What a lazy blogger I've been. I suppose I've tried to be less lazy in real life (with little success).
A few weeks ago a friend of mine had a housewarming party. It wasn't particularly easy to come up with something nice to give to him; one one hand we'd been hinted that something edible would be nice, but on the other hand I also wanted to give something that'd last a bit longer. And this guy has a very elegant taste when it comes to décor, so I wanted to give something that'd look like "him".
The result: I purchased a glass jar, baked some white chocolate chip cookies and designed a sketchy blotchy poison bottle label. This was pretty much a sequel to the project I showed in the previous post. I used the same sticker paper too. The nasty thing, of course, is the fact that with the home-printed label (on a matte paper) the jar can only be washed very, very carefully on the inside. However, my friend got a spare label to stick wherever he wishes. :D
The poison label was also an efficient way to imply that everyone was eating cookies baked by me at their own risk. Cannot say they wouldn't have been properly warned!
There are a hundred things I could do, should do, or would do (if) and I'm not sure if I'm good at prioritizing my projects, but when I suddenly got a strong urge to make custom labels for my spice jars, I just... well, put everything else off. Okay not really, but at least I completed this project rather fast.
Or too fast. :> The final stages, i.e. printing, cutting and sticking the labels to the jars were carried out late in the evening, and the kitchen was quite dark too when I eyed the line of my new custom jars in my cupboard and happily closed the cupboard door. And now the daylight (and especially the photos) reveal the ugly truth: I cannot cut anything even if my life depended on it. Seriously, I've never been too handy with scissors, and even though most lines have been cut with a paper knife and a ruler, the results are not too good on average. But I blame it on my desk lamp which recently resigned office.
I would have wanted to create labels which seem very old and probably bear resemblance to poison bottles and such, preferably printed on a brown paper... But since my spice jars are genuine Ikea products and don't look old, antique, vintage or whatever, I decided to go for a less extreme style. As you can see, the background isn't pure white (but I've failed to cut off the extra white paper here and there!). I looked up some instructions on how to use all those spices on the internet and put a brief description in the labels simply because I need some guidance. I am not the worst cook, but experimenting with spices isn't my area of expertise. However, I also wanted to add some useless information as well, such as the Latin names and some labels even got a suggestion for medicinal uses. (And in case you understand Finnish, don't try to use those tips! :D They may be accurate (or pure superstition) but I wouldn't really try to pour parsley tea into my eyes.) I guess pirates need medicinal herbs though...
I drew more or less accurate pictures of most spices, yet spice blends got a picture of a random spice bottle and cardamom had to settle for a pastry since cardamom seeds look too strange and I've never used it for anything but baking.
And I should have taken all the photos from this angle so that you wouldn't have seen all that salt on my shelf. Oops, I've forgotten to clean it. :x Maybe one day I can replace those Ikea jars with something resembling old apothecary jars and bottles and create labels which seem more mysterious. However, I think those are better than the masking tape strips which marked the jars before. So long!
P.S: I was positively surprised to find matte sticker paper which was very affordable too. I bought a variety which hadn't been die-cut into smaller labels of a certain size because I want to be able to use it for versatile projects. However, the backing paper was a pain to remove!
P.P.S: What is your favorite spice and why? I love the scent of cinnamon, cardamom and curry. I know cinnamon isn't particularly healthy (at least not the cheap type) but if I buy vanilla ice cream, I eat it with cinnamon (doesn't happen too often though). I would like to use (mild) curry more, but I am still not too good at experimenting. Oh, and one of my favorites: lemon pepper! It goes with almost anything. :D (Not really, but I love it anyway.) I love the scent and flavor of lemons, though I don't really eat the actual fruits.
Oh well, I'm trying to move onto more positive things than the sorrow I described in my previous post. I have contradictory feelings on how I should actually spend the time while I'm alone – one voice in my head tells me to concentrate on grieving, while some voice of reason tells me I shouldn't do that. I feel like ignorance meant indifference, yet I know it won't do any good if I stop to mourn for too long.
