Pushpin

My friend Marceline has just opened her new zine distro called Pushpin. It has zines about people, travel, Japan and creativity - some of my favourite things! And one of the zines for sale is my very own "Things I Love About Japan" (which is also available on my Etsy shop).

Cresshog

A little video of my cresshog in action! With music by Juli the Jools. I ate the cress today along with some salad leaves that I grew in my garden.

Cresshog and earrings

A very good mail day - both of these arrived on the same day quite by chance!

I'm so excited to have a Cresshog at last! We had one when I was a child, and I don't know what happened to it. Since I started using ebay I've been looking for one, but haven't seen one until now (and there were three at once!). My Mum also bought one, a brown one.

You sprinkle cress seeds on the top, and pour water down the hole, then wait for the cress to grow!

The earrings are by a very talented jeweller in Lithuania, called Giedrė Kolokšanskytė (karramba on etsy). I have three pairs of her earrings now - birdies, owls and hedgehogs. I will be collecting more in the coming months, I'm sure!

The Japanese Influence

On Saturday afternoon I went to a talk called "The Japanese Influence" at the City Art Centre. It was about Japanese influences on art and clothing in the late 1800s.

Christian Aid book sale 2011

Yesterday I went to the Christian Aid booksale in Edinburgh, and was pleased to find lots of interesting things. The prices are amazing, something that is especially noticeable now that many of the charity shops have increased the prices of their vintage books. Things that would reach high prices in the charity shops can still be picked up at the booksale for next to nothing. The prices were so good that I picked up a few items I knew I might already have, like Ladybird books at 40p each. The prices seemed to be particularly good for vintage illustrated children's books.

Palissy dish 50p
Egyptian wooden doll 20p
Chinese bamboo tea scoop 20p
M&S reproduction Cheery Families playing cards (still in the plastic) 20p
Thistle pendant £1
Blue beads 20p
Black beads £1
Springs of Persian Wisdom 50p
Springs of Oriental Wisdom 50p
Grannie's Little Rhyme Book 10p
The Language of Flowers (illustrated by Kate Greenaway) £1
Ah Fu, a Chinese River Boy 50p
Ladybird - How to Make Dolls 40p
Ladybird - Tricks and Magic 40p
Ladybird - Hymns and Songs 40p
Ladybird - Knots 40p
Ladybird - Sewing 40p
Ladybird - Learning to Sew (same content as the above book!) 40p
Ladybird - Handwriting by Tom Gourdie 40p
A Book of Toys by Gwen White 20p
Graphic Art of Japan by Owen E Holloway £2
Empress by Shan Sa £1.50
Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein £1.50
Waterside (photographs by a Japanese photographer) £1
Heijo (photographs of Japan) £1
Glasgow Stained Glass £1
Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit by Sean Hepburn Ferrer £4
Kyoto £3
Japan £1.50
Vanishing Japan £1.50

Each and every one of these items is so exciting to me that it could have its own blog post!

The Palissy dish has a design that reminds me of Scandinavian folk art painting, and also the designs on traditional style Japanese kokeshi dolls.

Springs of Oriental Wisdom I already had, but could not resist another copy of such a beautiful book at that price - then when I got home I realised the copy I already had was in German and the new one is in English!

The thistle pendant reminds me in style of Ceard jewellery, but is not quite as good quality. I wouldn't usually buy anything quite so Scottish, but I love its shape.

I love the design on the cover of Grannie's Little Rhyme Book - it has an almost Japanese aesthetic to it with the circle and the screen in the background. Unfortunately the book has been scribbled on inside, and some pages are falling out, but what can you ask for 10p!

Ah Fu reminded me of a story in a vintage book I've had since I was a child, also featuring a character called Ah Fu, called Children of Other Lands. It turns out that both books were printed in 1926 - perhaps that was the stereotypical Chinese boy's name of the time!

The Ladybird books are ones I had as a child, and were very nostalgic to look at, especially the sewing one. I only managed to buy a couple of duplicates of what I already had - must remember to take a list of these next time!

The three hardback books about Japan were purchased with a quick glance at the cover, and without even looking inside them other than at the price. So I was delighted to discover when I looked at them today that Vanishing Japan has sketches and watercolours as well as photographs.

Crossword Card

I've done so many golf related cards for Dad, so this time I decided to base my card on another of his favourite activities, the crossword.

Mum's birthday card from me

This card is based on Denby Greenwheat pottery, which Mum is collecting. She used to have lots, but got rid of it some years back, which she now regrets. All that survived of her original set is a few bowls and side plates that I had laid claim to. I remember these plates from my childhood, although we didn't use them very often. So I kept some of them for nostalgic reasons.

Mum's birthday card from Dad

The card I made for Dad to give to Mum was based on a type of pottery she collects. The pottery, made in Scotland, is called Milton Pottery.

April

For Mum's birthday I got her this Blythe clone, and did its make-up. She's decided to call it April, after her birthday month.