My eBay and Etsy stores are getting a little more attention from me this weekend as the de-stashing at my house continues. In the sorting and clearing I came across a little bunch of Logomachy cards. Rather than sort them & sell them, I'm giving them away! Kind of...
For every $4.99 or more you spend in my shops on Etsy, eBay or in my download section to the right...I'll toss in 2 cards. So, spend $5.00, get 2; spend $10.00 and get 4, etc.
The cards range from fair to good condition; I'll give away the nicer ones first. And of course, when they're gone, they're gone.
It's not a giant incentive, but a little freebie never hurts. And it encourages me to keep digging through this stuff and get it online.
In my ephemera questing, the old axiom "when it rain, it pours" has been proven true many times...and at least once before with this book! It's a Commissioner of Patents Reports, Volume 2, Arts & Manufactures.
Not to be confused with volume 1 you understand, or the agriculture version... There's sometimes a volume 3; that one's illustrations too...you can trust me on all of this.
I love this paper, not just for it's historic and steampunk look, but also the way it feels. Heavy without being shiny, a little tooth to it, yet almost sheer. You can fold it in half for a pocket and it doesn't rip. All important altered art considerations - you can see why I love it.
I think by now I've seen 4 or 5 editions of the book. With headings, without, with inventor and invention name, or without. They're all cool, and any edition is my favorite.
You can use a page as is, cut out an invention for an accent, or stack them beside each other for a busy background. I just realized I used paper from one of these books in assorted places in my gluebook, including the very last page.
Anyway, I found an affordable 1860 edition, and then I came across an 1862 on eBay which should arrive this week. So, I'm packaging individual lots of this paper today.
You can pick one up on eBay, or on Etsy, and see what you think. Or, since I seemed to have conquered the Paypal shopping cart, you can also grab it right here...
You'll see - it's maybe the best old art paper in the world.
Here's the other one in the same theme. This one is a favorite, it has so many beautiful pieces. The book spine is gorgeous without any altering....
I lucked into a great little lot of Victorian trade cards today, and they inspired me to add more images to the Victorian Scrap & Trade Cards downloads...so it's now over 70 images.
...I didn't get all of them into the picture.
Rather than keep them for scanning, I'm offering a few selections from today's lot for sale in the shop on Etsy. These sweet little girls are being offered as a set and need a good home:
And these birthday goddesses are available too:
The one on the right says Birthday Souvenir...and don't you love their clothes?
A little update on my activities this week:
1) I put a HUGE lot of transparency images on eBay. It's destash time again.
2) We're doing a Harry Potter marathon this week at my house. We're on the second right now...I love Hermoine's hair....and that book!
those people know how to alter a book...
4) I'm looking forward to craft day (a whole week away) with Karla, Marilyn, Shawn &Bethany...and hopefully Beth will stop by. I plan to film Bethany while she's crafting, wait until you see her. We're going to the Vintage Arts Studio:
3) I cannot get this song out of my head:
I know, now it's in your head. Sorry.
5) I learned today that a digital download can only be in the classified section on eBay, like a newspaper car sale. We would have to talk by phone to close the deal. Really, I know...it sounds too odd to be true.
Anyway, that takes all of the convenience out of it, so the downloads are available here on the blog instead, in the Exclusive Image Collections page over there on the right. This actually forced me to get the Paypal shopping cart thing moving, so there's my silver lining.
I hope it works correctly...I'll send free stuff to the first brave soul who purchases through the links. Consider yourself a beta tester.
The last 2 spreads in my gluebook......onto the next one, also a Moleskine pocket sketchbook.
My recent scanning project has yielded a new crop of image collections...
First up is the collection of trade cards, calling cards, Victorian scrap...
There'll be a collection of photographer information and other pretty text and graphics on the way next...
...and after some requests, I've added 4 Logomachy card files so you can purchase just one or two styles. Getting the full set is much more cost effective, but they're available singly if you'd like them. These won't be on eBay or Etsy, only for download here.
I've been playing with some of the images I compiled for the Black & White downloadable collection.
I made a card for one of my sisters (haven't done that in a while).
And, of course, I played on the copier with some of the French zoology images. On the left is an image on ledger paper, on the right are 2 images copied on a background I painted a while back.
I know, I'm kinda having a bug fixation lately...
Anyway, the collection is now available. You can
1) purchase the disc to be mailed to you
2) order the download version that arrives immediately
The random number generator picked Sarah from Vintage Figments to be the winner of last month's ephemera envelope. Congrats to Sarah and a huge THANK YOU to everyone who commented. A special thanks to those who commented for the first time, it's been a treat this month to "meet" so many new people.
I do have a prize for July too! Because so many of you mentioned the ephemera in last month's prize...and because I have so much of it...this month you'll have another opportunity to take some away from me.
I have a vellum envelope stuffed with postcards, game cards, calling cards, tickets, stamps and all kinds of other stuff; ready to be sent to someone who comments - on any post - during the month of July.
So, thanks for reading along and thanks for your nice comments!
A special "Thank You!" to Marty Weil at the Ephemera blog. He featured my Tennyson calendar last week and the Logomachy cards today! If you don't watch Marty's blog you're missing a lot of cool images and history - his readers are a varied lot.
I want to share a few specialty finds in my Etsy shop right now. Click on any picture to go to that listing...
A little sketchbook I put together this week:
Metal tags with amazing patina:
Some gorgeous album pages:
Assortments of dated pages:
And, please, somebody give these never-used stamps a good home - over 50 of them, $49 and I'll cover the shipping. What a bargain.
The drawing for the June give-away is tomorrow...should I have a give-away for July too?
If you've been thinking about getting the Logomachy images, here's your reminder that the introductory prices will be over after Tuesday.
On July 1st the download version will be $18 and the disc will be $20...if you've been thinking about it, now's the time to pounce. Take advantage of the intro price and get the download emailed to you immediately by purchasing on eBay or get a disc mailed to you when you purchase through Etsy.
And what's coming next? I've compiled a mix of engravings and illustrations, printer's ornaments, endpapers and backgrounds, all translated into black and white. Here's a sample of some of the images:
Great for layering, either digitally or physically; the Black & White collection will be ready later this week.
Just a reminder that there are a few more days until the drawing for the June give-away. Any comment on any post in June is eligible to win. Go here to see inside the envelope....
If you haven't commented yet, please do!
Business first...today I added 19 different prints and maps to my eBay store:
They're all antique, all gorgeous, and very affordable, so check them out!
Now onto fun of a different kind...tomorrow I'm meeting Beth, Marilyn and Shawn for lunch here:
Then we're going to this cool event:
I'll bring my Flip & get more video to show all of you!
I've run across a lot of vintage books lately with really cool covers, but inside they have that crispy old paper that falls apart. I've started removing what's left of the pages and filling the covers with an assortment of blank paper to make fun journals, sketchbooks, or diaries.
This one is from 1896 and called "The Guardian's Mystery" - spooky. Great for recording the mysteries in your own life!
In addition to sketchpaper and watercolor paper, it's chock full of 1930s ledger paper, all of it blank except for the very cool column headings. If you like to draw on graph or ledger paper (Nick Bantock?) this one is for you.
The covers measure 4 3/4" X 7 3/4" and are in excellent condition...see it on Etsy
This is kind of a "steal that look" kind of a post.
Inspired by a visit to Laura Melon's blog, I went to get out my own word postcards...except I don't seem to have any.
These cards are sort of similar in style...a little...kind of...
What I have here are a couple of old souvenir cards from Nancy in France. They're from the early 1900s - pre WWI.
I collected postcards from Nancy for a while - it's very picturesque. These two are just about the only ones I have left from my Nancy collection...so I'll have to make do.
It's interesting to see yourself creating a theme with your ephemera, then a collection, then an obsession.
Not that I know anything about that.
To see some really good, actual word cards, go see Laura.
Susan Tuttle: Exhibition 36: Mixed Media Demonstrations + Explorations
Angela Cartwright: In This Garden: Exploration in Mixed-Media Visual Narrative
Angela Cartwright: In This House: A Collection of Altered Art Imagery and Collage Techniques
Sally Jean Alexander: Pretty Little Things: Collage Jewelry, Trinkets and Keepsakes
Michael de Meng: Secrets of Rusty Things: Transforming Found Objects into Art
Kathryn Bold: True Colors: A Palette of Collaborative Art Journals