I'll try to deal with as many events and topics which I've ignored lately in this blog post. A summary of what has happened during the past few weeks, then I can probably keep up with the things worth blogging about without stuffing them all into one single post.
First of all, All Hallows' Eve and All Saints' Day. I had the same idea for both parties I attended – an idea I had had for looong... Sugar skull make-up!
I don't have photos of my clothes, but they were quite simple. I wore the fishnet top which you can see in the photos, and a simple, short, strapless black sheath dress. Since I really liked this attire, I'll probably wear it again to some event, so maybe I'll also post it here eventually. If I just had the chance to take some photos with the daylight, but no, I'm in the office when the sun is up. I have some dresses to show off anyway!
Last night I went to see Stratovarius live. And I was surprised to see how "good" the photos taken with my cell phone can be. The concert was nice and long, a part of their tour to bid farewell to their drummer Jörg Michael. The headline of this post if a line from their song Darkest Hours. It's a good one, yet not my favourite, but I feel it suits my current mood.
Stratovarius – Darkest Hours
I also finished my Poe piece for the photo frames I bought recently. Inspired by The Raven, here's the result:
What else? Material needs I satisfied a while ago already, I guess. Many people know the Polish webstore Restyle, which sells funky gothic stuff cheap. I bought a few things too since the prices were so ridiculously low compared with what they would have been if I had bought them in Finland.
Firstly, two pieces of bone shaped hairpins. See the product in the store here. The item description confused me a lot, as well as the photos. In the first product image the surface of the bones seems smoooooth, doesn't it? As you can see in my photo, it isn't, they're quite roughly painted. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but I actually expected the bones to be made of plastic and only the pin parts being metal (as described) but they're fully metal (makes sense). The "Clips are automatic" part confused me even more, and my idea of "automatic" clips would be something like this, not this. I may be totally wrong, but I'd think that those pins which close by themselves with their spring are automatic while those which you have to snap close are not. I find the clip type impractical and was somewhat disappointed with it.
Then I got a nice brooch with a rib-cage. I could also attach a chain to it to turn it into a necklace, but I kinda like it as a brooch too.
And more rib-cages! These are very, very heavy, to the point of stretching the earlobe downwards with their weight. They are pretty, yes, but I think the weight they put on ears has slightly unaesthetic effects. But I guess I'll live with it.
I also got a Star Gazer lipstick in the shade of dark berry, but haven't worn it much yet. I don't wear lipstick daily, I'm not used to it. A bit newer purchase is a pair of Tamaris boots which escaped my hands once, but with some insane luck, I found my size again (or to be precise, I might have survived with a size smaller, but they didn't have that size). Although their quality is only satisfactory, they're pretty and COMFORTABLE. I've never worn high heels which feel so good even after hours of standing! I didn't have any problems standing through the Strato concert with those.
I guess that could be it for now. I'm getting hungry and could concentrate on something else too. Either way, I guess I have something interesting coming up sooner or later. So long!
Exhausted, exhausted, exhausted...
I turned in the written part of my thesis yesterday, but I haven't got any response whether it was alright (on the surface only, of course). Oh, but the hell's not over, I still have to finish my designs and wish for my supervisor to $¤%#*@ reply to my messages.
Today I was at work at first, then I went to set up our exhibition, and thus, kept going for over twelve hours straight. Now I'm tired, but well, work tomorrow again. I was supposed to go vote today, but it took me too long with the exhibition...
Let's peek at what I've been working on?
Believe it or not, I actually went through the trouble to edit my blog code to remove the border from that image. Or it doesn't matter whether or not you believe it – I barely do. It took me a while, I guess I'm too tired to think – it's not that I didn't know how to, it's a part of my job after all...
I've been listening to Street of Dreams ever since I got home, so maybe for an hour now. Both Rainbow and Blackmore's Night versions... And then I keep dreaming. Right now I'm dreaming of a vacation, a real vacation. I want to get abroad... Maybe to Berlin. I will truly consider going if I ever have some free time...
