judyisokay

Movable Type Rubik's Cube

Wow! Check out this stamp cube featuring Chinese characters. Shaun Chung created it from a wooden 3oth anniversary rubik's cube. The characters are laser etched from wood and then affixed to the cube with Elmer's glue. Superbly gorgeous. Shaun's major is in fine arts with a concentration in printmaking. The first known movable type was in 1040 in China. Not bad considering in 105 AD, Cai Lun invented paper. A sincere thank you for that. The text of the characters on the cube teaches one to become a good person in society and written in triplets - perfect for the 3x3 of the rubik's cube. More at Stern Lab.

Is it Soup yet?

I was greeted by a super cool display of Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup cans at Target this week. Color, color, color! Did you realize that it's been 50 years since Andy Warhol created his iconic imagery of the soup can? Campbell's and Target together have embraced their inner Warhol. Back in 1962 the soup company actually pondered legal action when they saw their product on his canvas. It didn't take long for them to realize how wonderful it was for the tomato soup's image and they sent him cases of his favorite food. Warhol said he ate a can of the soup each day. These four colorful, special edition cans are only 75 cents each. I bought a bunch and created a art installation in my kitchen.

Origami Invitation for Louis Vuitton

What a masterpiece of design, printing and paper. This is the Louis Vuitton invitation for one of their recent store openings in Osaka, Japan. This incredible feat was headed up by Ogilvy & Mather - Paris and a incredible team including a paper object designer, print mangement and technical director. The complicated and breath-taking precision of this piece is mind boggling. It was offset print in cool grey 1U. It utilized transparent, matte silver, pearl and rainbow foils. It was also silkscreened, debossed and die-cut. AND if that wasn't enough, each one was hand-folded! Phew! See more details and images at Happycentro. I'm speechless.  And check out this video with the whole process capsulated into 2 minutes.  Well worth the watch.

 

Origami Printer "Hydro Fold"

 

Christophe Guberan, a third-year student from the industrial design program at ECAL in Switzerland has created the Hydro Fold.  “The idea is to give shape to paper through the simple use of water, adapting an existing printer to control the phenomenon. This experimental approach allowed me to explore new avenues of research,” explains Christophe. This project utilizes a printer, a simple sheet of tracing paper and water to create a transition from 2D to 3D.

Rustic Pencil Holder

So, if you didn't know, I'm on Pinterest.  I've got a board called "MAKE THIS".  It contains pins of things that I admire,  or may have found a tutorial, or give me a spark on making things. I'm currently updating my studio and with the help of the hubster and his drill press, I made this rustic pencil holder from my "MAKE THIS" board. The original tutorial can be found on Strawberry Chic's blog. I changed a few things - added more holes and did some staining of the wood. So much fun and such a beautiful utilitarian object for the studio. If you're on Pinterest give me a follow.  Most of my pins are paper and design related. Shocker, right? Happy Pinning!

Jar of Paper

Present & Correct is a much loved online store for me. If I could purchase everything in the shop, I do it. Like - NOW. They create limited editions of graphic stationary and desktop ephemera. Some of which is sourced and some items are created by Mark. He is half of the Present & Correct team. He is responsible for these geometric paper sculptures placed into bell jars. Aren't they fine? This is just one of three he has created. See all three of these paper beasts at Design Crush. Wouldn't one look great on my desk?

"Trash Me Lamp" from Reycled Egg Cartons

Each of these lamps are unique. Inspired by the life cycle of recycled materials, they are made from the pulp of four egg cartons that are blended and spread over a mold, then dried. The lamp is named "Trash Me". To that end, it can quickly be disassembled, reused or recycled once you've grown tired of it's utilitarian form. It was designed by New York-based, Victor Vetterlein.  He utilized bird seed to stabilize the base of the lamp, aluminum screws and even the electrical cord is made of recycled material. Get yours at the MoMa store. It's on sale right now.

Glow in the Dark Letterpress

Letterpress and glow in the dark combined? Take a look at this 4x6 letterpress print by 55 Hi's . It's printed on Neenah Paper's, Crane's LETTRA 220 Double Thick Cover. It sports a gorgeous glow in the dark "LOVE" with "LIVE" skillfully set within. Can't wait to order up mine. 55 Hi's is a one-man operation created by Ross Moody. Check out this One Minute with Ross interview for more on his shop creations and design thoughts.

LETTRA, a 100% cotton paper has the feel of fabric and the look of hand-made art paper. LETTRA gets its fluffy feel as a result of being unsized and uncalendered. This leaves the fibers relatively uncompacted, giving the sheet an extra bulky, even fluffy feeling that absorbs ink while remaining soft to the touch.

Retro Newsweek Mad Men Tribute Issue

Grab a copy of of Newsweek on magazine newstands now. In it you'll find 1960's ads and the whole issue has been retrofied to commemorate the premier of "Mad Men".  Here's a look at Domtar's ad for their popular "PaperBecause" campaign. “A lot has changed since the 1960s, but we wanted to use this retro theme to make a serious point,” said Lewis Fix, Domtar’s Vice-President of Sustainable Business and Brand Management. “There are several studies that prove there’s a value in reading on paper that helps people learn and communicate.”

There’s a real buzz going on. You can vote for the best ads at these three spots -  here and here and here.

Creating Portraits with Screws

Andrew Myers makes 3D portraits with screws. Each piece uses up to ten thousand screws and takes two to three days to drill the screws into varying heights. It starts with a sheet of plywood which he sketches on with pencil. After all the drilling is complete, the screw heads are painted. Visit Andrew's website for to look at more of his work.