Text Appeal

Readers, writers, typographers, and printers take note. The 6th annual Text Ball—the lettered stepchild of Portland, Oregon's annual literary Wordstock Festival—will take place on October 1st at p:ear Gallery. The theme this year is In Poetic Fashion and it is a benefit for the non-profit Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland which promotes literacy through DIY publishing. There will be live music by indie-folk heroine Laura Gibson and poetry readings, word games, giant crossword puzzles, dirty limerick challenges, a silent auction and more, including a parade of well-lettered fashions and prizes for the text-dressed. Come dressed as your favorite poem, book, letter, story, or word, enjoy the letterati and support a great cause. Advance tickets for $12 can be purchased here or $15 at the door.
      The photo above is last year's grand prize winner for Best Text, Erica Hijazi. She constructed a fashionable bow from a 1939 Williamette College newpaper she unearthed while picking up a VCR purchased on Craigslist. Soooo Portlandia! Her date wore a tie constructed from the same newspaper.

Mark Anen came dressed as a Government G-Man.

Aimee Pedretti's vision of Hell was Dante's Inferno.

Runner-up for Most Literary is writer and author Myrlin Hermes, featuring the entire text of Shakespeare's Sonnet 129: "The expense of spirit in a waste of shame is lust in action..."
::All photos from the last year's text-dressed are taken by Georgia Perry.

But What is it Worth?

A short clip about the value and collecting of paper documents by the Ephemera Society of America. Who knew The Three Stooges were so into paper?

Paper Fashions

Little Women Stilletos.

Postcard SLR camera. 

Detail of Postcard SLR.

Roliflex Box Camera.

Typewriter, (not sure what kind however). 

The work of paper imagineer Jennifer Collier from the UK, who fashions these paper wonders with a sewing machine, much like any other fabric. All of her works are one-offs, but you can find some of it for sale here. I wonder if this is the sewing machine she uses:

::Via Illusion

Historic Book Decoration

Cover design and interiors, of a 1920 paper sample on historic book decorations from the S.D. Warren Paper Company of Boston.

Border design inspired by Pompeii ruins, W.A. Dwiggins.
:: Via the Letterology Archives.

An Empty Box

This is not just any old empty box, it is the KeebOrd Typewriter Paper box sporting mending tape on one side. I love how it includes all the many ways to use typewriter paper. Coorespondence is nearly dead last. As seen on EyeSigh's Etsy shop the other day. 

Pinhole Hasselblad

Ok, this is a little off topic, but I am so overjoyed to see this corrugated cardboard pinhole Hasselblad camera over at Retro Thing today. It is created by UK set and prop designer Kelly Angood. And the good news is she has a fully functional downloadable PDF of it available so you can print your own version and it accepts 120 film. Kelly offers a pretty full service site as she also provides a nice little video set of instructions to assemble it. She even set up a Tumbler site to view and post images from your pinhole camera adventures. I love this girl.

Origami Parade

These 3 origami balls were a gift from a very sweet Japanese friend named Yayoi Matsuda from Osaka. She made them all from text pages of Parade Magazine as they were the lightest weight paper she had on hand at the time. Each ball contains about 50 different folded pieces of paper. Her father taught her how to make them when she was a young girl. He told her that origami will keep your brain active and sharp and be a prevention against memory loss. Yayoi tried to teach me how to make a ball, but I was not a good student. Which may account for my poor memory. Yayoi has since returned to Japan years ago, but left me with this beautiful 3D step-by-step set of instructions which I treasure as much as the origami balls. 

Recipe Book

Beautiful copy of a late 19th century German recipe book for decorated paper samples. From the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in the Netherlands.
:: From Freaky Fauna, via Books and Buildings.

Expressive Puncuation

Colorful Expression cards from Sydney-based The Lowercase.
::Via DesignWorkLife

Famous People in Funny Hats

Moneygami heads of state by Weisheng Zhang.

Steel Pen Packaging

Packaging for steel pen nibs. The French and British packages at top are from Michael Twyman's ephemera collection, via Ebensorkin. The third one from top which is also British, along with the last two German packages at bottom are from the collection of Martin Majoor. The rest are from my own private collection. A few more of mine can be seen on flickr.

Swiss Chocolate Modernist

A sweet Swiss chalet made from the entire legendary chocolate Toblerone package.
:: Via: Weisheng Zhang Flickr.

The Other iPad Tablet

These tablets hold a charge longer, are useful for most any media, perfect for apps of any kind, never need upgrades, are economical, recyclable, and non-breakable. The Magic Tablet even comes with a Command Z feature directly built-in. What's there not to like?

:: Via my archive of old art supplies.