I was looking through an old Print Magazine the other night, and came across some poster design that I loved. When I searched for them online I learned that Nokturnal Studio is no longer in existence, but you can still buy their posters. Now, Michael Carpenter (formerly of Nokturnal) is the artist behind Switch. And wow is there a lot of fun stuff to look at there.

Like, these beautiful save-the-dates:

And these great business cards:

And… a project for building studio

I was intrigued enough by the photo on Switch’s website (see above post), that I followed some links and found Emily Summers, who was the interior designer on the Rey Rosa ranch in Texas. Building Studio was architecture firm on the project.

Here are some additional shots:

I think it was also at Whimsicality in Spring Lake, NJ that I saw these Claus Porto soaps. I wanted to buy them just for the wrappers! I think Oprah promoted them at one point, so they must be more than just a pretty package.

Remember when I said I was going to take a ceramics class? Well, I did it (here), and I loved it. For some reason I have a sense of abandon when I work on ceramics. I don’t care if I’m making something I’ve seen a hundred times before, and I don’t care as much what it looks like when it comes out of the kiln. As a beginner, I find there is very little control over the whole process. There are many steps, and therefore lots of places where you can have happy (or unhappy) accidents. Instead of finding this frustrating I find it freeing. Every move is an experiment and you have to just enjoy the process rather than the product.

By my second session of classes I found a process that I really enjoyed. I was inspired by Andrea Yates and Diana Fayt, and although I was enrolled in wheel throwing classes, I like the rough-around-the-edges look of handbuilding. Since my wheel throwing skills are pretty questionable, I’d throw a form but then do a little altering off wheel.

Now that I have some finished products I thought I’d share them here, and tell a bit about my process!

I brought some photos of Diana Fayt’s work to class and my teachers helped me figure out how I might emulate her razor-thin line drawings. For those of you who know something about ceramics (or wish you did), here’s how I did it:

First, make the shape and let it dry slightly. If you want to have a stripe of color (like the yellow), then you need to apply slip. Slip is basically colored clay, and I applied it with a brush. Once the clay is leather-hard and the slip is dry, scratch a design into your form. I found razor blades work best, but if you like a thicker line, try using a dull pencil. Then your form needs to be bisqued. Bisque firing is what you do to ceramics after the form is finished but before a glaze is applied.

After the bisque firing, I used underglaze to make the drawn lines turn black. (I bought the underglaze at an art supply store, but you can find it online, too.) I applied the underglaze with a flat sponge to the entire surface, and then buffed it off with a clean, wet, foam brush so that the underglaze stayed only in the cracks of my drawing. Once the underglaze is rubbed off and your ceramic piece has dried completely, you can cover it with a clear or transluscent glaze. Since I used white clay, I used a clear glaze on top. Then do the final firing, and the piece is finished!  It sounds complicated, it’s not so bad.

These two above were inspired by Andrea Yates. Andrea was nice enough to answer my questions about her process, and I emulated it the best I could. These were done with an underglaze pencil, which looks exactly like a normal pencil but the drawing won’t come off in the firing process. To do this, you take a piece that has been bisque fired, draw with your underglaze pencil, and cover with a clear glaze.

The piece above was the least complicated of them all. I simply stuck glass beads into the wet clay to make those pinkish dots you see, and bisqued as usual. (Be very careful - sometimes glass beads “run” more than you’d think, and may cause your piece to stick to the kiln shelf.) Once the piece was bisqued I applied a clear shiny glaze, and that was it!

So are you ready to sign up for a pottery class?!

Yesterday Pat from Zen Crafting was so sweet and gave me a brilliante weblog award! Thanks Pat! I went to her blog to see who else she picked, and in following her links found lots of fun new blogs to read. First, you have to check out maya*made. Maya turned an old linen skirt and her husband’s stained T shirt into the great outfit above, and used freezer paper stencils to make the flower pattern on the bottom of the skirt. Why spend money on new clothes when you can reinvent the old ones!

