Origami Easter Eggs

Several years ago, before I had a blog, I crafted a dozen origami Easter eggs. Ever since then, I've enjoyed displaying them every spring because they hold some very special memories for me.

I remember that day well; my son was still a toddler and he became very entertained when he saw me emptying the eggs. To Takeo, this was the funniest thing ever - he stood beside me and watched while I took a deep breath and then expelled the contents of each egg, and laughed and laughed. For him, there was nothing funnier in the whole world than that; of course he also wanted to do it, and we had even more laughs as we both blew into the eggs. 

Perhaps next year I'll make a new set of eggs and show you the process. Have a happy Easter and spring or autumn season, wherever in the world you are!

   

Styling The Seasons - March

Do you enjoy decorating your home in a manner that reflects your distinctive personal tastes and characteristic style? If so, you might like to join the monthly Styling The Seasons challenge. According to Katy Orme of Apartment Apothocary, the philosophy behind her monthly Styling The Seasons blog series is to reflect on the change of seasons and then express those thoughts by styling a surface in your home. The idea is that your seasonal display will not only rejuvenate your home, but will also be a meditation on what the month means to you. This visual reminder serves to help you realize what possibilities may be in store for yourself and your family during the new season.

Spring, with its warmer temperatures, budding trees, blooming flowers, and longer days, can be an especially potent reminder of what lies ahead in the immediate future. For our family, outdoor adventures like spending time in the garden and brisk neighborhood walks for some flower viewing are a welcome change of pace. And with the kids out of school for spring break hopefully there will be at least one day trip to a scenic place. Then there's the potential for new home projects to emerge and flourish.

My inspiration, or 'springboard', for styling this corner of our living room for the month of March, was some antique sheet music I found recently at my favorite charity shop. The colorful spring-themed cover, with its cheerful pink blossoms, a singing bird, and the old-fashioned handwriting of Miss Clementine Cathcart of Eau Claire, Wisconsin on March 18, 1919, immediately drew me in. If this sheet music could tell a story, what stories could it tell, of that certain spring of 1919, when love was in flower? I couldn't resist purchasing this piece of musical history to add to my collection of printed music. The song 'Springtime of Love' is a valse, or waltz, and as notated, it is to be played 'Brilliant' and 'Daintily'.

And what would the season of spring be without the quintessential flowers of springtime, hyacinths? Did you know that hyacinths are part of the lily family and are native to western Asia? And as anyone who has enjoyed hyacinths in their home knows, their fragrance is divine!

I placed my hyacinths in a pearlescent ceramic vase, made in Japan. This vase has a couple of qualities that I am very fond of in Japanese ceramics: a free-flowing hand painted design, and a beautiful luster. Not to mention - it has a bird!

Behind the vase of hyacinths, on the ledge of the mantlepiece, I placed hand dipped candles into unmatched holders. The candle holder on the left is one I bought at a druggists shop some years ago; I couldn't resist its unique shape and color. The vintage candle holder on the right is a fairly recent thrift store find. It is not only a candle holder, but also a flower vase as well.

Over the years I've curated an interesting selection of original vintage paintings. The pair of scenic paintings on the mantle were found at a charity shop in a small former mining town in Colorado. I can no longer remember the name of that little town in the Rocky Mountains; during this time of our lives, James and I traveled extensively throughout Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Nevertheless, they bring back fond memories of our wandering days, before we had our children, and life was a lot more carefree.

I'm very excited about the little Japanese spouted vase sitting between the landscape paintings. Why? Because the collection of Blue Jay feathers you see in that vase have been collected by me in the garden over the last several spring seasons. You see, every spring there are mama Jays that bring their babies into our bird friendly backyard in order to feed them, and to teach them how to get their own food. There is always a lot of wing flapping involved, and who knows, maybe there is some molting going on too. But I always find a feather here and a feather there. Our family has a lot of fun watching this 'show' from our large kitchen windows.

My favorite spring blooms are the various bushes and trees which produce their flowers before their leaves have developed. Known as hysteranthous, this phenomena is significant because a mass of flowers is more likely to attract pollinating insects, and an absence of leaves facilitates wind pollination. Some examples that everyone is familiar with are magnolias, and cherry and plum trees. Quince also falls into this category. I recently noticed that my neighbor, Leora, has a quince bush growing in her front yard, which has luscious pinkish-orange flowers! I texted her one morning and asked her if I could possibly snip a few sprigs, and she replied back saying yes. So here is one of those snippets of quince, in yet another of my Japanese ceramic vases:

A few days after obtaining those quince cuttings, I gifted my neighbor some homemade cherry almond scones, just to say thank you.

I can't gush enough over vintage hard back books, with their dusty fabric covers, beautiful colors, and interesting titles and fonts. Each year our local town library has a giant fundraiser event, with literally tens of thousands of books of all sorts that have been donated by library patrons, just for that sale. Most books are a dollar or two, and I always find plenty of art and design books, as well as vintage novels such as the three pictured here, and also a few damaged older picture books to cut up for collage projects.

