books books books

photo by Irina Troitskaya

It's that time again- the time when I ask you to recommend some books to me as I have a budget of £100 that has to be spent on art related books. I've already treated myself to this new book:

Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane

which as a graphic novel might just fit into the art category, but i'm not sure i'll get away with buying comics with this money, so if you have any recommendations that would be great!

What a difference a day makes

Today I took the bus to visit a friend. It's hard to take photos from the top deck of the bus as it rattles down country lanes, but here are four photos to remind myself that sometimes the sun does shine and the sky is blue.

Thankyou all for your book recommendations- whilst reading This Chicken's blog I was reminded of my desire to get my hands on a copy of Wild Swim in order to prepare myself for a summer of swimming outdoors. I'm not a brilliant swimmer by any means, but I can honestly say I am never happier than when I am in the sea- it's a shame I don't live somewhere where the sea temperature was a little warmer!

Books Books Books

(a syrup sponge pudding to illustrate my feelings about the weather today)

I feel the need for some book recommendations- the weather has been horrible today and it makes me want to curl up in bed with my slippers on and a pile of books to read. Any suggestions for me?


One of my newest reads is 'I'd rather be in the Studio' by Alyson Stanfield. I first saw this book mentioned over on Kirsty's blog, and shortly after reading about it I was able to actually read it for myself, thanks to winning a copy in her amazing giveaway. As soon as my copy arrived I found myself sitting in the bath reading it for far too long, getting very wrinkly because I couldn't put it down for long enough to actually get out the bath! In the end common sense won out and you'll be pleased to know that I didn't actually read the whole book in the bath, in fact I didn't get a chance to read the whole thing before my friend Simon borrowed it from me. I think i'm going to make him buy his own copy because I need to get my book back!

reading material

Exciting news from Design for Mankind here: best.news.ever
A chance to be included in the forthcoming Print+Pattern book: how to submit here
The next issue of Mixtape zine is available for pre-order: here
New issues of Embroidery and Crafts magazines popped through my letter box this week.
Once More with Feeling magazine (the first issue is all sold out, but I think I forgot to mention it when my copy arrived- keep your eyes peeled for issue 2)
Someone's not talking- art zine by Xin

Over in the sidebar i've added an Amazon link to the various books i've got stuff in, and a few that I recommend you check out that i'm not in!

New reading material

I've been really enjoying reading To Have and to Hold: An Intimate History of Collectors and Collecting which arrived in the post a few days ago. It's a history of collectors and collections, and so far i've read about the development of the Wunderkammer and how the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford should really be called the Tradescant. It's a really nice read- not too heavy and full of black and white images of objects from old collections. I've only got a tiny way into the book so far but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who is curious about collections, and the people that start them.

I heart books

Here's another photo of that big pile of books I managed to score for myself over the holidays. Ok so the 'Making Stuff for Kids' book is in there because I wrote a bunch of it, and the colours looked good together, but look at all the other great books I now have- I love how the colours are all clashing together.

However, this isn't enough, I need yet more books! In fact I have about £90 that I have to use for art/craft/curating related books, thanks to a special grant I received, and i'm hoping that some of you could make some suggestions for books to add to my huge pile. I'm looking for books that are going to inspire me, i'm happy to read pretty tough theoretical tomes as well as pretty pretty craft books.

I would LOVE to get my hands on a copy of 'Craft in Transition' by Jorunn Veiteberg of Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Norway. I know it came out in an English language version in 2005 as well as Norwegian, but I don't know how to get hold of it. If there are any Scandinavians reading this then maybe you can help me track this down?

I'm open to your suggestions- which books inspire you, which could you not be without?

2008 will be great

2008 will be great



I started my New Year alone, with a mug of tea and some custard creams for company



I had thought the beach would be empty and I could wander along it on my own, but this was as empty as it got all morning




A mountain of new books to curl up and read



Treasure! I don't think I can eat these- they are too pretty, and they look great in the little box that my friend Ceri sent some hand made fudge in.

Curtains

Today i've been very domesticated. I've been making curtains, or rather, i've been adjusting curtains that I picked up 7 years ago and never found a window for. My Dad came to visit and helped me out by fixing the curtain rail so it will no longer fall off the wall every time I pull the curtains. Not only did he fix that it seems like he's fixed my boiler as well, so my house is hopefully not going to be so totally freezing cold all winter after all. It's great having a clever crafty dad you know, I know I am able to hang curtains myself, it's just that Dad is such a perfectionist that everything he does lasts much longer/looks much better than my d-i-y attempts. He can even make curtains too.

Whilst Dad was drilling holes in the wall upstairs I was tackling the hated job of hoovering the downstairs and managed to discover a pile of screen printed postcards I made last year and then lost. I really do need to buy a copy of Why am I so Disorganised? It's a book i've taken out the library and i'm finding it really interesting- it tackles clutter and organisation in a different way to most 'de-junk' type books, there's a real emphasis on the emotional reasons for people being untidy and cluttered, which i'm finding interesting to work through.

3 new books

My Mum treated me to a new book for passing my course with a Distinction, and following her lead I decided to treat myself too. So I now own three great new books that I recommend you check out for yourself.

Breaking the Mould New Approaches to ceramics, from Black Dog Publishing.

Full of some of my favourite ceramic artists of recent years. When I was working on my final project I really struggled to find information about people such as Kjell Rylander, Barnaby Barford and other young designers, but this book is packed full of the people I searched so hard to track down, and i've made it my mission to be in the next edition of it!

D.I.Y. Design it yourself from Princeton Architectural Press

I saw this book reviewed on a whole bunch of blogs and websites, and after getting over my initial reservations that this book would be too much about graphic design, and less about practical stuff I could make, I decided to order it. I am so glad I did because this is a lovely book- full of great ideas and at a level that I can understand! I'm sure if you are a top notch graphic designer it may be a bit too simple for you, but I found much to keep me occupied and will be refering to it when (if) I get round to re-doing my website and my business cards.


No one belongs here more than you by Miranda July

I was seduced by this book's website (click the link above to see what I mean) and by Miranda July in general. I think she is the greatest and I really enjoyed reading these short stories. I think it helps to have her voice in your head as you are reading them, a little Miranda July sitting on your shoulder narrating little stories about all kinds of strange things. I've just seen that she is a year younger than me and that has made me feel a bit rubbish about myself. I'll overcome it by doing some more of the assignments from Learning to Love you More. There...that's better.