An ode to Letraset

If you worked with graphic design, architecture or layout back in ye olde analog days, when we kept dinosaurs for pets, and only had one TV channel (in Denmark!) - you will  remember Letraset.

You will have spent hours rubbing away with the stick or the pencil, or you will have been shading architectural drawings by the yard, with the tiny little dots or lines, till your eyes hurt!
And deep in yourself, you will remember the grinding frustration of having miscounted the 'f's, or
whatever, on your sheet, trying to fix it somehow, just before some project had to be handed in to
the printshop. Grrr.

Then everybody got themselves a Mac or a PC, and bye bye to Letraset - hello to Adobe.

But of course, Letraset was also really mmmmmm. For anyone in love with typeface, that is.
Oooh, those crisp sheets of perfection. The blackness of the black. And the smooth silkiness of the
surface of the applied lettering (unless you had f***ed it up, and it was all wrinkly).

My friend and former colleague, Christine Cato, posted this idea on Facebook the other day.

The thing is, nobody could bring themselves to actually throw the Letraset away (it was just madly
expensive, remember?), so in forgotten drawers of design companies and architectural firms all over
the world, it lingers somewhere. Under some old pile of something.

Christine found it and she made this beautiful advent candle! Isn't it pretty?

Photo: Christine Cato

Of course I went to my own bottom drawer, and I actually found a few old dusty sheets - now you
go look for yourself! Unfortunately I found very few numerals, but I am contemplating some kind of 1+2+3+4 sundays-in-advent-type candle. I will post it, if I manage not to make a total mess of it.

24 Little houses by Mr. Printables

This morning I browsed my way past this adorable advent calendar, at a spot I have never seen before:
http://www.mrprintables.com - and this page looks interesting!

So I guess, if you have nothing much to do today, this dashing skyline could be on your mantelpiece
by sunset. You can read all about it, and download all the templates right here.

115 Stars

I have a lot on my desk right now, and it is crazy crazy.
But I am slowly working my way through the piles of serious business, in order to find time to
idle around with macramé string and pretty paper patterns. And that sort of thing, you know....

However, I want to show you something I stumbled upon yesterday.

I regularly read the blog Carpe Item, written by the lovely faroese Svanna Joensen. 
She often posts interesting and beautiful things, and I particularly enjoy when she writes
about the Faroe Islands, a place I dream of visiting some day.

The other day, she linked to this fantastic project (in Switzerland), and I just have to show you!
I never heard of it, and perhaps you didn't either?

As an art project, it really has everything, if you ask me; an interesting idea - an idea both 
breathtakingly simple, beautiful and somewhat nerdy, demanding meticulous preparation. 
Also, it involves people, and it is interesting to think about the hours the artist must have put into 
explaining his idea, both aesthetically and practically, to a whole lot of people.

Last, but not least, this work will leave something behind, with so many people, even though it is
essentially ephemeral - the neighbours in that building will talk about it for the rest of their lives.
And, just think about that: they will talk with each other! 

But enough talk from me:
Here is Andreas Gysins '115 stars' project from 2002. The video is about 16 minutes long,
please enjoy it in all its lenght, and read the notes.

Go to the video om Vimeo - click here

Desk: Getty TIME / LIFE Archives
115 Stars: copyright Andreas Gysin

Hello again - and why you need to be a little bit patient

Wow, all of a sudden, almost a year rushed by - and since the last part of it has been busy and a bit
crazy in ways I shall not bore you with, I had sort of decided to skip blogging this December.

But. But. BUT....!

Maybe, instead, I'll come just right out and tell you that I cannot possibly post a daily DIY download,
and then see how it goes.

And what if I tell you, that there will be a really nice thing to download and make every sunday,
and just maybe a few more, in between...? Will it be christmas, you think?

And I might tell you, now that I´m at it, that I will put some of the designs from last year up for
download again. Absolutely.

But now I really must dash, I need to go clean my andirons.
(........and maybe there will be a film clue in all of my blog posts this year?)