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I cannot say enough how much I respect and admire Cecilia Alfonso Esteves’ work. Everything she does is graceful and considered. Take a look at her weblog and shop. This print is available.
Because I have developed something of an obsession with finding old wooden game pieces that look like houses and because I love out-of-scale objects generally, this Miniature Wood Town from saysthetree.
To wit, these tiny stoves from here. I will be sad to see them go. So delicate and so impractical. Just what I like.
A cloud factory and a heart factory, by PearsonMaron.
ilovegreyskies has been a favorite for a long time. Bizarre and slightly creepy sculptures and prints. I like this guy, with all his guts.
Really? Christmas without mushrooms? Caramelos is where I’ve gotten mine for the past, hmm, six years or so? Always great service, quick shipping, and lot of mushrooms. Which is what really matters.
A tiny pocket mouse from Marjji. I’m not doing much to dispel my reputed love of useless objects, am I? But these mice are just so cute. SO CUTE. I defy you not to buy me one. Hmmmmmm?
The Keyhole Flat, by HydraHeart. Not practical for winter (or my weak ankles) but I still like them…and it will be summer again one day. If you like them, too, you can see these and lots of other kinds here. Also, they’re vegan, and, as of this posting, they’re on sale.
Tinctory makes the most amazing sculptural jewelry out of fabric. This is the ‘Gather and Hold‘ necklace.
And, last but not least, the Black Bear Cowl from Windowsill, another shop I have on my permanent watch-list. Everything she makes is beautiful, good quality, and elegant. I’d wear something like this daily (and could also see several of my male friends sporting one).
So that’s what I’ve got. No real reason to do this other than to spread a bit of handmade love–it can be hard to find stuff that’s what you want out in the morass of etsy and folksy and bigcartel and artfire and and and. And who knows if any of you will like any of this–but if nothing else, I hope the pretty pictures lend a good start to your morning.
Ignoring for a moment the PhD voice in my head that says “you don’t just like anything, your likes and desires are socially constructed!”–I just like the shape of these jam jars, their red-and-white checked tops, the ‘handwriting’ on the label. Ah–I can’t ignore that voice, which is now saying, “you like them because they say ‘home’ to you, but not your home, some kind of mythological fairytale French home where you have no PhD and you just make jam and teach the birds to sing all day, wearing an embroidered dirndl you made by hand! It’s all aesthetic! You like them because they seem pure and clean! You like them because they symbolise an absent domesticity in your life!” Malevolent cackles.
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But I also like them because they are pretty, they are free, they are not plastic, they have screw-on lids, they are big enough to keep lunch in (or all the tea bags I bring to Belgium). And I like the jam (not this one, four fruit, so much–that was J.’s choice–but the black currant jelly I bought in France, and quince and raspberry and others).
I had never seen these structures in real life before, only in photos and in pictures. It was strange to come upon them on the last day of summer in a Belgian town where I’d never been. We stopped in De Panne on the way from Calais and it was like walking into an illustrated book of fairytales from the 1920s. Unbelievable little houses and winding (narrow!) streets, and the ocean at the end of the main street.
Whiskey River–daily inspiration without overwhelming me.
I like his prints very much. Have I posted the link before? Thinking of making a post with recommendations of handmade things I like (for ‘the holidays’ or whenever). Interest?
