there to be more. More quilts, more information, more stories, more rooms with a permanent collection in. Still, the exhibition was free and judging by the books that they publish, they have some really incredible things in their collection. It's definitely worth going and having a look, but also check out their online archive. Look at some of the delights I dug up in just a few minutes:

Anniversary tin top-hat and eye glasses, 1890-1900 © The American Museum of Folk Art

Tattoo pattern book, 1873-1910 © The American Museum of Folk Art

E. Fitts Jr. store and coffeehouse trade sign, 1832 © The American Museum of Folk Art

 Tin top-hat and eyeglasses [as quoted from AMFA]:

'The custom of giving anniversary gifts of increasing value through the years of marriage originated in medieval Germany but was interpreted in a whimsical manner in Victorian America. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the tenth—or tin—anniversary became an occasion of riotous celebration, and whimsical gifts made of tin were presented to the married couple. Often they were oversized replicas of everyday items or humorous pieces with personal meaning. In 1881, John H. Young wrote that the custom of “celebrating wedding anniversaries has of late been largely practiced.” Ten years later, Richard A. Wells, in Culture and Dress of the Best Society, suggested that “a general frolic is in order at the tin wedding. It is an occasion for getting together old friends after ten years of married life. . . . The invitations for this anniversary may be made upon cards covered with tin foil or upon the ordinary wedding note paper with a tin card enclosed. Those guests who desire to accompany their congratulations with appropriate presents have the whole list of articles manufactured by the tinner from which to select.”'

Tattoo pattern book [as quoted from AMFA]:

'There are a few surviving [tattoo pattern] books like this one. A sailor most certainly drew the images, for tattoo artists were often sailors, and the portability of the sample book lent itself to the itinerant nature of a seaman’s life. Designs on several pages have nautical themes, and others were inspired by religion, patriotism, and popular culture. One page has several anchor designs with dates ranging from 1873 to 1899, probably the artist’s years of service. There is also a faint inscription dated 1910. One drawing, entitled “Sailor’s Dream,” depicts a sailor asleep in a hammock dreaming of embracing the beautiful girl pictured in the sail of his ship.'

 Store and coffeehouse trade sign [as quoted from AMFA]:

'Taverns were the physical and emotional centers of American community life through at least the middle of the nineteenth century. In addition to their function as much-needed rest stops during a period when travel was arduous, they served as meeting places for social, political, military, religious, and secular activities. Coffeehouses, an alternative to taverns that served distilled liquor, developed as gathering places in England  after coffee, tea, and chocolate had been introduced in the late-seventeenth century. Imitated in America by the late eighteenth century, they frequently offered current newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets in addition to beverages. Coffeehouses became especially popular with the advent of the temperance movement during the late 1820s, when many taverns stopped serving distilled liquor and relied on room and board for their income.'

dead object

Image of Jomon Pot © The British Museum

 

Image of Mold Gold Cape © The British Museum

On Fridays, on the train to Plymouth to teach at an inordinately early hour, at the moment I like to drink coffee and listen to podcasts to ease myself into the day. At the moment  really enjoy the bite-size narratives on offer from A History of the World in 100 Objects. I'm learning so much - and normally I quite like not having pictures of the objects, instead leaving things up to the imagination. But the two programmes above really intrigued me, so I have finally looked them up online.

As Sir David M Wilson (Director of the British Museum 1977 - 1991) wrote:

A museum is not a dead institution and anyone who accuses the British Museum of being dusty and boring is either ignorant or lacks a soul. The British Museum is full of life. To hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren it each year provides a sense of adventure; to millions of toursist and visitors it brings a sense of renewal, and to thousands of scholars a deep well of knowledge. It belongs to the whole world and is kept secure for all mankind.

From The Collections of the British Museum, ed. David M Wilson, British Museum Press, 1989.

I heartily agree.

you used to love the animals

Images from Wallander, Monday's 9pm BBC1

 

Woman: …You used to love the animals.

Wallander: The animals… yes.

(The camera jumps to the doors opening and Wallander appears through them, looking into a room.) 

That's right, I remember. The place was full of animals.

(Wallander looks round the room. The camera pans with him.)

Woman: My husband's great talent was taxidermy. Until his eyes got too old. And his fingers.

Wallander: And what happened to the animals?

Man: Well. We had to throw them out. Rotten. Like everything else.

(The woman smiles.)

janus

banana chips

A parcel from an old student, Huda Abdul Aziz, arrived the other day... Thank you!

kinda candles

£60 for the 60 year old!

strange toupee (or 'toupet' meaning 'hair tuft')

orb

introducing the 17 rooms theory

The New Pretty Village, from Lithographed Paper Toys, Books & Games 1880-1915, Judith Anderson Drawe & Kathleen Bridge Greenstein, Schiffer 2000.

I have been told that I am like a house with 17 rooms and that I retreat to these different rooms continually. I plan to make a paper house describing each of the spaces… and perhaps a navigational map for confused onlookers.

maintain life and growth

This summer seems to have been more about travel, food, sharing and friends, than about art. Not a bad thing and I've been blessed with some corking breakfasts, lunches, teas and suppers. Here are a handful.