An unusual looking pair of Roseville Pottery book-ends support my vintage books. Roseville Pottery was founded in Roseville, Ohio in 1890 and closed around 1953. When I first spotted this pair at the charity shop, I was struck by their distinctive organic shape, earthy colors, and interesting floral pattern. It was also surprising that something this old and collectible could still be floating around. Fortunately they are in perfect shape - not a scratch or chip anywhere!

And finally, a vintage reproduction print by ornithologist John Gould, of Podiceps Rubricollis, or Red-Necked Grebes, graces the wall above our piano. Gould's book Birds of Great Britain, of which only 750 copies were printed, contained hand coloured lithographs of not only a great variety of birds, but also their chicks, nests, and eggs. As a bird lover, I can appreciate the attention to detail Gould gave his works, in both his artistic rendering of birds, and his depiction of them in their natural environments.

When I first saw this framed print at the charity shop, I hesitated at the $15 price tag, yet I knew that the beautiful wood frame was worth at least that, and maybe even more. Still, I waited several weeks, gazing at it every time I went into the shop. Finally one day James said, since I really liked it, why not just go ahead and buy it? How could I argue with that? After we brought it home, we discovered the original price sticker on it, from the 'Penny's' department store (probably JC Penny as it is known today). And the price was $14.95! 

I added a few cherry blossom branches to the top of the frame, in keeping with my spring theme for the month of March. As you can see, the petals have already entered their 'sakura' phase, which means that the pink flowers, having served their purpose in nature, are now fading and falling away, petal by petal. In Japanese culture, this is considered to be a gentle reminder of the wistful, transient nature of life. When I was out gathering these, I noticed that the cherry blossom petals were already falling away, but decided to use them anyway. As I was placing the branches onto the picture frame, they floated down onto my styled surface, and I'm okay with that. For after all, there will never be another spring such as this one - the one we are living right now, today. Last spring was different from this current one, and next spring will be yet another unique experience.

What does the month of March mean to you?

If you'd like to get into Styling The Seasons yourself, just style any surface in your home and share it via your blog and/or on Instagram, tagging Katy Orme of Apartment Apothocary and Charlotte of Lots and Lotts. 

Vintage Finds: Made in Japan

Happy weekend everyone!  A few evenings ago our son needed to be dropped off at school for a final rehearsal before a concert, so James and I headed to the charity shop to pass a leisurely hour while we waited for the performance to begin. Imagine my excitement at finding these vintage treasures, all made in Japan. I love these simple elegant floral designs, traditional in style yet modern in design. The tea cup and saucer will be popping up in photos for awhile, and you're welcome to follow my Instagram feed and see how I challenge myself in coming up with ways to style them.

Thanks for reading!

Spring Art Show

Recently a local art gallery, The New Zone Artists Collective, held an open call for submissions to artists working in any medium for their upcoming spring show. I usually contribute at least one piece for the gallery's semi-annual shows, but I haven't shared too many of them here on the blog. So, today I'm stepping a bit out of my comfort zone to share a collage I created for New Zone's show. 

My interest in the history of the Modern Art movement has led me down many paths; I've read stacks of library books, visited art museums, took some painting classes, and have written a few blog posts about my interest in art. With each journey, I've come away with new knowledge: an education that ultimately helps me not only explore the endless variety of artist's mediums and methods, but also to solidify my own art style, in particular, collage. 

Being a collector of, well, almost anything, I've accumulated a large variety of fascinating ephemera, or collectible memorabilia, from different eras. The older the better! The fun and challenging part of collage is to create a piece of art out of seemingly unrelated bits, and I find that I love working with bits of printed material from the past. 

I've written blog posts about my interest in African art, in particular sculpture, and that interest is expressed in the collage I'm now sharing with you: Two Women, No. 2. In this piece I've combined an antique pressed paper photo frame, with postage stamps, also antique, and various images hand cut from a newspaper and some old books. Since I'm also concerned with the role of women in society and culture, that is why I've brought these two images of women together. This is the second in a series with that theme, and I plan on executing more in the future.

Here's a closer look at this piece of collage:

Two Women, No. 2

This coming Friday will be the opening night for the show. There will be a city sponsored First Friday Art Walk, music, wine and snacks. I'm looking forward to seeing what other members of our art community have created.    

Thanks for reading, and if you also enjoy making art, I would love to hear from you!

Welcome To The Plum Blossom Blog Redesign

Hi friends! I'm excited to share my new blog redesign with you today. When I started this blog two years ago, my preference was for an easy to use platform, coupled with a clean white background, so the focus would be on the photos and words. And while the first Blogger template I was using did serve those purposes, I found myself wanting a more seamless and consistent look, which would ultimately provide an improved reader experience.   

I found what I was looking for with pipdig, a UK based company which I discovered while reading one of my favorite blogs The Villa On Mount Pleasant. Pipdig offers both Blogger and Wordpress templates at what I think is a reasonable cost.  

