two paper dolls is a letterpress and design house located just outside philadelphia - they brought a portable polymer press, along with a few samples of different work to teach the different kinds of printmaking, to anthropologie for their letterpress demo. each attendee was able to try their hand at using the press on a few different card stocks.

it was a great demonstration - there's definitely something to be said for old-fashioned printmaking. the thick indent in the paper from the press and the rich, clean colors just can't be matched by modern printers.

photography by christina brown

rough draft books/anthropologie x designphiladelphia

rough draft books are made by local philadelphia artist e bond, whose work can be found, among other places, in anthropologie's philadelphia and online store and on etsy.

in a partnered workshop with anthropologie and designphiladelphia, rough draft books had a free demo on making star books, a simple but sculptural way to learn some of the basics to introductory bookmaking. i had a great time shooting and everyone involved had a fantastic time with their handmade books.

poet journal and arbor journal via anthropologie.com

photography by christina brown

hand-stamped type

patrick sometimes brings home odds and ends from his days at the naval yard - a few weeks ago he brought home a couple pounds of letterpress type that he collected while cleaning out letterpress drawers for the found objects department. i'm still looking around for a type holder so that i might be able to stamp out a few words at a time, but until then i tried making a few hand stamped business cards by using one letter at a time - it's in imperfect process, but i really like the hand made feel.

i've seen type holders for larger wood blocks of type, but never anything small enough to hold and stamp with small lead type. i'm still scouring the internet for something that will work.

design philadelphia at anthropologie

last week i shot a few events for designphiladelphia - three of them were at the anthropologie on walnut street, one at joan shepp, and another at the arcadia boutique in northern liberties. anthropologie was such a great venue for bookmaking, letterpress, and jewelry workshops - everyone involved had a blast! more pictures of the events coming soon, but for now, a few shots of the beautiful anthropologie building.

the engineer

i've recently bought a lot of pretty white dresses and with cooler weather coming i'm starting to put away my sandals and looking for some comfier, clunkier shoes. the juxtaposition of the frye 8r engineer boots and lacy, flowy dresses in this 2007 issue of vogue are a perfect combination.

frye 8r engineer boots in dark brown

frye 8r engineer boots in june 2007 vogue, smiles returning tube dress via freepeople

mexican chocolate cake

i was making chocolate cupcakes and had a huge amount of batter leftover, so i grabbed my springform pan to make a cake with the extra. we're currently drying chili peppers in the kitchen, and as i was mixing the batter into the pan i thought about my favorite cold weather drink, mexican hot chocolate, and decided to try making it in cake form.

it was a good decision.


you will need:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

1 cup boiling water

boiled sugar frosting instructions at bottom of this page
1 tsp. dried chili pepper, separated from any seeds

heat oven to 350º F. stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix in milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, and eggs. once thoroughly mixed, stir in 1 cup boiling water. the batter will be very thin and runny. pour into a cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. frost with boiled sugar frosting and garnish with cinnamon and dried chili peppers.

lita

i still can't get over how much i love this shoe. the mint suede just speaks to me.

i've also got my eye on the brown rosie cutout boot, the brit boot, and the red patent tardy platforms. jeffrey campbell, what have you done?

lita shoes by jeffrey campbell, gif created by me.

rhode island sound