TypeFacebook

via creativepro and make
“TypeFacebook was a booth at the 2011 Bay Area Maker Faire that was organized by the People's Republic of Paper, a loose collective of designers, type casters, paper makers, printers, and book binders. The TypeFacebook concept was simple: Using moveable lead type, people were asked to respond to the prompt Facebook uses: "What's on your mind?" Each character of your answer was a piece of metal type, which you carefully picked from a job case. You set the characters in a job stick (also called a composing stick), making sure they faced the right way. The press owner and operator, Pam DeLuco, set three people's answers into one forme and mounted the forme on a small platen press. Each participant then laid paper that would become the book cover on the press, pulled and released the press's handle, and the printing process was done. If you made typos (as I did), you either had to live with them or go through the entire process again…”
Read the rest here, and see some wonderful photos there as well.

The golden age of comics color palette

via wizzywigcomics
“Once upon a time before Adobe Photoshop, the color palette of comic books was very limited. Instead of the millions of colors that you can blend and gradiate and add filters to, there was a time where you were limited to 64 colors on average (that number is liquid if you’re a nerd about the printing process. Ed Piskor located an ‘antique’ chart of the exact mixtures for the 64 colors which were used in comics and newspaper strips for decades and then created a PSD file to share so that people can use these hues digitally."
Find out more here; there is even a link to download a ZIP file of the old comics 64 color guide PSD.

Cheryl Sorg’s Thumbprint Portraits

via liquidtreat
“Meet Cheryl Sorg. The Cincinnati-born, San Diego-based artist specializes in work inspired by and made from books. In addition to elaborate sculptures and breathtaking text collages, she has carved out an artistic niche in thumbprint portraits. Sorg enlarges her subject's thumbprint and then recreates its unique pattern. The whorls, loops, and archs are made from text and imagery that have special meaning for the subject, such as snippets of favorite books, songs, films, or, say, weekly e-mail newsletters…”
Learn more about these, here.

The Octothorpe, Pt. 1

‘lb’ as an abbreviation for libra, or ‘pound in weight’. On the left, a handwritten ‘lb’ from the pen of Isaac Newton, and on the right, a printed ‘lb’ crossed by a bar denoting its status as an abbreviation.

via Shady Characters: The secret life of punctuation
“The ‘#’ symbol is something of a problem child. It seems at first to be quite innocuous, a jack-of-all-trades whose names and uses correspond in a pleasingly systematic manner: ‘#5’ is read ‘number five’, leading to the name ‘number sign’; in North America, ‘5#’ means ‘five pounds in weight’, giving ‘pound sign’, while the cross-hatching suggested by its shape leads to the commonly used British name of ‘hash sign’. Dig a little deeper, though, and this glyph reveals itself to be a frustratingly multifaceted beast…”
Read the rest here.

Mimi and Eunice: “Nina” Font now Free

“Several people have asked if they can use ‘the Mimi & Eunice font’ for translations. It happens I don’t use a font – I actually hand-letter these suckers, trying to be messy. Apparently I haven’t succeeded, because even my messy hand-lettering looks a lot like my cleaner lettering from the late 1990′s, which I do have a font of. It’s called ‘Nina,’ and I made it with Fontographer on my very first Mac – in fact it was my first Mac project ever. At long last I’m sharing it freely with everyone...”
Read the rest, and download the font here.

Nina Paley’s 4 Elements Quilt Series: Air/Nude

via ninfa paley's blog
“My latest quilt is Capital-A Art. Know why?
1. It’s white on white
2. It depicts a nude
3. It is on canvas stretchers
Ladies and gentlemen, I unveil the fourth and final installment of my 4 Elements quilt series: Air/Nude!”

 

Read the rest, and see more images of this and the other quilts in the series, here.

Mapping the Human Condition

via brainpickings
“…There’s something about cartography that lends itself to visualizing much more than land and geography. [Presented] are seven cartographic interpretations of the human condition, using the visual vocabulary of classical maps to interpret various facets of the human psyche — a genre that came of age during the late Renaissance, when it became known as “sentimental cartography.”
Read the rest here.

God is a concept by which we measure our pain

via quotes

The Music of Philip Glass, Visualized in Fractals

via brain pickings
“What fractals have to do with classical music and the secret of Einstein’s genius: I’m obsessed with synesthesia and the visual language of music, and love the work of Philip Glass, often considered the greatest living composer. Naturally, I’m head over heels with these spellbinding fractal visualizations by Russian artist Tatiana Plakhova, abstracting Glass’s music graphically….”
Read the rest here.