Then, I fell in love with knack. I must be in a do-it-yourself kind of mood! (oh wait, I’m always in a do-it-yourself mood!) Knack is written by shop owner Barb Blair of Knack Studios, and you’ll find tons and tons of great before and after projects featured on her blog.

You can read an interview with Barb Blair and see more projects on apartment therapy!

Windhover is N.C. State University’s literary and arts magazine, designed and edited by students.  (If you aren’t familiar with N.C. State, check out the design school’s website). A friend gave me the 2006 edition, and it’s one of my favorite books to look through when I need some inspiration. Hopefully I’ll get my hands on the most recent edition and show you some of those spreads too. Above, is a section of a page by Stephanie Statham, and below are a few of my many favorites from the book.

If you saw the September issue of Elle Decor, then you probably noticed the article on Thomas Flechtner. For those of you who don’t pick up the magazine, I had to share some of Flechtner’s photos here. Similar to Jeff Whetstone’s photography (which I showed last week), Flechtner’s photographs record the collision of man and nature, but he’s comfortable saying that his photographs don’t always have to have a concept behind them. As he says in Elle Decor’s article, “They’re what moves me, what I feel.”

You can find additional images by Thomas Flechtner here and here.

This weekend I was in Spring Lake, NJ visiting some of my fiance’s family. Spring Lake has some great little boutiques on Third Avenue, and one called Whimsicality was my favorite (no website, unfortunately.) Whimsicality mostly carries goods for the home, like linen duvet covers, embroidered pillows, and lots of gorgeous chandeliers. But they also have a small kids section, where I fell in love with Pip-Squeak Chapeau’s line of children’s clothes.

On the Pip-Squeak Chapeau site and blog, I found that they also carry beautiful, all-natural women’s clothing in addition to some bedding and knitted baby booties.

I love these photos by cathzilla.  The top one reminds me of the beach in the fall (the best time to visit the beach!) and the bottom one reminds me of my grandmother’s patterns again.

This is the second of the anthropologie-inspired inspiration boards! This one is more playful, and I like the combination of textures in the desserts and flowers.

Top row: Cake from baked, reception photo from the knot, stationary from eggpress, bridal gown from simpledress
Second row: pink daisy photo form the knot, “bridesmaid” dress from anthropologie, bouquet from hatch creative, ring from anthropologie
Third row: dessert from feastivities, cupcakes from whiskie bits

This week two Anthropologie dresses caught my eye, and I decided to make inspiration boards around them as bridesmaid dresses. The first one has lots of gray and peach in it, which is one of my favorite color palettes.

Top row: bridal gown by amsale, invitations by minted, seating tags from the knot
Second row: “bridesmaid” dress from anthropologie, cupcakes from whiskie bits, drinks from feastivities
Third row: peony photo from the knot, ring from anthropologie

Target has wallpaper? You bet. Most rolls range from $49-$79, and a bunch of the patterns are from Graham & Brown.

I’m from Wilmington, NC and when I go home I love to stop in to Edge of Urge. It’s a little boutique (for both men and women) in downtown that has a fantastic collection of goods that range from designer collections, to lesser known idie designers, to handmade items by the store’s owner, Jessie Williams.

After my last visit to Edge of Urge, I thought I’d see if they had an online shop. To my surprise, they do! Woo-hoo!

Now, about the artwork for the top picture. The border comes from a free, downloadable photoshop document by DesignBum (Issara Willenskomer.) Issara is incredibly talented, and has a wonderful outlook on the design world in general. Here are some of his thoughts:

It is my firm belief that when information is shared, everybody wins. In the design world, people often tend to practice the opposite. People hoard their design tricks and secrets like a dragon hoards treasure, often getting indignant when someone else copies his or her ’style’ or ‘look.’ I call bullshit on that. Humanity learns through imitation and repetition. We all have built in systems that allow us to imitate others at an early age, and this paves the way for language development which in turn leads to everything else.

