My favorite illustrators # 9 Afrocat

Perhaps, many of you already know this illustrator, which I'm glad to introduce here in this new issue of this series of post dedicated to my favorite illustrators... based in South Korea, Afrocat is one of my favorite designer of stationery: card, notebooks, stickers and many other amazing items!

The style of this designer is unique: being very inspired to the dreamy world of children draws, I've fallen in love with this style as soon as I have seen it! And I started to collect a certain amount of Afrocat's stuffs and to pill them on my shelves... 

  

Above all, I love the amazing stamp sets that she made. Each stamp fits very well with daily life and the timing of journal is marked by the funny faces and mascots made by Afrocat. Check it out Afrocat's website here, I'm sure you are going to love this cuteness!

Treasures of Paris #9. La cité des sciences et de l'industrie

For this issue of my posts dedicated to special places to pop in and see in Paris, my choice is rather different to other times: I'd like to introduce you the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, located in the Parc de Villette, Paris.

As seen that summer is now arrived also here, and that a hot sun took the place of the former rainy and cold weather, I have a long walk with Fifi along the "Canal Saint-Martin" during this week-end. Following its bank, I arrived to the Bassin de la Villette, a huge expanse of water at the northern burden of Paris. This place was the heart of Parisian industrialization in the past: the canal, with its amazing system of sluices, was route of commodities (coal, grains, wood, metals, etc.) from the north to the productive sites in the town. After a long decline, this place was progressively dismissed: Yet at the end of 1970s it was saved from the ruin and transformed in one main cultural and touristic sites of Paris. And it is also one of most pleasant walk to do here in Paris, even with your dog indeed!

The Parc the la Villette hosts a lot of attractions such as La Cité de la musique, the Conservatoire, Le Theatre Zenith, cinemas, and, of course, La Cité des Sciences et de l'industrie. It is a unique scenario, rather futuristic, with modern structures in glass and steel, the Geode, submarines and other attractions. At the same time, it is a good attempt of preservation of ancient buildings: indeed the old market hall was entierelly renewed and became in a part an auditorium and in another a cinema. But, this space in actually my favorite because dogs are admitted and Fifi played all the afternoon with her ball and with a lot of babies, her great love.

And the Geode and all these modernities gave me the inspiration to produce a vintage futuristic stamps set, inspired to stars and galactic rockets of 1960s: I hope you like it, check it out on my etsy!

Cold porcelain, the magic clay!

Some time ago I discovered browsing on the internet the existence of a material called "cold porcelain". Since then, I have procrastinated to try it because I thought it was too complicated for me... but, actually I tried it and it is easy and fun! And the outcome is simply magic: once dried, cold porcelain is similar to plastic, very resistant, and its pearl white color is really dreamy!

The soft white color, the tonality of which is between a pearl and ivory, seemed to me the same of teeth: for that reason, with my dough of material I've produced many teeth to be used with pendant for cute and funny necklaces! With another portion of my cold porcelain, I made a wide range of owls, to be used as teeth, hanged to your necklace as mascots! I hope you like them, you can find both on my etsy...

... and I'd like to transmit this enthusiasm of mine for cold porcelain: here you find the "recipe" I used and "instructions" to do it; you will seen, it is funny, easy to do, and also ingredients are extremely easy to find! What you need:

My new little assistant: Mademoiselle Fifi!

I am really glad to introduce here my new special assistant, which is going to share my little atelier with me - trying to chew all my stuff around... it was longtime that I was striving for adding a little dog to my life and now Mademoiselle Fifi joined me bringing with her 3 kg of happiness, four very short legs, and a lovely pretty face!