It's been an exhausting spring, and it's not over yet... But if you're going through hell, keep going.
So I joined the skeleton gang and purchased a pair of Kreepsville skeleton hand hair pins. Ha! I don't care much if they're somewhat popular among certain scenes at the moment – however, they're bizarre and piratey enough to my taste.
Since those were not the only thing I purchased at the same time, I shall probably continue about this later...Right now I'm either too busy or too lazy to take many photos, especially any good ones. And the following picture, which shows off the pins though, also demonstrates why I shouldn't be photographing random items...
So yeah, I look like an exhausted graphic designer and funnily enough, that's basically what I am at the moment. I suggest you don't ask what I'm drawing there, although I can say it's related to my thesis work. :D (It may not seem credible, and I'm afraid it won't seem credible to the examiner either.)
Although I didn't create this blog for personal ranting, I feel like stating that... uh, I'm so very exhausted. And have been for a while too. My thesis work is making me wither. It's been busy at work too – I'd say it's just good, but this is the worst time for me now. On Wednesday I was at work for eleven hours! (And I have to point out it was a client who'd screwed up things...) It may be almost normal for some people – I guess my father's weekend shifts are always at least that long. But probably not equally hectic all along. The thesis work stress is making me particularly vulnerable to any other kind of stress, which I could endure rather well otherwise.
Enough with that. Who is familiar with the Funnybones I mentioned in the headline? It's an awesome cartoon! I used to love it when I was a kid! The opening theme is epic! :D That'd be something all goth parents should make their children watch.
Although I'm busy and almost screwed, I'm going to an 80's party tomorrow. It is, after all, my favourite event in the city, and I guess I need and probably deserve a few hours off this stress. It'd be easier to enjoy it if the worst stress was already over, but well... It cannot be helped now. Though, if everything goes well, I may have something nice to look forward to after most of the deadlines... And finally, one good and danceable song from the 80's – something that I'd wish to hear at the party! Divine – You think you're a man!
I've been working on my thesis for the whole day and I would have loved to relieve my stress with my favourite pastime, roleplaying, but obviously I won't... P&P or table RPGs would be perfect, but that won't do without a lot of planning – besides, I don't have company for such at the moment (haven't had for a long time). Instead, I roleplay in mmorpgs and forums, but right now one mmorpg is patching, another one is suffering from server failures and my rpg forum is down too!
So basically, I was pretty much forced to write this blog entry. I had been planning it for a while now anyway.
A few years ago I discovered a great game artist called Mateusz Skutnik. Now I've played quite a few of his point&click (and quite room escape like games), or such games in which he's been one of the developers. Room escape games are not really targeted for people who lack patience – like me, but Skutnik's games are fascinating.
Submachine
The Submachine series comprises several chapters, probably nearly a dozen? Point&click games, like already stated, pretty complex puzzles, nice drawings and such audio tracks that create a nice atmosphere. However, this series is not my favourite one. The picture is from Submachine: 32 chambers, which can be found behind the link, as well as the other chapters.
Daymare Town Daymare Town is a very interesting game because it's black-and-white. It's an interesting solution for any kind of graphics that are supposed to be used. Basically, complex user interfaces rarely work well without highlighting color. However, since Daymare Town is a game, creating it in black-and-white is a design solution, not a flaw! (And to be precise, it's not white but beige.) Anyone with an interest in bizarre things and creatures and nightmarish things in broad daylight should try this one! The image is from the first chapter, which you can play here.
Covert Front
Covert Front is my Skutnik favourite! It's also the first one I ever played: back then, roughly two years ago, when only two chapters of the game had been released so far, I took a game design course and wrote an analysis of this game with two friends. Anyway – still point&click with a strong room escape feeling, and with an interesting plot! You're a secret agent / spy investigating intriguing conspiracy issues in the early 20th century Europe (which is not in-keeping with actual reality). Audiovisually very fascinating, exciting and what not! I truly suggest trying! The best thing for people like me is the fact that most solutions make at least a little sense – whereas I've played such room escape games in which the things that need to be done in order to solve the puzzles are totally random and ridiculous. So far Covert Front comprises three episodes – still looking forward to the fourth and last one! Oh, and the episodes contain nice cut-scene animations. A very interesting story! This image is from the first episode, All quiet on the covert front, which is also available behind the link.