Wood Type of the Month: Balloon

via international printing museum
Read this month’s wood-type column to learn what typeface was created for use in comic strips…

Glagolitic script

via typonine

“The Glagolitic script didn’t evolve from any older orthographic system, it was created as a completely new and original script. At first the Glagolitic script was rounded in shape and in that form came to Croatian ground in 9th century. From 12th century Glagolic script exists only in Croatian area and it evolves to a new angular style which is called Croatian Glagolitic.

The basic shapes of Croatian Glagolitic are determined by a few basic strokes mostly horizontal and vertical. The architecture of characters is very symmetrical which enabled the creation of numerous two-, three-, even four letter ligatures. Croatian Glagolitic is consisted of 32 alphanumeric characters. The script got its name in the 19th century from a verb glagoljati — to talk. This script was used in holy books, poems, legends, novels and legal documents…”

Read the rest here. The Typonine Glagolitic font is free for download.

Llama Font

via swissmiss

“Avery Oldfield created Llamafont.com, a site that allows you to type a message in a font made of llamas and share it with your friends. Why? Because llamas make everything better...”

Makes me smile.

First Solar-Powered Engine

via retronaut

‘Eventually industry will no longer find in Europe the resources to satisfy its prodigious expansion. Coal will undoubtedly be used up. What will industry do then?’

— Augustin Bernard Mouchot (1825-1912), French inventor of the earliest solar-powered engine, converting solar energy into mechanical steam power

I love that the industry used in the image is a letterpress, which looks very much like the one we have at work.

Final Encore: Pick Your Song For The End Of The World

via npr’s All Songs Considered
“Let’s just say, for the sake of discussion, that Saturday marks the occasion when the righteous ascend to heaven and the wicked are sent to writhe miserably in the eternal damnation of hellfire. What single song do you plan to play when the end arrives?”
Join the discussion here. My song would be the Beatle’s “A Day in the Life”

Stand Up For Girls Big and Small

via moomah
“...My five-year-old daughter came home from school last month and said she no longer wanted to wear pink because a girl in her class had told her that she hated pink and that it was too girly. My first instinct was to have my daughter tell this budding fashionista what she could do with her critique… but luckily I’ve learned to ignore my first instincts. I told my daughter it was a shame that her classmate couldn’t enjoy all the wonderful colors out there in the world. Then we made a list of some wonderful pink things: puppy bellies, cotton candy, strawberry ice cream, piglets, roses, bubble gum…

Let’s teach our daughters to celebrate other women’s strength, success and happiness. Let’s not limit their options. Let’s teach them that when they make decisions in their lives, to make them based on what’s right for them. Our dreams should never be hampered by fear of what others may think.”
Read the entire post by Tracey Stewart here.

How to create a ligature

via thisiscolossal
“David Schwen demonstrates how typographic ligatures are created. It’s all about the details…”
Find out more here. This really makes me smile.

Create an ambigram-style logo

via ComputerArts
John Langdon reveals how to bring rotational symmetry to your work, here.

Douglas Coffin, Lettercarver

via typeculture
“While this film may not be about type, it abounds with beautiful letters. Douglas Coffin is one of a handful of people in the United States who carve letters in stone with the same methods that were used in the Roman Empire. Two thousand years later, the most compelling results are still achieved through the design and carving skills of a passionate artist-craftsman…”
Watch this, and other short videos, here.

QR Code Portrait

via cmybacon

“Scott Blake has been creating large scale “pixel portraits” using barcodes, and one of his most recent projects is a portrait of Amy Goodman using 2,304 QR Codes that link to 9 years of Democracy Now videos….”

See the image and read more about it here.

Memento Mori

via make
Cory Doctorow writes, “I’m often puzzled by how satisfying older technology is. What a treat it is to muscle around an ancient teletype, feeding it new-old paper-tape or rolls of industrial paper with the weight of a bygone era. What pleasure I take from the length of piano roll I’ve hung like a banner from a high place in every office I’ve had since 2000.

How much satisfaction I derive from the racing works of the 1965 mechanical watch I received as a Father’s Day present this year, audible in rare moments of ambient silence or when my hand strays near my ear, going tick-tick-tick-tick like the pattering heart of a pet mouse held loosely in my hand.