In spite of her air of innocence, Fifi has a special talent to do a mess all around; for that, I'm trying to teach her since now some elements of the "French politeness" as benefits young ladies like she is... In order to improve her training, I've made some special cookies for dog with my hands. Here's its recipe, with which you can make happy your shaggy friends:

Ingredients: 1 cup of rye flour; 1 cup of whole wheat flour; 1 cup of oat bran; 1 egg; 2 spoons of sunflower oil; 1 spoon of sesame; 3 spoons of natural yoghurt; some meat broth (you have to do it without onions and salt - I did it only with meat, carrots and a little celery). Instructions: Mix all dry ingredients, then add oil, the egg, and the yoghurt and the broth you need to obtain an smooth dough. Roll it out with a rolling pin to 3-4 mm thick... cut the cookies out with your favorite shape (I found one with the shape of a bone) and put into the oven preheated at 180° C for 25-30 minutes... They're delicious, on Fifi's word! (which here below she's waiting for a little reward...)

And, last thing, I cannot avoid myself to make a special "welcome" stamp for Fifi, which you can find here below....

Mr. Crab and his friend, Capt. Octopus

Here in Paris the sun and warn weather are very demanded now. Since two weeks ago (or maybe more, alas I'm losing count!), it's raining without any truce. In this moment, it is pouring! Albeit in Mars I was already dreaming the coming of the warm season, the summer and the sea, this gray blanket is risking to surround my good feelings...

But I'm not still resigned to rain and clouds, and I've made a couple of new felted friends in order to show that I'm still believing that summer will arrive, soon or late, and to propitiate the coming of sunny time. Mr. Crab and his best friend, Capt. Octopus are both on my etsy, I hope you like them, they perhaps will serve as mascot for encouraging the coming of the sun!!

timeless vintage logo #8 Alsa

Also for this special issue of my blog dedicated to vintage logo we stay in Alsace. Sometime ago, when I was looking for a nice logo feature here, I discovered this cute enterprise, founded in Nancy in 1897: Alsa. I've chosen this brand following a two-fold consideration:

First, the core business of this firm is linked with the production of sweeties. Leaven powder, preparation for cookies and cakes, vanilla sugar etc... as soon as I've found Alsa's leaven bags at grocery's I made some muffins!

Second, Alsa's bags are so cute: rose since late XIX century, the little stylish Alsatian woman gave me the idea to carve a stamp with her shape... I hope you like it!!

My favorite illustrators # 8 Hervé Morvan

In my last post, I wrote about Alsace and amazing tastes coming from this region. And Alsace is giving me the opportunity to pass to a new issue of my favorite illustrators series: indeed I actually stumble upon a very cute illustration of 1962 made by Hervé Morvan for L'Alsacienne, a historical brand of cookies - which alas does no more exist nowadays. This firm, founded in 1904, was one of most famous French producers of cookies, and its "heroine", called friendly la Petite Sophie (the little Sophie), was its logo since its incorporation. When Morvan was called to redefine the public visage of this brand, la Petite Sophie became so cute that, even if supermarkets do not sell this cookies yet, she's able to delight everybody at the first sight!!

Morvan was, along with Raymond Sevignac, Bernad Villemot, and Jean Colin, one of most famous French illustrators for commercial advertising of 1950s and 1960s. This period was the core of the economic boom in many European regions, and society was swiftly getting through a transformation of taste and habits... the mass society was coming in France as well and a period of economic welfare was opening the door to new needs and new way of consummations. In this context, advertising had a key role for firms, which started to wrestle for having the best image to find their way into people's hearts. Illustrators reshaped by this way the visual idea of brands also for future generations... Once Raymond Sevignac argued that successful advertisement had to be "visual scandals"; Morvan made maybe even better, he produced immortal cuties. 

Yet, not everybody knows that Morvan started his artistic activity in relation to cinema. While during 1930s carried out an initial activity as drawer of cinemas' frontages - I think during this period was common that cinemas changed their fronts to adapt them to movies they were projecting - in 1940 he started a new career. He was (luckily) rejected from army for an illness and during the war he became one of most famous illustrator for movie posters... almost all big success since than were signed by Hervé Morvan. It was nice for me to discover that one of my favorite films, De Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves), here in France was promoted with a Morvan's advertisement, which you can admire here above. 

Morvan influenced commercial communications for longtime and still today some of his draws are more than simply "ads"; some illustrations can be considered real master pieces, such as this Gitanes' cigarettes poster. Art and business in a certain way came together and mass society was not yet so trivial in its attempt to convince people to consume. And that is more true since nearby the Louvre was opened Les Arts Décoratifs, a museum dedicated to design (industrial and not), advertising and mass society.  If you had the change to get in Paris, I suggest you to pop in and see the special collections about "Advertising museum" that are organized in it.

And, inspired by the cute Petite Sophie, I reproduced this Morvan's draw used for an Alsacienne's advertising... I hope you like it, it was so funny to be carved!!!

Treasures of Paris #8. Schmid Alsatian delicatessen

For this issue of my special treasures that you can find walking around in Paris, I'd like to challenge conventional wisdoms about Parisian culinary habits. If you are in Paris and, in spite of all macarons and viennoiseries that you can find at each street corners, an unusual wish of salted carbohydrates floods over you, one of absolutely best choices can be to try an authentic Alsatian Breztel. And my favorite place where to eat them is obviously Schmid, an original Alsatian delicatessen that twirl this delicious and cute snack here in Paris since 1904.

Alsatian culture in strongly linked to Paris. Almost all traditional "brasseries", such as Lipp in Saint-Germain de Près, or Bofinger nearby Bastille, or Flo beyond porte Saint Denis, were founded at the end of XIX century by Alsatians that moved to Paris after the German annexation of this region. Yet, differently to these other quite luxury and expensive places, Schmid offers good deals for delicious dishes to take away from the best Alsatian tradition: choucroutes, cheeses, kouglofs, and, above all, Breztels! Sometimes, they are also able to let me forget my beloved italian pizza al taglio....

And, more to be delicious, Bretzels are also very cute! For that I hand carved a special Alsatian rubber stamp with which I have afterward decorated a handmade skirt... If you'd like to customize your stuff with this delicious stamp, you can find it on my etsy... I hope you like it!!!

Otherwise, if you desire to try delisous bretzels, you can find Schmid in Paris, 76 bd. de Strasbourg, 75010, Mon to Sat 9h-20h, website: http://www.schmidtraiteur.com/, tel. 0033 (0)1 46 07 89 74, e-mail : schmid2@wanadoo.fr

With a stamp you can...

With a stamp you can decorate your diary, your notebooks, your cards, your gift wrappings, your messages, and so forth... all your paper projects could became unique thanks to the magic touch of an hand carved rubber rubber stamp! it's so easy and so fun for me to pick up a stamp from my drawer, to dab it in an ink pad, and to reproduce its design endlessly on paper stuff!

Yet, the aspect that I like the most in stamps is that they can be used also in projects other than the ones related to "classic" paper. As I have already showed last spring and last summer, stamps can be used to print by hand unique patterns on fabric with much ease and fun!!!

And about "printing by hand", I'd like to recommend this amazing book by Lena Corwin, an illustrator and books writer based in Brooklyn, in which she is able to explain how to carry out all kinds of projects of hand printing with stamps, stencils and silk screening... I'm sure that this book will be able to explain you perfectly how to choose the best ink or paint and the optimal surface for the various printing methods.

Thanks to the good and precious advices of Lena, I have made a cute hand printed bag for this spring: after having created a design with a bike and having turned it into a hand carved rubber stamp, I printed my fabric creating unique patterns with bikes. All in this bag is hand made: the stamp, the pattern, and also the bag... the satisfaction is triple!! For the proof of the pudding, you can use this sketch as pattern to make your hand printed bag using your favorite stamp... for instance, I made this bag also using two other stamps inspired to the cute design of Bobo Choses as a gift for two friends of mine fan of this brand...

I hope you like it!