five fabulous friday finds

Found here.

I love marcasites, and I love vintage brooches, and I love animals: this is a post about that. Plain and simple. I chose my five favorites from Etsy, out of the usual abundance, and they would all fit my little collection very well. Even though I am only shopping imaginatively this year (still going quite well, if I may say so myself, and to my own surprise). First is a gorgeous bird from ContempoLulu.

Found here.

Second is a little lizard from Bohemian Trading.

Found here.

Third is a delicate dragonfly from Lyonesse4gems.

Found here.

Fourth is a beautiful butterfly from Sanibelsands.

Found here.

Fifth is a pretty peacock from HollyPuppysAngels.

pretty paper extraordinaire

A friend sent me a link to The Makerie Studio, and I am left breathless looking at their work. Some info from their website: “Julie Wilkinson and Joyanne Horscroft are The Makerie, a creative collaboration producing unique three dimensional paper sculptures for both commercial and artistic purposes.” I will not say anything else, but leave you with some pictures of their beautiful craft, which I am sure don’t do the original pieces justice, but what can you do? I would rather look at them online, than not at all. And then go home and look at my washi paper and get to work myself! Ha, I wish my hands were this clever ...

pretty jewellery pieces from v&a

I’m very much craving these beautiful jewellery pieces from Victoria & Albert Museum Shop. The one above is an Arts and Crafts Peacock brooch for £70. Stunning. It would maybe require an equally stunning Victorian black lace dress with a high collar, but I think that could be arranged, somehow.



This Jonquil Bunch brooch for £115 would go very well with anything I’ve already got in my wardrobe though.



V&A Feather Spray brooch in green for £25 can also be found in gold with ruby red stones.



Flowering Myrtle brooch by Michael Michaud for £85 is made of bronze with fresh water pearls, and comes in several different variations. The brooch is my favorite.



But the bracelet is quite adorable too (£125).




Finally a cute Peacock ring for £45. “Quirky, eclectic and colourful this ring is inspired by 1940’s and 1950’s bakelite jewellery. Each piece is handmade, with the images reproduced from the artist’s collection of vintage advertising and ephemera.” Sounds pretty good to me.

I guess I have to go back to London soon, and spend a week or so at V&A. Indeed I do.

antique animals

The other week I had a very inspiring work day mostly spent in the Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, for a catalogue photo shoot. Publishing can be a very versatile line of work! The object we mainly were there for was this Asian leopard from 1912 (since our publishing house is called Leopard). It was tricky and a bit scary and very heavy to try and move around, since it’s so old and quite fragile, but it was well worth it.



The museum building is from around 1750 and very beautiful with great architectural features. For me, who loves architectural features and animals and most things old with a history, it’s definitely the place to be! Weirdly enough I haven’t been to this museum since I was a kid, and I didn’t have time to really walk around now either. But I’m so going back to check every corner out one day. This dung beetle, one of the weirdest and most wonderful insects in the world, got a very nice statue for himself in the stairway.



And not surprisingly I was in awe of this impressive owl looking down at me.



In the gift store I had to really contain myself not to buy everything, and did pretty well I must say. I’m trying to not buy every cute and unusal plastic animal I see, which is more difficult than it may seem. And a bit ridiculous, I know, I know.



But look at the owl, and the peacock, and the flamingo!



For a few minutes I very seriously considered letting this crazy and cute looking flying squirrel coming home with me, just because I’ve never seen anything like it! Isn’t it great?! It looks like it wants a hug, but that it might just as well attack you should you lean in to give one ... So I put it back on the shelf.



But just before leaving, I spotted this adorable creature, who pleaded so nicely to take him out of there, and I simply could not resist.

particularly pretty and tasty penguins

I’ve got a serious craving for colour at the moment, partly because spring is finally about to burst for real. This new Penguin Classics series definitely fits that need. Now I’m hoping they will be available in April, when I’m going to London for a few days. They are designed by genius Coralie Bickford-Smith, just like I needed more reasons to adore her. Well I do. One day maybe I will live in a house big enough to decorate an entire room with Penguin Classics. It would be the most beautiful room ever.

chinese art (mostly)

Today I've been browsing a wonderful picture archive called Wellcome Images, for work purposes, but as it turned out as much for my personal enjoyment. I just had to share some favorites here, all the picture credits are copied from the website.

Painting of a peacock in the meticulous "gongbi" style, in colour on silk, from "Bencao tupu" (Illustrated Herbal). The painted illustrations in "Bencao tupu" were jointly executed by Zhou Hu and Zhou Xi in 1644 (the final year of the Ming period). Wellcome Library, London.



A Chinese peacock pheasant sitting on a flowery shrub. Coloured etching. Printed for J. Hinton.Wellcome Library, London.



Painting of an owl in the meticulous "gongbi" style, in colour on silk, from "Bencao tupu" (Illustrated Herbal). The painted illustrations in "Bencao tupu" were jointly executed by Zhou Hu and Zhou Xi in 1644 (the final year of the Ming period). Wellcome Library, London.



A tonga bat is shown surrounded by the heads, skulls and teeths of different specimen of the family of bats. Coloured etching by S. Milne and Turvey. Wellcome Library, London.



The snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca). Coloured engraving by Whimper. Wellcome Library, London.



Painting of the Siberian white crane "baihe" in the meticulous "gongbi" style, in colour on silk, from "Bencao tupu" (Illustrated Herbal). The painted illustrations in "Bencao tupu" were jointly executed by Zhou Hu and Zhou Xi in 1644 (the final year of the Ming period). Wellcome Library, London.



A Chinese woman picking tea leaves. Wood-engraving, 1857, after a pen and ink drawing.
Wellcome Library, London.




A Chinese young woman advertising Chinese "Peacock" brand tea. Colour lithograph, ca. 1900. Wellcome Library, London.

in the prettiest paper garden

Of course I couldn't visit the East Asian Museum without visiting their gift shop. That's like giving me a piece of cake and not expecting me to eat it. I did however do my best not to buy everything my heart desired, and did quite well I must say. Screaming kids that ran around without any parents that told them off also helped, or rather prevented any kind of relaxed browsing of the little store. But I came home with a few lovely things. First 2 postcards of some Shanghai ladies. I can't get enough of them it seems.



How I wish I knew what the text says! If you know, please share with my curious mind.



A little washi paper box with a bunch of small square washi paper and washi paper stickers. Too cute! And I must must must take up origami. I read something promising today, that the lady that runs my favorite paper store here in Stockholm is going for a class in how to make origami jewellery, and that she might give her own class about it later. That would be great!



Look at all the lovely colours and patterns, it's like the prettiest paper garden you can imagine.



This is a bonus for having great friends, not from the gift shop, but from one of my friends who went there with me. It's a little peacock belt for kids, that I'm thinking will be perfect as a hair band. Among a lot of things, we share an obsession with peacocks.



They had some nice looking big kokeshi dolls, but they were a bit pricey and not that special in my eyes. But at the counter, just as I was about to leave, I found these tiny ones and couldn't leave without one.



Look how well it fits into my little kokeshi collection! I think it shouldn't grow that much bigger now though. (The collection, not the tiny doll.) Unless I actually go to Japan one day, and happen to walk into a kokeshi doll store ... It's impossible to tell what would happen if I did, my head might explode? I wonder if there's washi wallpaper out there by the way ...? That would be something!