Fog Fall
Although this game doesn't have Skutnik's art, but Maciej Pałka's, the style is somewhat similar and very nice! And I like this one a lot too, the settings are epic, like the name of the game probably implies... Two very interesting episodes. Start with the first one here.
However, I've already played all those... I haven't completed the third episode of Daymare Town, but to be honest, I lack patience. :D Perhaps I'll just keep dreaming of getting back to roleplaying (won't happen tonight) or... Well... go to bed? So that I can spend yet another interesting thesis day tomorrow. Or no, it's past midnight – today. So long!
I seem to have got a few new readers! *gasp* Welcome aboard.
I got (or stole?) the idea to write sort of... the alphabet of my life? I guess it also works as some sort of an introduction of what my life is like, considering that I haven't yet written enough to let possible readers in on all aspects of my life. Maybe rather many of the things mentioned here will be covered better in the future. And well, every now and then it was difficult to come up with good things for each letter, but... Oh well. A long blog entry will follow.
Animations
I have always loved watching animations. I prefer 2D to 3D, but basically pretty much anything goes or at least awakens my interest. And why did I say "watching animations"? Because I'm not too fond of making them. Damnit, they require patience which I don't have! I've made a few, and although I lack the patience, I've found myself taking one optional course in traditional animation at school... And even better, I've found myself making an animation for a commission! It was an insane task, but turned out nicely enough (I didn't make it alone though, but with a friend) and thanks to that project, I got to see a circus show for the first time in my life. Oh well, my favourite animations comprise such titles as Howl's Moving Castle, Mulan, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Thumbelina, Waltz with Bashir...
Blackmore's Night
I must immediately point out that I haven't lifted up every favourite artist of mine here in this alphabet listing, but only a few ones (maybe when the letters haven't meant anything else to me). Blackmore's Night represents such epic, fabulous, fairytale-like aesthetics that I like in music. Their music takes me far away – to other countries or worlds and to centuries past, anywhere. I particularly like to listen to them when I'm roleplaying. Blackmore's Night – Under A Violet Moon [Spotify]
Computers & cameras
I'm a geek to some degree. And proud of it! Basically, I love my computer(s), my screens and each efficient component I have. I'm geek enough not to buy anything but custom-made computers, desktops of course. And I could barely live without two screens, although I have to settle for one at work. I love my Adobe software, and my Wacom tablet, and just... the good stuff I have! And I had to include cameras in the letter C because P for photography was already taken by other things, and somehow my computers and cameras go well together. I could say I have several cameras, but I haven't used my compact film cameras for years, so they don't count. But I have two digital cameras, a compact and a SLR one. Both by Canon! Umm... maybe I'll take photos of my computer later, though I'm not sure if it is that interesting...
Dancing
I haven't gone in for dancing since before teenage, when I used to go in for some basic disco dance for a few years. And I don't have ambitions when it comes to dancing – it's just what I enjoy when I'm partying. I don't need alcohol as much as I need a good dancefloor and some good music - preferably 80's synthpop or something they play at goth clubs.
Edgar Allan Poe
He'd be my favourite author. I've been a fan since I was fourteen. I like both his poems and short stories. The Raven is simply brilliant!
Fairyland
Hmm, how should I explain this concept... Well, sure I would like to live in a fairyland, but basically what I mean is creating an artificial fairyland – maybe this is the madness I'm talking about in my blog description. Seeing bizarre things all around you and trying to make your life even more senseless.
Graphic design
Love, hatred and frustration. A great interest, and a great source of blood, sweat and tears. Basically what I've been studying for years and what I do for a living.
Hakuei
He is a Japanese singer, songwriter and a bit of this and that from a model to an actor and from a producer to a comic artist. First and foremost a singer after all. The vocalist of my favourite bands Penicillin and Machine. His music and other projects have been a great source of inspiration for me for years.
