19th-Century Calligraphy With a Modern Twist

I love these framed calligraphy pieces from Carlson and Stevenson with such fervor. It's a treat to see the multi-colored inks, and the whimsmical quality of the fonts calls to mind the present-day craze for hand-lettering in graphic design (don't believe me? Check out Etsy).





For the calligraphy-obsessed, Piper Publishing offers a re-issue of the 1881 Real Pen Work Self-Instructor in Penmanship. Seeing the samples, I'm astonished at how our forebears incorporated so much artisanship into their daily lives through the simple act of writing.

Dali? Mais oui!

I just finished restoring the mechanical bank that my grandfather made for me (MANY) years ago, when I was ten.



My aim was to make it look like a turn-of-the-century gent, but methinks he looks more than a little like Salvador Dali, no?



Swallow the coin and . . . voila!



Grandpa’s long gone, but I still cherish all the handcrafts he made for us.