Thriftfinds Thursdays - Vintage Lamy fountain pens

Last weekend we had a visit to the ijhallen again. It's been a while since we've been there and it was fun to browse the stalls in the wonderful shunshine. Next to some fun clothing (you can score really fun clothes for a very cheap price) I actually found a few really cool and older Lamy fountain pens! even ones I have not seen before.

From left to right, Lamy Studio Pink (from West Germany), Lamy 27 Black with gold nib, Lamy Studio Musterd Yellow, Lamy Ratio with gold nib.

I am glad I invested in a sonic cleaner as these pens were really incrusted with ink. The gunk got cleaned right off the nibs! 

Close up of the older Lamy Studio:

You can see the inscription on the cap. It has a safari like cap and sectionand a brushed stainless steel body. Very interesting design. Another interesting fact; it takes international ink cartridges instead of propiatary Lamy ones. I have never seen these before and it's hard to find anything on the web about it... so if anyone has any info on these pens, please share :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Namaste

An hommage to Lily Chilvers from the Octopode Factory

This past monday sad news was announced; Lily Chilvers, the talented girl behind the Octopode Factory, passed away from a battle with cancer. She was so young and life can be so unfair. My deepest sympathies goes out to the family, Mandy and Amber. The world lost a wonderful talent person. We share this great loss with you.

When I heard the news of Lily's condition about 6 weeks ago I made the art pieces below using her rose flower rubberstamp.

Like so many others I was hoping/praying for her to battle this through... That's why I put hope in the middle of the rose. And now I hope she can rest in peace as she is no longer in pain. Thank you Lily for giving us a peek into your imagination. I cherish all the work you've done and it inspired me like so many others to adapt your creations into my own work. Sharing things I made with few of my fave images she created:

Dorothy and the flower rubber stamp

Audrey Hepburn digi Stamp

Steampunk Girl stamp

Mad hatter and Alice stamp

and these themed Oz and Alice mailboxes I still use every day

Thank you for your inspiration Lily. 

You will be missed and always be cherished.

namaste

Shopping Highlight: Posthumus in Amsterdam

To say that this is a dangerous place for a rubberstamp aholic like me, is an understatement. Posthumus store in the centre of Amsterdam is a well known place since 1865. They are in an Ally next to the Amsterdam Museum, a tucked away little gem of a shop. As their blurb on the 'about us' page from the website says:

Set in one of the most historical parts of the city center of Amsterdam is the Royal Posthumuswinkel, a  "winkel" (shop) that has been making and selling custom-made stamps of every kind since 1865. The store is a landmark for lovers of rubber stamps and stationary.You can find not only a seemingly limitless array of stamps, but also beautiful paper, envelopes, inks of all colors and sealingwax. The store is somewhat of a museum too, with antique letters with embossed letterheads an monograms, antique engraving machine, and old photographs of the store.The time-layered ambience gives a lovely sense of nostalgia, but the diverse stock accommodates modern times.

 And true to their word, the store is packed full with gorgeous stamping and stationery materials. A few examples of their stamps on display:

Gorgeous Zenspirations stamps

And I could not leave without this stamp because of the true statement of this sentiment:

You can also follow some workshops and make and takes at the store mostly given by Miranda Degenaars. I was lucky to have done a few, which were very inspiring!

1. End result workshop roses , 2. Roses rubberstamping workshop , 3. Inspirational rubberstamping workshop at #posthumus #amsterdam result of part one, 4. Inspirational rubberstamping workshop at #posthumus #amsterdam

Hope this inspired you and when you are in the aria, don't forget to visit this wonderful shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Namaste

Thriftfinds Thursdays - The philatelist edition

In a little quaint town called Orvelte, they had a fun market around pentecost. And the towns people also sold some vintage stuff. I came accross a huge suitcase of glassine bags and upon further inspection, the glassine bags contained a lot of vintage stamps! I was in heaven! Took my fine time deciding which stamps I wanted to take home with me and kept it at a modest 10 bags.

I got home and started sorting them. It's always such a nice and relaxing task. I'm not a collector in the sence that I keep them in albums, I use them for my mail art mostly. So I got myself some glassine bags to store the stamps in.

Some of the mail art I make with postage stamps:

Are you a stamp collector? Do you use postage stamps in your art?

Thanks for stopping by!

Namaste

Fairly Naughty or Nice?

This is a piece I made for the Scary Fairy bloghop in which Loast Coast Portal to Creativity participated last week. I'm not usually into "dark" themes, however I am into different and this challenge inspired me to think out of the box. 

Stamped used are from Lost Coast Designs:

Art Doll in Flying Ladies... section

Swimsuit girl in More Women... section

Inkpads used: Memento danube blue, paris dusk, rich cocoa and Brilliance Moonlight

Distress stains: fired brick, peeled paint, forest moss, wild honey, antique linen, spun sugar and broken china

I used Pro-markers to color in swimsuit girl. And a water brush pen with distress stain inks to color the brick background. 

More details on how I made it: