Blog World Wednesday > Upon a Fold

*sigh* Upon a Fold is enough to keep my paper obsessed self dribbling on my desk for days... Written in conjuction with a shop of the same name, it showcases an amazing array of paper artists, demonstrating just how versatile those little white sheets can be and how creative people really are! So much inspiration here... and just when your emotions have been all folded up, you can buy lots of the amazing things in the shop! (see why I sigh now?)

Nikki Catalano // Illustration

Beautiful illustrations by Sydney based illustrator, Nikki Catalano
(what's not to love about owls?!)

The Paper Bride

Purgatory Pie Press have released this most lovely of books (I only wish I had found it 6 months ago before I got married!) Their previous book, 'How to make books' was a treat in every way and while this is more specific, its design and illustration looks equally great and could translate to be 'The paper party' too so anyone can warrant getting one. It goes through step by step instructions for making garlands, lining envelopes, pop-up maps, postcards and other decor... all the things needed to create a paper paradise! (You can buy the book here on etsy also)

I think if I had this book before my wedding I would have made it all it sounds so good! As it stands I did have alot of paper themed decorations (flags, menus, origami, lanterns etc.)... seeing this has prompted me to show abit on here later in the week... hold tight, you'll see!

Dela Flamant prints

Striking screenprints from Utah based design studio Dela Flamant. Love the 70's retro vibe and the way it makes technical drawings so stylish.

The Package Project

If you like sending and receiving curious snail mail packages then you should apply for The Package Project too... I've wanted to be a part of one of these exchanges for a long time and now there is an Australian based and lovely one from folk at Cupcake Couture. Go and sign up now...

Semi-Permanent // Conference Highlights

We managed to luck some last minute tickets to the Semi-Permanent conference in Sydney which was brilliant... spent all day there on Friday and then just for a peek on Saturday (had a wedding to go to so a peek was all that was possible unfortunately)

I knew I'd be in awe of Jessica Hische and that really was the highlight of the lot for me. She went through and spoke about some amazing projects (and some hilarious - a boardgame about divorce notably) from high school til today and about her techniques and process too. Every piece of her type work is incredible and it was a real suprise to find out that she does it completely in Illustrator and not hand rendered at all.

It was also exciting to find out that her Daily Drop Caps would be going up to 12 different alphabets! whoa nelly!! (I was also really excited I got to have a wee little chat to her on Thursday night too... I was  ridiculously starstruck! what a groupie!!)

My other main event for me was listening to the brilliant story of one of the wonderful Frankie magazine. It was great hearing about their startup story and how they used to post polaroid cameras to celebrity interviewee's in replacement of a photo shoot because they couldn't afford one... and how this accidentally worked in the favour to fulfil their aim of 'making famous people ordinary and ordinary people famous' by making everyone look snapshot-ed. How cool is that?! Louise was great and I will love Frankie even more because of her story now!

Mel Kadel & Travis Millard were hilarious (taking the stage with a 6-pack of Coopers) and again their stories were great. They live in a treehouse in LA (Fecal Face studio visit here) and that alone makes me a tinge of green with envy.. but Mel's drawings are really great too and their banter made me like them even more!



Another that was unexpectedly interesting was the Glue Society with their brilliantly leftfield advertising ideas (wow, what minds they have) & the best ever sculpture (below) from Sculpture by the Sea in 2006.

There were loads of other great tales of creative folk too and I'm full to the brim with inspiration now...  so now I just need to be less lazy and do some work of my own!

Blog World Wednesday > English Muffin Blog

It's been awhile since I did one of these posts but they're officially back (as long as great blogs keep popping up that is!) 

I was initially attracted to this blog because of it's name... what's not to love about english muffins (especially when covered in vegemite!) English Muffin is one talented lady's great print design company run from Vienna, Austria. The blog is an extension of this and not only are the images great, but there are lots of thoughts and insights on running a small design business which are beautifully written to not feel like work at all... both questions and answers. Read it if you want to start a new business or simply if you feel like a dose of fresh and clean imagery.

Visit the webshop too (I particuarly like the bike print)

Newspaper Club // Bespoke printing

Found this fantastic treasure on the Eye magazine blog. It's a UK based company called Newspaper Club and the winners of the Brit Insurance Graphic Awards 2010. They began by wanting to create a one-off newspaper of their favorite blog articles and had such an overwhelming response that they carried on to form this bespoke service. Now, they run a service that will print a newspaper format document (for a print run of 1 - 5000) just by uploading a pdf to their site. They've printed papers for BBC, LastFM, Folksy aswell as a whole lot of personal projects. The future of publishing? An new breath of life for newspaper culture? yes please!

{images from eye magazine and Brit Insurance awards)

twit twit Twitter!

I'm fairly new to the world of twitter and am only just getting my head around what it's all about (slow I know!) I find the self-report style updates abit pointless but have been finding lots of great links in amongst all that too. See, today Jessica Hische uploaded this amazing thumbtack type she made this morning..

and then eye magazine showed off their lovely new typograhy special cover...

So I've gone from being a twitter hater to abit of an addict and now need even more internet hours in my day... maybe will just have to buy an ipad (yay!)
p.s. I'll try to post some good stuff in return too so feel free to follow along

Print of the day > Hello Marine

Happy Monday sunshines!! An uplifting little giclee print by Hello Marine to brighten up your week (available via Design Supremo)

Some darling screenprints!

I've written before about Darling Clementine's delightful cards and today I've just found some of their screenprints which are even more brilliant. They look more like papercut pieces than regular screenprints and obviously being a little bit francais makes them that much more lovable. 

Buy them here... sailor, diamond or oui

Type: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles

 Another golden find from Book by its cover... This is a stunning book for all typeface and ornament enthusiasts... 325 pages of beautifully hand rendered detailing of typefaces, ornaments and styles dating up until 20th Century. As a cheeky bonus you also get an access card for a library of scanned fonts and images to use at your will. I'm adding it to my list... for one day soon I hope!!

Volume 2 is out soon too...covering 1900 to mid 20th century

{images from Julia Rothman & Taschen Books}

Hammerpress // Lotteria art prints

Hammerpress have a unique and wonderful style of letterpress... layers of bright colour and leftfield imagery... These new Lotteria art prints are especially good (you can buy them individually too)

These two new cards also caught my eye... love their clinical-ness!

card + garden = postcarden

In this day and age of disposable everything's... this is a welcome little treat that will make mother nature smile! It's a postcard... that then grows into a magical garden just by adding a few teaspoons of water. How can one bit of paper be so clever?!

Available from Third Drawer Down

Poketo papercuts

Saw these great new Poketo wallets on the Pikaland site last week (I'm slow I know but they're worth it just in case you didn't see them till now either) I think I'd have to frame them... much too nice for my grubby pockets!

They are the handiwork of Jayme McGowan, Thereza Rowe and Jared Andrew Schorr

Print of the day > Tomoko Kuwahara

The Owl of Ignorance lays the egg of pride 

- a letter press print via shiney squirrel

(what a great title too!)