Monday, February 28, 2011

Humpty Dumpty Doll Hospital



This is a piece of old paper I found on eBay some months ago. I had no idea how well-known the Dean of Doctors was when I first examined the lot, although I did do a little searching before I decided to bid on it. The Dean is even more well-known than the Head Surgeon. I also don't know if he just performed head surgery or if he did some of the stitching on the bodies and extremities. 

According to Gwendolyn's Dolls, Emma Clear was the very first doll artist in the United States.  She began her practice in the 1890's building clothespin dolls for children's hospitals. She founded the Humpty Dumpty Doll Hospital in Buffalo, New York, in 1908, moving to Cleveland in 1914, and finally moving to Redondo Beach, California in 1917.

There are many examples of Emma's artistry available on the market, most of them with clay heads, natural and human hair, some with painted eyes and others with glass eyes which she obtained from Europe.

I decided to do these well recognized characters rather than trying to put an Emma Clear doll on the piece of her letterhead. I think she'd be more than willing to perform some minor surgery don't you? 

Friday, February 18, 2011

Old Faithful in Winter PFF #38


This is a First Day Cover I created in January of 2009. The stamp was released with little fanfare, and since the lodge was closed for the Winter, there was no ceremony for this stamp. I made the almost two hundred mile trip to West Yellowstone, which is as close as I could get to Old Faithful without riding a snowcoach and still get the cancel I wanted on the First Day. Was there snow on the ground? I could not see out of the parking lot when I finally found the Post Office. I could see the flag flying on the flag staff out in front, which was a big help in locating the building as it was.

Make certain to stop by Beth Niquette's blog The Best Hearts Are Crunchy for more eye candy that was meant to be sent through the mail!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

BALL Amber Quart Fruit Jar




My circle of Jar friends just keeps growing, but to get the story right I have to back up a couple of years.

Two years ago this Spring, I made a trip to my hometown of Shelby, Montana, to visit my youngest sister and make a side visit to Larry Munson. Larry has a collection of fruit jars, or should I say HUGE collection of fruit jars. He has a five room house that is filled with fruit jars, and that house isn't even the one he lives in. I spent an entire afternoon taking photographs of fruit jars, and I came away with some good photos of  the specific jar that I made the trip to see: The Kilner Jar. I also took photos of the Everlasting Jar while I was at it, and I'm glad I did since you don't get an opportunity to see the variety of glass that Larry has very often.

And how can I forget the Amethyst Economy jar? Another jar from Larry's arsenal.

I'm not out of paper yet, nor am I out of story, either.

Through Larry, I met a woman on the web by the name of Marianne Dow. Larry told me that Marianne was a very personable woman who had a keen interest in antiques and a real love of glass. She's steered me to other folks who've been more than happy to feed my glass habit in one way or another. Marianne had a Putnam Lightning jar to hand when I needed a good photograph, and went so far as to provide a YouTube video of her opening and closing the jar so I could see how the wire bale operated.

Several weeks ago, I received an email from a fellow by the name of Bruce Schank. Bruce has a collection of Ball jars and a web site to go with it. He introduced himself by telling me that Marianne had suggested that he contact me. He told me that I really ought to look at what was on his web site, and as long as I gave him credit, I could use any of the photos he had out there. After exchanging several emails and a phone call, Bruce simply sent me some higher quality photos of a Ball Amber Quart jar that was proper for the Ball Brothers letterhead that I had obtained from Larry - two years ago.

So there you have it. I'm now out of the BALL game, since I have no more Old Ball Paper, but I'm always looking for glass paper of any kind suitable for framing. Marianne tagged me a couple of weeks ago with a new title: JArtist. I love it. And Larry and Bruce - you have mail!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Lenna the Brownie Queen


About a month ago, I sent a piece of mail art to Lenna Young Andrews who has a blog called Creative Lenna. I was inspired to send her a piece because she was using some elements on her mail art that I was really interested in, and I had missed a mail art challenge which she had sponsored by days. I found Lenna through Mary Green, who really kicked my game up a notch when I discovered she was a Nick Bantock fan. It would appear from some of the elements on this envelope that Lenna also knows where Nick Bantock lives.

Lenna sent me a VERY interesting piece of mail art which I received yesterday in my mail box. I have to ask a couple of questions which will probably lead to my spending more money, but I have to know - Are all the Brownies on this envelope, both front and back from stamps, or did this start out as a piece of paper with Brownies all over it? And are you using some type of thermal transfer? I've not seen anything like this except for a couple of cachetmakers who use thermal transfer for their basic design and add watercolor to them. And - then you throw in some of my favorite kinds of PAPER! Bonus!

Lenna, Mary, Hope Wallace Karney  and Lisa McIlvain are currently involved in an online workshop called Artful Pages which gives students the opportunity to  gain the expertise of all four of these artists in their areas of expertise. Give it a look!

Monday, February 14, 2011

My Valentine


I made a trip to the post office this morning, asked for a clean cancel and hand back sevice - which anyone can do.  She'll be surprised when she finds it in the mailbox. Or at least I hope she is! And then we'll drink Rooibos Tea and eat Dark Chocolate Wedges from Trader Joe's in Seattle. Who knows? ;o) And I made the card as well, but I don't know if I'll get that posted today or not.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Sleeping in Seattle PFF#37


The last week in January my wife and daughter took turns being backseat drivers while I drove the wagon to Seattle for a couple of reasons:

My daughter met her birth mom and they attended a musical Sci-Fi convention, her birth mom coming from Flippin, Arkansas, by plane.  I wanted to spend some time in a couple of antique shops looking for old paper as well. We also got to spend time with my brother Dan who lives in Puyallup, and my sister Penny and brother-in-law Chuck who were more than gracious hosts and tour guides.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we ended up with an empty house the morning after we arrived, and I spied a book sitting on my sister's desk in the living room. That really isn't where the story begins however, so I'll take you back via a link:

On the 24th of January, Chuck posted his Almost One A Day photo of the Panama Hotel. I follow Chuck's blog regularly, and not only because he just happens to be related - he's also an incredible photographer. In the post he linked to an author who had written a book entitled "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet". I read Chuck's blog post, and then followed the link to the author Jamie Ford's blog. I was intrigued enough to read them both, but because I was headed to Seattle at the time, I put the book on the back burner.

Now we're back to the book on the desk. I picked it up and started reading it. I don't think we went anywhere, because I couldn't get my nose out of the book, however we were in Seattle for some good reasons so I didn't finish it for a couple of days. In the meantime, Chuck and I had the chance to talk about not only the book, but the circumstances surrounding the subject of the book, and how the Panama Hotel was involved in a real historical event.

By the way, this is a shameless plug for Jamie Ford and his book, and a shameless plug for Chuck and his photography. The love of their art shines BIG in my eyes.

We got to visit the Panama Hotel, and we drank tea in the Tea Room. Memorialized with a great photo by Chuck as we sat at the table. It was also one of the highlights of our trip, being the historical nut that I am.

After our return home, I put together a Thank You for Chuck and Penny, and sent it on it's way. I did not scan it before I sent it. I've not done that with the last bunch of mail art that I've done. I should have checked some spelling however, because I made a mistake on the last line I added. Chuck posted it on his blog yesterday - and he corrected it in the title of his post. Well - he fixed it with Photoshop, and sent me the corrected version. Not bad for a SEATTLEITE!!!

Please stop by Beth Niquette's The Best Hearts Are Crunchy and enjoy more eye candy from some real mail art fans!