Individualism
After years and years spent suffering from an identity crisis at teenage, I've finally found the real me, whom I consider strongly individual and I'm rather proud of that. I don't need to belong to any "group" or "scene" in order to be accepted and have friends. I tend to say that I'm not what I look like and I don't look like what I am.
Part of the whole individualism thing is having a somewhat unique name. I only have one first name, and as far as I know, I only share the same name with three other people. I don't know their last names, but if I google with my name, I can only get search results that really do point at me. It took me long to learn to appreciate that, I never liked being called with my real name. I've never considered my real name embarrassing, stupid or too old-fashioned, but back then when I didn't like it I just thought it was too long. Nowadays the most irritating aspect is the fact that barely anyone can spell it correctly. And now, that'd be the so-called individual me..:
Japan
I guess Japan gets to be mentioned here, because it was a great interest for me for several years. It still is, but I don't listen to Japanese music, watch anime, read manga or do anything like that as much as I did. I haven't even had the time to continue studying Japanese on my own. However, the culture, both old and modern, fascinate me, and I still do want to visit the country!
Knowledge?
A tough letter too. I'm not obsessed with knowledge and I don't even keep gathering it like mad. However, sometimes it's nice to know a bit about the things going on around you. I could also have chosen "kissing" or something, but... No.
Ludwig Revolution
One of my favourite manga series, basically revamping old fairytales. By Kaori Yuki, a very, very talented manga-ka! I've also heard that Hakuei was a source of inspiration behind the character Ludwig!
Music
Ooh yeah. (=a song by one of my favourite bands, Machine) Music. It's worth a letter although I'm not obsessed with music. I don't listen to music everywhere – not even always at home. I do not have an mp3 player or iPod or anything like that. I just carry my headphones to work and listen to Spotify there if I bother, for example, if I have some long-term task to concentrate on. Either way, various things from 80's synthpop to sort of battle metal excite me and keep me going!
October
I was born on October 13th and I think there's something suitably epic about the date. After all, every now and then my birthday is on Friday the 13th and October is a nice autumn month.
Parapsychology, Pirates
Now this letter was a tough one! Pirates, parapsychology... Oh, and Penicillin, but it was mentioned with Hakuei. I've already written a long blog entry about my love of pirates. I shall, eventually, write about parapsychology as well. I've been interested in ghostly incidents since I was fourteen. I'm somewhat sceptic – not in such a way that I'd question the stories I read/hear, but I do believe most poorly-documented ghost stories are not paranormal at all. However, I do not like the word "paranormal" – I'd rather believe ghosts are a totally natural phenomenon, only such that scientist haven't yet been able to explain.
Quality
I prefer everything of high-quality. Especially when it comes to expensive things such as computers, cameras or other electronics... Not that it wouldn't be nice to have clothes and accessories of high quality as well. I'd rather pay for quality than go for a very good bargain.
Roleplaying
Now this is a hobby I've been obsessed with since I was fourteen. Creating stories and sort of living them through is just... amazing. Maybe I'm hooked. I spend a lot of time thinking about RP-related issues, from plotting to well... anything. Reminiscing awesome RP scenes. However, at the moment I only go in for rping in a MMORPG world.
Style
I couldn't possibly mention all the interesting things separately and although I'm currently a bit obsessed with steampunk, I didn't want to reserve S merely for that. I may not follow trends, but I really do like clothes and accessories and several things contribute to my own style. Steampunk, pirates, goths, Japanese youth fashion, comics, times past... Oh, and graphic design.
Typography
I guess it's enough to say that I'm a typography nazi.
Ultravox and other 80's synthpop bands
Though Ultravox's Hymn is an awesome song! The video can be a bit confusing.
Vegetarianism
I've been a pescovegetarian since I was thirteen. Now it's a self-evident lifestyle for me. I feel healthy, light, good... My diet produces less greenhouse gases and I don't support intensive production of red meat or chicken. However, I don't preach. I accept other people's diets as well as long as I don't need to hear the old lame joke "I've made a deal with the bunny – I won't eat its food and it won't eat mine".