The standard explanation for the attractiveness of this old stuff is simply that They Made It Better In The Old Days. But this isn’t necessarily or even usually true. Some of my favorite old technologies are as poorly made as today’s throwaway products from China’s Pearl River Delta sweatshops.”
Read the rest here.

Mimi and Eunice: Negative

Makes me smile.

Photoshop Levels Landscapes

via cmybacon
The Photoshop levels landscapes by Jasper Elings makes me smile.
See them here.

The Rapture: May 21, 2011 6:00 p.m.

via The Bennington Vale Evening Transcript

“By now, everyone in Bennington Vale has seen the signs promising the end of days on May 21, 2011. The prophecy is being spread by Family Stations, a 53-year-old Christian radio network with over 60 outlets. Family Stations is so convinced that God is ready to receive His devoted flock this year that they have posted over 3,200 billboards worldwide with the message: ‘The Bible guarantees it!’ According to their prediction, the world will be progressively shaken apart by earthquakes, beginning at 6:00 p.m. EDT on May 21 and continuing through October 21. During this period of cataclysm, the Rapture will call all true believers back to Heaven. As a result, and with heavy heart, The Bennington Vale Evening Transcript is issuing final paychecks to some staff members and preparing to temporarily cease publication at the end of next week -- which is also the end of the world…”
Read the rest here.

via wikipedia
“Harold Egbert Camping has gained recent notoriety due to his prediction that the Christian Rapture will take place on May 21, 2011 and that the end of the world will take place five months later on October 21, 2011. Followers of Camping claim that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world's population) will be raptured. As for the remainder of the human population, Camping himself believes in annihilationism, which is the view that those who are not saved will simply cease to be conscious rather than spend eternity in Hell. Those who were "unsaved" and died prior to May 21 will not be affected by or experience the Rapture or the end of the world…”
Read the rest here.Or you can slog through his site here to learn more behind his prediction, or here and here or more links.

The Post Rapture Looting Facebook page [here] just makes me smile, as does the Post Rapture Pet Care Facebook page [here].

Classroom-Sized Camera Obscura

via neatorama
Cuban-born photographer Abelardo Morell demonstrated the concept of camera obscura to college students in 1988 by turning the entire classroom into a camera.
Read the rest here.

Creating a community of happiness

via felt and wire
“Eric Smith’s Live Now project began as a website collection of inspirational quotes illustrated by designers. It quickly turned into an international community project, which has now been released in book format. The Live Now book includes the contributed works of 65 designers and illustrators from around the world. Of the message that he hopes Live Now will inspire…”
Read the rest here, visit the Live Now community here.

Mimi and Eunice: Spectrum Disorders

Makes me smile.

Cartography and Photography

London, 2011 and 1572

via imprint
“My, how our perception of the world has changed in a few short centuries—a heartbeat in the universe’s chronology. The Atlantic has an intriguing slideshow comparing differences between cartographic representations of major cities in the 16th century, and modern Google Maps views. In many cases, the difference in underlying geography are striking…”
See the slideshow here.

On Interrobang, Pilcrow, Capitulum, and Wayzgoose

Some small random bits . . .

via Shady Characters The secret life of punctuation

Read an addendum to the Interrobang, here.

via H&FJ

“ . . . In any case, Pilcrow & Capitulum would make a fine name for a pub, and a grand place to host a typographers’ wayzgoose.”

Read the entire post here.

via worldwidewords

“The end of summer came early in old-time printing shops. By the third week in August candles were needed to light the final hours of the long working day. To mark this shift to winter working, it was usual for the master printer to give his journeymen a feast around St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August). This was the wayzgoose or way-goose…” Read more about this feast here and here.

Wayzgoose for Coventry printers at Stonebridge, c. 1907.

Summit at Shilow: Proving Grounds?

The Summit at Shilow

Over the years, we have rarely seen anyone in this development. Even taking a shortcut morning run through it, no one is around, yet there are cars in the driveway, lawns marked that they have been chemically treated for weeds, recycling bins at the curb side, and a few random lights in windows. No children are ever in the playground, and I have only seen one very quiet dog waiting by a door.

