Fortune Teller Book

I fell in love with this beautiful Italian sheet paper, depicting a suit of vintage playing cards, that we sell at Castle in the Air . I bought several sheets and used some to create a Fortune Teller Accordion Book. I love the look of playing cards and had to investigate on the web. I found out that playing cards originated in China and came to Europe in the 14th century. The earliest versions were often hand-painted works of art. Nowadays vintage playing cards are highly collectible. This web site has a lot of interesting articles on the subject.

Jonsi - amazing concert

I saw Jonsi, the singer of the band Icelandic band Sigur Ros yesterday. The concert was like a theatrical show, where each song was accompanied by it's own visuals of light effects , animation and projections. The inspiration for the show was the idea of a burned out taxidermy shop. He is an amazing falsetto singer that greates absolut magic with his voice. Check out the Go Quiet trailer and the Making of the show video: very artsy!

Fanciful Birdhouse Pinwheels by John McRae

I spent a most enjoyable evening in the Castle's studio, learning from John McRae how to construct "Fanciful Birdhouse Pinwheels". John is an amazing teacher and a master in creating whimsical objects. He is the utmost champion of Dresden trim, a vintage embossed paper trim from Germany. Here he transforms Dresden into fanciful pinwheels. We learned to construct a birdhouse from scratch. Using only some wooden dowels, cardboard, glue, paint and lovely papers and Dresden, he showed us his tricks of the trade. If you want to learn from a master check out his other classes at the Castle.

Printing on Fabric

I am revisiting "printing on fabric". See the samples I have made in the past for The Workshop and then for Kozo Arts by clicking on the high-lighted links. This time I want to get bolder, use more colors and go for overall patterns. It's an the ideal theme to research pattern making, something that I have had an obsession with a long time. Pattern design is one of the disciplines that has always spoken to me. I have a pattern collection: ripped out images that I glue into a notebook. I also own a bunch of books on patterns. I love using traditional patterns as well as creating my own. Using my hand-carved stamps has been my foremost technique to print on fabric. I love the look stamp printing creates: reminiscent of old woodblock printing, you can often still see the carving lines, that lend it this unique hand-made look. So here is the first batch of images from my test-printing studio. More to come soon....

Inspirational Paper Art

1. Ferry Staverman is a Dutch artist that creates 3-dimensional objects with cardboard. Her striking paper sculptures seem to be inspired by the natural world and remind us of the organic and complex shapes of sea anemones or fractals. She seems to create shapes that exist in the micro cosmos.


2. Brian Dettmer alters books by carving and cutting away. He never adds to the books, but creates a new context and dimensionality by cutting away and sealing the remainder with varnish for stability. He uses mainly dictionaries, encyclopedias, science text books, as well as old maps, tapes and other out of date media.


3. Michael Velliquette creates dimensional paper collages from colorful cardstock. His work shows off vibrant colors , simple but abundant elements creating a dense and rich pattern structure giving it the look and feel of tribal or folk art.