Pipdig's install process was way easier than I would have imagined, and their customer service is superb! There is still some final cleaning up to do, which my editor James is giving his usual careful attention to, but for the most part it's done! I hope you like it and will come back and visit again. And if you do enjoy what you see here, you can subscribe via email in the sidebar under my profile picture.

I would love to hear any feedback you may have about the redesign of my blog, so if you want, please leave me a comment!

Thanks for reading!

Design Spotlight: Vintage Berggren Ceramic Wall Hangings

Artists Audrey and Arthur Berggren founded a gift products and home wares company in 1948 located in Libertyville, Illinois. That company, eventually known as the Berggren Shelton Trayner Corporation, produced decorative hand screened ceramic tiles, and enamelware decorated with decals in the Swedish folk tradition style known as 'Dalmalningar'. The Berggrens proudly specialized in developing reproduction techniques in which patterns and colors of a uniquely Scandinavian folk art style were faithfully recreated on a variety of home products such as cookware, cutting boards, porcelain, china, and of course ceramic tiles.

The Berggrens' products were sold in many specialty and gift shops, as well as large department stores such as Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Marshall Field's. In 1953, the Chicago Tribune announced that Berggren Trayner was commissioned to reproduce the works of the famous painter Grandma Moses, and at least one of those pieces resides today in the collection of the New York Historical Society. 

In 1986 Bergquist Imports Incorporated bought Berggren Trayner and moved operations and manufacturing to Cloquet, Minnesota the following year. It is still in operation today, and continues to sell Swedish style wares under the Berggren Trayner brand name. 

Although my collection of vintage Berggren Trayner ceramics is just the three pieces shown above, it is clear, when placed together, that the consistency and vibrancy of the colors used are of craftsmanship quality. For me, these are decorative items, but they have had prior use and constant exposure to light - even so, those vibrant colors and the ceramics and porcelain have stood the test of time rather well.  

Common among the three pieces are whimsical floral patterns, white backgrounds, and the use of black outlines which adds detail; as well, they all have dual functions, as either decorative wall hangings or as trivets and plates. The two square tiles, both measuring 6 inches, have very similar stylistic themes and each has a folk saying written in Swedish. Here's a closer look:

The translation for the saying on the above tile is "The road to a good friend is short", and you can see the Berggren signature on the right edge, next to the green building. 

'Welcome to our home' is the translation for this second tile, which also has the trademark signature on the right. It's interesting how the simple, straightforward colors of red, yellow, blue, and green provide a striking color burst against the white tiles. Furthermore, the array of many tiny details in the patterned borders give the eye plenty of detail to look at, and the fanciful treatment of the large floral sprays are what really spark a warm, whimsical feeling.  

In contrast to the above square tiles is this circular porcelain or china plate, where the absence of blue in no way diminishes from the interest of colors used (the same red, yellow and green as in the tiles above), and its ornate, dynamic motif lends an energetic, organic impression:

The Berggren name appears on this piece as well, albeit in very tiny letters on the bottom left.  

Do you enjoy collecting any vintage home wares?  Feel free to leave me a comment and tell me about it! And if you are interested in seeing more vintage Berggren home wares, you may like to visit my Pinterest page here.

Thank you for reading!

Weekend Life: Happy New Year

Hi Friends! I'm happy to be back in the blog world again, now that the long Christmas holiday season is over and the New Year is in full swing. I've been taking it easy for a couple weeks now, and I'm finally feeling rested up and recovered from all the extra activity of the holidays. However, I already miss those enjoyable quiet moments snuggled up on the couch watching movies with my family - an activity we really only take part in at Christmas time.

There's nothing quite like a three day weekend! This past week included the Monday holiday Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is a day set aside here in the United States to honor the work of Dr. King, a civil rights activist in the 1950s and 60s.

Three days off work instead of the usual two, allowed me the chance to finally clear up all the household bits and pieces that got neglected during the holidays, as well as donate unwanted items and clothing, and sell an old desk. My art studio is part of what used to be our garage (here in the US, most houses have a space to store an automobile, which we call a "garage") and it too needed some organizational attention. Once that was done, I was able to work on some art pieces I've been excited about, in preparation for an upcoming spring show. I also dove into a long neglected pocket-style photo album project - here's a look at one of the spreads I finished in that album, featuring a few of my Instagram photos from the spring of last year:

I also took some time to finish reading The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. My daughter Audrey, who is an avid reader and lover of fiction, gifted this book to me for Christmas. Coincidentally, I found the Studio Calico 'Book Review' journaling card (shown bottom left) in my stash when I was working on my pocket album. Once I finish writing out my thoughts about the book, the journaling card will be a nice addition to my pocket album, paired with this photo:

This month marks the second year for the Under The Plum Blossom Tree blog. I have enjoyed sharing my various interests here, and am grateful to those of you that have taken the time to read about them. I have some plans in the works for the coming year: I'd like to give the blog a new, more polished look, so I am looking at blog formatting options right now; also, I will be selling a Plum Blossom exclusive product, handmade by me. So I hope you will stayed tuned!

You can follow me by email here on the blog (see the widget for that in the right sidebar), and Blogger will send you a notification.  

As always, thanks for reading!