Throwback Thursday: The Illustrations of Paul Thurlby

Paul Thurlby‘s vintage-esque alphabet illustrations have been making the rounds on a lot of design and type blogs lately, but I just can’t help throwing my hat into the ring. They’re just too d@mn awesome! I love the old-school look, the fact that some of them remind me of Alain Grée, and the fact that I want to make wallpaper out of them and slap them on my bedroom walls. Talk about a throwback: I can almost taste that deliciously intoxicating “old book smell” while I look at these babies.

So, here are some of his alphabet illustrations, mixed with some other projects that I found on HIS BLOG and on his FLICKR STREAM. Please visit both, now and often. Trust me: your creative inspiration demands it.

(Note: Unsurprisingly, I’m quite partial to the owl illustration, but I want them all.)

And now for some non-alphabet-related Thurlby awesomeness:

Serge Gainsbourg + Brigitte Bardot = smoky sex

Felt & Wire Shop!

From FeltAndWire.com

In honor of Felt & Wire’s launch of their new online shop, I thought I’d go ahead and post some images of their fantastic double-sided wrapping paper, containing plenty of great type-related images.

Enjoy, and go visit the Felt & Wire Shop!

Get updated on all things Felt & Wire by following them on Twitter HERE.

Jessica Hische’s Daily Drop Caps

{I am so in love with Jessica Hische, I felt compelled to copy this post from my other blog}

eautiful initials by typographer, designer, and illustrator Jessica Hische, who has a newly minted Daily Drop Caps project, whereby “each day (or at least each WORK day), a new hand-crafted decorative initial cap will be posted for your enjoyment and for the beautification of blog posts everywhere.” Jessica provides the HTML code to copy/paste directly into your blog posts to take advantage of her letterific creations!

Daily Drop Caps thus far, magnified:

I am in love with these, by the way. Which you could probably guess considering all of the illuminated initials I’ve used throughout my blog posts since my blog’s inception last year. I guess you could say that Jessica Hische is kind of my hero. Visit her blog HERE.

Peter Blake’s alphabet series…

Peter Blake’s alphabet series over at Paul Stolper:

W is for Words

and E is for Eggs

Thanks to the fabulous and newly formed Friends of Type for introducing me via Twitter. Everyone go over and check out Friends of Type immediately! But be prepared: much drooling will ensue.

The Power of Green

I’m not talking about green as a synonym for “environmentally conscious,” though that is lovely, too. I’m talking, very simply, about the color green. My brother-in-law’s 11-year-old niece (whom I have always affectionately referred to as my “niece-in-law”) suffered a near-drowning accident on August 1st. Four weeks later, she remains unconscious in critical condition at the local ICU of a children’s hospital. Her organs were stabilizing, but yesterday she suffered a horrible setback. We are now all terribly scared and thinking the strongest, most positive thoughts we can for her and the whole family.

My niece-in-law’s favorite color is green.

Coincidentally, green is my favorite color as well. It is just one of many many things that we share.

We also share books.

So, today, I am putting my faith in the power of green and the written word. The power to soothe, strengthen, enliven, and heal.

Here’s to you, D. I love you so much.

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A is for Alphabeasties!

A new children’s book from Werner Design Werks, Alphabeasties is an “alphabet book, where the animals are made of type – all types of type. From A to Z” (from Werner Design’s Flickr page).

I am in love with each and every one of the “beasties,” and I can’t wait until there are more in stock so I can buy one for my baby niece and nephew (never to early to set them on the appropriate typographic path)!

Enjoy:

Thanks to the always-fabulous Uppercase Gallery for clueing me in to the greatness!

Books. They’re like crack. This is my (partial) fix for today.

Thanks to design*sponge for clueing me into The Sugar Monster’s Flickr page, I just spent the better part of my morning obsessing over her “ffffound favorites” photostream. Those photos containing books, in particular.

In case you need a fix, here you go:

Wordshop Wednesday: Raquel Masri!

Thanks to my new BBFF (Best Blogger Friend Forever), Mme Perpetua, for introducing me to the lovely porcelain creations of Raquel Masri, which you really should check out if you know what’s good for you (and I think you do).

The following images are borrowed from Raquel’s Etsy shop:

My love for this "Majuscule" alphabet dish would not exist without Mme Perpetua's prompting. 🙂

Pen + Ink + Porcelain alphabet = Perfection

And, finally, the following tiles with the WWII message that has gained a noticeable increase in popularity in recent months:

I kind of resent this statement (“Keep calm and carry on.”). It sounds somewhat dismissive to me. Sort of like, if you’re calm about what’s going on right now (or during any wartime — which, to me, is a time of great unrest and injustice to some/all), then you’re not paying attention.

Maybe I’ll write more about it on my other blog.

But, for now, enjoy the ceramics. They’re cool regardless. 🙂