Weekends
At the moment I work at the normal office hours, thus, weekends are the time when I can sleep – and even better, stay up until early morning.
Xmas
...okay this was a tough letter, but at least I can honestly say that I enjoy the magic of Christmas spirit.
Yami no Matsuei
One of my favourite anime and manga series. One of the few manga series that I actually have purchased.
Z-z-Z sleeping
Self-explanatory! Though I like sleeping in the morning, not going to bed early...
A while ago a friend and I ordered some books from Amazon, and a while I go I fetched them from the post office. And this is what I got:
Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. I'd been thinking of buying it for such a long time, but I'd never bothered to order it all alone. I'd been waiting for a time when I'd have something else to purchase too. I guess it's a must for me to own, because:
Through the Looking Glass is relatively strange to me still, I've never had chances to familiarize myself with it. Reading it at the moment.
I don't know why exactly I got the urge to buy Tim Burton's poems. Might be all the movies I've watched? Anyway, the book is awesome. I'm very picky when it comes to poetry. I want poems to really have some ingenious language, not necessarily rhymes, but something. I easily regard modern poetry as wannabe arty, and thus, rarely like it. However, Burton's poetic language was brilliant, and the stories were hilarious. I guess I could relate to Voodoo Girl:
But she knows she has a curse on her,
a curse she cannot win,
For if someone gets
too close to her,
the pins stick farther in.
Last but not least, I also bought something that's supposed to be useful.
AdamsMorioka & Terry Stone's Color Design Workbook, which is supposed to be of some help in my thesis work. I hope it'll also be... Although the whole thesis work frustrates the hell out of me. I realized I rather read fairytales than anything that'd help me to graduate.
I guess this is it for now, so long!
♫ Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Original Soundtrack –
I don't think now is the best time
I truly feel like writing about my love of pirates.
Sure my "feelings" are highly romanticized, but so are the legends and stories, I guess. :D But I'm not denying it, I am a romanticist.
I tend to say that if I cannot maintain myself as a graphic designer, I will become a pirate. At the moment I am, however, doing design for a living... Nevertheless, I'm always prepared to board.
I live in a piratey hole, I guess. That photo looks awkward, but yes, it's my front door. It looks like a warehouse door, I know. That why those friends who've never been here before have trouble finding the right door. Or not anymore, since I can tell them to look for the Jolly Roger. However, I pity every courier who has to come knocking on my door...
I have to thank my neighbourhood's kids for giving me the idea to make such a flag. Thanks to them, it suddenly felt like an obvious idea – though I wonder why I didn't come up with that earlier, given that I had spent years wondering how to block that window (it had a blank white curtain for three years) and also given that I've liked pirates for long...
And how did they do that? One afternoon, two small boys knocked on my door. I went to open, and they totally froze, not saying anything for a while, until the other one asked; "do you have a ring?" I was very, very dumbfounded, not understanding what on earth they were actually after. I tried to ask though, but they figured I couldn't answer their question in a satisfactory way, so they left without telling me what was going on. After that, they came to spy on me through my open window. Now I call them treasure hunters.
Despite my interest, I hadn't seen Pirates of the Caribbean movies until this week. Now I watched all of them, and now I feel all piratey. Yarr.
The movies were all entertaining and nice. However, such piratey language is occasionally a bit difficult to follow... :/ Audiovisually stunning, too. That's why I'm listening to the soundtrack now, and oh, the boats – what they looked like! And everything else too, but I was particularly fascinated by the Flying Dutchman. Oh so epic...
I feel like drawing piratey images again...
Pirates sure have made my life epic in other ways too. Roughly a year ago, a friend had a housewarming-costume-party, and I decided to dress up as a pirate. With my souvenir sword, my piratey pants from Baby, the stars shine bright brand's collection Alice and the Pirates... and a pirate map of the city, tied to a bottle of rum as a housewarming gift, I sailed there.