‘Design’ and ‘art’ are never conceived in a vacuum. Like revolutionary movements, the people that become figureheads are only those who know how to harness an already existing momentum. Other people lay the groundwork and only a select few get the credit. As such, when it comes to ‘design’ I believe that if we can help each other, we should. That’s why I’m putting a shitload of my personal design resources on the internet for free for anybody to download. Yes, I could sell them to a stock company for money.

But I’d rather give back to the design community which has inspired me, not take more. It is my hope that others will be likewise inspired to open up their resources and share their sketches and partially realized ideas. Many already have. I hope that we can stop worrying about who’s ripping off who, and concentrate our energies on enriching our own lives and the lives around us.

-DesignBum

Brendan built the coolest site for a local interior designer, and it went live on Saturday. You can take a look here!

Last year, my fiance and I spent three and a half months traveling. The majority of our time was spent in Thailand with a few days in Malaysia and a week in Laos. We stayed in the cheapest guest houses we could find, which usually meant sacrificing hot water, modern plumbing, and sharing our room with an assortment of bugs and rodents. It was the trip of a lifetime! We had a blast!

By the time my birthday rolled around, we were in the final weeks of our trip and pretty desperate for a cozy place to sleep. Brendan surprised me with a birthday trip to the Thai beach town Ao Nang (in the Krabi province), where we stayed in the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever seen. Ao Nang is touristy and overcrowded, but we didn’t mind being holed up in the Alis Hotel and Spa for a few days

These are my favorite photos from Alis. The color and design of the hotel was unforgettable! If you’re ever in that part of the world (or looking for a good honeymoon spot) I’d definitely recommend it.

[Photos are my own.]

It’s pretty rare that I make random, pointless purchases, but the linen lace on the left caught my eye last night and I couldn’t resist. I know there is a wedding project somewhere in there. I love that it has the delicacy of lace, but the linen takes it down a notch and makes it more casual.

I tried looking for more of it on the internet, and didn’t come up with anything great… yet. Nor did I come up with great DIY wedding ideas that involve lace. Any thoughts?

I did find these great ribbons ~

Top photos: Linen lace from namolio and lace from Linnet (original link from Once Wed)

Bottom photo from left to right: Linen tape from Linnet, Japanese linen ribbon from cottonblue, and the other four ribbons/lace are from reprodepot.

Jeff Whetstone is an old professor of mine from UNC. He is an amazing photographer, who is interested in human relationship to landscape.

“We are nature. Our natural instincts drive us to use, control, dominate, nurture and find a spiritual connection to our landscape. Spirituality, sexuality and dominance intertwine in my work, as our survival as a species has relied upon these motifs.”

- Jeff, in an artist statement

I was a little disappointed to realize that this image was created digitally, but it’s still cool and so is Suzy Q and the Owls‘ site.

via ffffound.

My friend Susan sent me this great New York Times article about Antiktex Ltd., a Manhattan company that has 300,000 samples of vintage and antique fabrics! They sell for $100-$200, and most samples are the size of an index card.

I’m always interested in where people find their inspiration. So to me, one of the most interesting parts of the article was this quote from the owner of the company:

“People from India and China come here and buy everything and copy it exactly,” he said. “Even Swedish designers spend $25,000 a year with us because no one in Sweden has a library like ours.”

Some designers replicate the patterns; others adapt them. “You cannot invent anything,” Mr. Heget said. “Everything is already done.”

via Old Fabrics and New Designs by Wendy Moonan for The New York Times

Landland has a great collection of posters. I especially like these “Superposters,” made by printing different designs on top of each other to make one-of-a-kind art prints. Hmm, sounds like some last minute projects I remember turning in for printmaking classes… except these are way cooler. They’re not for sale yet, but one day they will be! In the meantime, check out the other things in their shop.