So...is this some military or government proving ground for secret testing? A search online turned this up about communities like this during the Cold War, “… Homes and commercial buildings were built to standards typical of American and European cities. Other structures included military fortifications (of types used by both NATO and the Warsaw Pact), civil defense, and ‘backyard’ shelters. In a typical test several buildings might be built using the same plan with different types of paint, landscaping, cleanliness of yards, wall angles, or distances from Ground Zero. Mannequins were placed in and around vehicles and buildings...”



Read the rest here about destruction and survivability testing at the Nevada National Security Site (N2S2), National Test Sites (NTS), and Proving Grounds. Perhaps this development just has some restrictive covenants for noise and being seen in public, in addition to the usual not hanging clothes on a clothesline.

Mimi and Eunice: Bees In Their Bonnets

Makes me smile.

Television ‘Deaths’

via wired
“Retro televisions sparked an interest for Berlin graphic designer Stephan Tillmans after he noticed the brightly colored picture breakdown when certain screens were switched off. After much experimentation with old televisions, Tillmans realized that every old television has its own ‘death,’ and, with enough patience, this could become an intriguing photographic subject…”
Read the rest here.

Mimi and Eunice: Posting Art Online

Makes me smile.

Image of the Day: Panorama of Philadelphia

This is another postcard that I purchased at a flea market,
postmarked June 25, 1909.

I love the sepia-toned ink, and find it quaint that this is referred to as a ‘postal.’ But who is ‘Brother,’ why did he run away with Fred, and why didn’t she expect him to return until September?

Graphic novelist and comic book creator Drew Weing to speak May 23

via Penn State University Libraries Newswire 
“Drew Weing, American comic book creator and Honor Book winner of the first Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year will speak at 7 p.m., Monday, May 23, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, on Penn State's University Park campus, with satellite video broadcasts throughout the state...”
For more information, or to watch a webcast, visit here and here.

Color Bar Mighty Wallet & Designer Buttons

“The Mighty Wallet™ is tear-resistant, water-resistant, expandable and recyclable. Printed with the bold color bar printer's marks this cyan, magenta, yellow and black design has a graphic presence that any designer or artist would appreciate…”
Read more about it here.

And not to be forgotten, the Graphic Designer Button 4 pack can be found here.

Image of the Day: Arboretum Fountain

Nike+ Paint With Your Feet

via swissmiss
“...Zach Lieberman and his team collaborated with Nike for which they wrote software that makes paintings from GPS data of your runs that Nike+ gets. The basic idea was that it will allow you to ‘paint with your feet.’ They trained a group of runners how to use it and how their running styles affect the system, then worked with them to design posters.”


Read more about it here.

Quote of the Day

The creative adult is the child who survived.

— U. LeGuin

Earworm of the Day: Helplessly Hoping

Find the lyrics here, listen to it here, and see a live version here. Heard on the radio on the commute to work, this makes me smile.

Image of the Day: Wisteria 6:38 a.m.

Orphan Annie & Hot Metal Type

via kickstarter
“Our Orphan Annie isn’t a cute redhead who sings. She’s a big, old cast-iron Monotype Sorts Caster who clicks more than sings, but isn’t doing either at the moment. We want to change that—and we need your help. Orphan Annie was part of the type foundry of the late C. Christopher Stern. Chris inspired many in the letterpress community with his brilliant printing, use of typography and enthusiasm for the craft of hot metal type casting. We’ve moved the foundry to Portland, Oregon and are now in the process of restoring it to working order. In early 2011, we’ll be opening the foundry as a working museum with public programs designed to preserve the craft of casting type, educate, and inspire creativity for a new generation of printers and thing-makers. The Orphan Annie is one of the foundry machines we want to revive.

Our Kickstarter project is to restore the Orphan Annie, record the process, and get her back in the business of casting metal type. We’ll use the money we raise to fund restoration materials and a public space for this industrial machine. We have volunteers to restore and make Orphan Annie sing again, but we also need to ensure she has a stable home and won’t be kicked out into the street. The typeface we’ll cast with her during the inaugural run will be Stern–the typeface created by the legendary typographer Jim Rimmer in honor of Chris Stern (and documented in the Kickstarter-funded film Making Faces). We'll be casting from Jim's original matrices, which he bequeathed to the Type Foundry in 2010. After that, we hope for many tomorrows filled with creative letterpress printing adventures with Orphan Annie and her metal type.”
Find out more here.