Playing with Pictures

 

A fascinating exhibit at the Met about Victorian women and the art of collage. You can read more here. I love how the gowns flow over borders.

St. Charles Street, New Orleans, 1900

 

 

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who commented! I've enjoyed following links back to many other fantastic postcards. Click on the Postcard Friendship Friday link to learn more:

The clairvoyant shoemaker

 

I know a lot of the readers of this blog are artists--whether they use paint, fiber or paper to bring a dream or vision to life. So of course I thought of all of you when I read this in today's New York Times. These are handmade shoes, by a woman who is a Jungian clairvoyant. How exciting is that? And she teaches people how to make shoes, too. Read all about it here.

Children's Play Mate, September 1949

This Children's Playmate is special for several reasons. Sure, it's a Fern Bisel Peat cover. And the inside paper dolls by Angela Price prompt the reader's creativity with a simple template for designs. But what really makes this magazine special is that Paula Hill owned it as a child. That's her maiden name up top and her first name spelled out on the basketball backboard, and other graffiti on the cover ("You are nice.")  Paula tells me she found pen pals through the Play Mate magazine, and kept in touch for many years--even recently getting together with one! Now that's a gift for friendship.

 

 

Patricia Dahlberg

Ron Fong e-mailed me last night with the news that Pat Dahlberg, a longtime collector, died peacefully Sunday evening at her home in Riverside, Calif., with her husband and daughter by her side. She attended the Las Vegas convention with family, including granddaughters, who clearly enjoyed each souvenir that came their way,  helped out with the raffles and even contributed artwork to the competition. It gave a lot of us joy to see kids embrace the paper doll hobby. Pat's daughter-in-law Toshi is also a paper doll artist, and has sold at previous conventions. How comforting it is to know that Pat spent one last time at convention, surrounded by family and friends in the paper doll world.

Switchboard sweetheart

Here is another Carrington Co. card (this one has an "E" in the middle of the company's trademark evergreen). I love that these brightly-colored cards don't have the word valentine anywhere, just the heart motif. And of course, the switchboard is fantastic: before the iPhone, the iPad, the Nook or Kindle, the telephone was the cutting edge of technology that most people were familiar with. This is a large-size die-cut card (roughly 6 X 9 inches) that was probably glued in a scrapbook.

A "Fan-cy" Valentine

 

 

Found this mechanical valentine at Paula Hill's shop. I especially like that the movable fan is affixed with a brad to her finger, and simply looks like a ring. Printers mark on back: Carrington "G", Chicago, Il.