That map could have turned out much better, but I made it completely with Photoshop, thus, the lines are not nice, lively and delicate. I also made it quickly. (The "real" places would be these: Ocean of Näsi = Näsijärvi, Gulf of Dead Women = Naistenlahti, Unholy Sea = Pyhäjärvi, Mountains of the Cursed Bishop = Pispalanharju.)
However, I had fun while working on that map, and I thought, probably even told a friend, how awesome it would be to get to make some pirate illustrations as a real commission.
A month passed, and I was contacted by one editor of a newspaper in which I had worked during a few summers. She asked if I could make an illustration for a newspaper article dealing with pirates. The deadline was a bit tough – I got the commission on one Wednesday midday, while I was at work, and the illustration was to be in their hands by Friday morning. However, I couldn't possibly say no. I spent two evenings, after days at work, drawing like a madman, but I had great fun, and I delivered the illustration on time. (And I slept quite a little.)
But like I said, I cannot say no to a commission of my dreams. Unfortunately, for some copyright reasons, I'm only showing the image like that... As the article dealt with modern piracy, swords have been replaced with assault rifles and sailing ships with, eh, tankers? I don't know about these marine things much, and despite my love of pirates, I'm not particularly much in love with seas or ships.
An acquaintance said my life resembles a movie because it was so absurd how I got that commission.
By the way, if the skulls in the illustration and in my curtain seem somehow similar, well, I can say, they are – I used the illustration sketch when I was painting that fabric.
Somehow my interest in steampunk goes well with piracy. Both give me a lot of creative ideas, for designs, drawings, interior, clothes...
And somehow, pirates never fail to fascinate me. :D In 2008, my absolute favourite group in the Eurovision Song Contest was – surprisingly – a band of pirates!
Pirates can also seem credible in bright colors. I've never seen anything else but this video of this children's TV show:
I wonder if I've now said everything I've got to say about pirates – for now, I'm rather sure this won't be over. Oh but no, I almost forgot, I dressed up as one on Halloween too. Or to be precise, on All Saints' Day, when a friend had a costume party. That time I drew a map by hand, but unfortunately, I have no evidence of it anymore as I gave it to the party hostess. But it turned out much better, being hand-made. I am aware that Facebook is available in pirate English as well, but I don't use it, don't know why... Maybe I truly should? So long – and until the next time – yarr! Follow my blog with Bloglovin'
Vintage apothecary labels! I found those rather brilliant. There's something very fancy about vintage graphic design, and I could have created something similar by myself, but well... Would have I done that? Hardly. Although I pretty much am a graphic designer, I'm either too busy or lazy to do something like that. So, how perfect that someone did it for me.
I didn't have more than one spare glass jar to decorate, and it probably looks a bit out of place all alone, but I guess it looks better than an empty glass jar would, holding my stationery.
Click here to view the original post! Ms. Holden had also made some awesome towels with those labels, but I don't think it'd turn out good if I tried... I'm not exactly friends with sewing needles.
(I am also aware that the label I put on the jar should be in a bottle instead. Too bad I didn't have any!)
Now that I'm talking about graphic design... I could tell a funny occurrence I had at work yesterday. Our client wanted to have a diploma template made – which I didn't find particularly difficult – but nevertheless, I was given the client's sample of a diploma, which had obviously been looked up using the Google image search. Well, nothing special about its looks – an official diploma written in English and such... Then I actually read the text, and much to my own amusement, found out the diploma was obviously the only one ever awarded by an accredited American university in parapsychology. I also found it slightly ironic that our client's field is somewhat related to rescue / first aid.
So long!
"I don't suffer from insanity – I enjoy every minute of it."
Quicksilver Sanity is a lifestyle blog dealing with the joys of being creative and enjoying others' creativity. A bit o' this and that, and madness – lots of madness.
• Art • Décor • Design • Fashion • Games • Literature • Movies • Music • Partying • Style •
I'm a graphic designer and a casual blogger. I cannot help but wonder if madness is the sublimity of the intelligence, and I would rather be a pirate than join the navy.
