Trophy Wife

It must be nearly spring as I went outside last night, to a gig - imagine that! Me, outside, at a gig! I went to see a band called Trophy Wife at The Cellar in Oxford. The band are from Oxford, and I learnt last night are signed to Moshi Moshi - which is pretty good going! Their headline set was short and sweet as they only have a few songs at the moment, but what they have is incredibly well put together, and definitely worth a listen. They are currently touring to promote their new single 'The Quiet Earth', so if you get chance go and see them live.

Tea Towels, Life, and the Oxford Comma

Firstly, hello! It's been a while, but for good reason. I'm hoping to revive the blog - but before I do, I thought I should probably explain my absence a little bit. As you might already know, my other half and I own a business called ToDryFor.com selling tea towels with design by some of the best illustrators / animators / graphic designers around. We were very quickly running out of space, so went on the hunt for business premises. We found an awesome little shop space not far from where we live, which we managed to get! The last 4/5 months has been spent setting it up and getting used to the life of shop owners. This has not left much time for anything else!

We called the shop Comma because Sally is a grammar geek, and we filled it with wonderous objects - mostly made by the individual artists that we were already working with. Our sign (see photo above) was painted by the incredibly talented Ben Javens, and we have a wall mural in the shop by the one and only Gemma Correll! It's such an amazing place to come to work every day. Here are some pics...

Space - But Not As We Know It

So this is a picture heavy post, but so worth it! I was going through some old papers the other day, and I discovered this gem from my childhood (mixed in with old swimming certificates and school reports). It's an incredible book for children called 'Speeding Into Space'. It was first published in 1954 (my version's from 1962) by ISOTYPE, with words and awesome illustrations by Marie Neurath. It is visually amazing, but also a moment captured in time - 'Some astronomers believe visitors may also find green plants growing on Mars' - amazing! Check out some pictures of the book below...

Bird Land - The Land Of Birds

We left the house! That's right, we went outside. To Bourton-on-the-Water last Saturday to be precise. It's a lovely village in the Cotswolds with all the charm (and many ice cream shops) that keeps the tourists coming back for more. This was our second visit, after stumbling across it a couple of years ago on a random drive around. The pièce de résistance of the village (in my opinion) is Birdland - a slightly tired looking festival of our feathered friends. Their trump card though is the king penguins, which looked so majestic in the sunshine. Not to be missed though is the minor bird (a new addition that keeps shouting 'morning!!') and the 'big as a man's leg' trout. If that can't hold your attention - visit the model village to see a mini model version of the village (no surprises there then) that also contains the 9th wonder of the world (their claim) - a model village of the model village in the model village.

Eye Candy

What a beauty I hear you say? Best looking confectionery you ever saw? That's right my friends. This is a potato candy (given as an after dinner treat by Fliss), made by See's Candy of America in honour of St Patrick's Day. I know that was about a month ago, but I'm catching up. It looks like a chocolate scotch egg, that's been adorned with some rice crispies to make it look that bit more authentic/potato like. It's possibly the sweetest thing I have ever tasted (and I'm from Blackpool so I've eaten a lot of rock in my time), and the ingredients read like a who's who of chemical discovery. I urge you to fly to America now just to snuffle down one of these...

Out of hibernation!

All the Easter chocolate has gone, the garden is coming back to life and as the days get lighter I'm finding a bit more time to do some fun stuff. I have to be honest... I'm finding that working for yourself doesn't really afford much time for non-work related fun stuff. Not that I'm complaining mind. It's the best thing I've ever done! Anyways... keep your peepers open for new posts coming your way!

Rabbit While You Can

Something shiny with cute animals and bright colours? I'm there! I stumbled across the Bandito Design Co. (a design collective from Columbus Ohio) this afternoon while catching up on Notcot. I'm really loving the work of Ryan Brinkerhoff - super bold images that tend to leave a lasting impression on your retinas. The above 18" x 22" print (entitled Bunny Farts - read the inscription and you will see why) is only a bargainous $10 in the sale - real art for only $10! It gets even better than that though... For a limited time only they are giving away free prints with every purchase! I'm starting to sound like one of those people on TV who sell home gyms. This art really will give you a six pack!