Necco Wafers

These were my favorites when I was a kid. My grandmother always kept a box for us in her candy closet. My favorite colors were orange and purple. I saved the chocolate flavored ones for trading. It's so nice that Necco Wafers can still be enjoyed today!

Real Men Use Barbasol

Here's another Life Magazine advertisement for Barbasol. They had some bizarre campaign going there!

Wimmin in Advertising

I'm coming across some interesting stuff that I forgot I had. I've started a little pile of things worth blogging about. Every so often when I need a break I will scan one. This advertisement from Life Magazine really cracks me up. I'd bet it was done by the same artist responsible for the Whoosh Women campaign.

I had to scan this in two shots due to its length. I wonder if this actually sold Barbasol or helped the competition. I think the man might be in peril. That's one diabolical looking wommin!

New Storage System

I've discovered a new storage system for my small coated collage elements. I used to save them in drawing pads, carefully arranged so the edges wouldn't touch. Moving the pads caused shifting, making it difficult to browse through the pages. And since objects coated in acrylic medium have a tendency to adhere to one another, especially when subjected to pressure and temperature, stacking and warm weather also caused problems.

The solution is stamp collector's stock albums! The pages are designed so postage stamps with adhesive can be stored and removed without sticking to each other or to the page. I bought a bound album of 32 double-sided pages made in Germany (Lighthouse 64-White Page Stamp Stockbook No. L4/32). Each side is protected by a semi-transparent sheet. The book has a sturdy binding which allows it to lay flat when open to any page.

Each 8x11.5-inch page has nine width-wise strips open at the top to secure the elements. Another cool discovery that ranks right up there with the arch punch!

Eugenia's Snakes and Shrunken Heads

Alton Bay, New Hampshire Reptile Zoo - Part 2.

Eugenia Skinner Shorrock (21 July 1896 - 7 December 1993) was the proprietor of The Reptile Zoo formerly of Alton Bay, New Hampshire. A collector of curios par excellence, Eugenia was quite some gal, I'm willing to bet! She kept her purse in a python cage where it was safe from robbers. Her father was Ernest M. Skinner (1866-1960) of Dorchester, Massachusetts, who was known as the most prominent builder of organs of the early 20th century.

According to a March 8, 1992 Gainesville Sun article titled "Ripleys Pays $22,000 for pair - Believe it or not," Eugenia's daughter made a killing on the sale of two shrunken heads. An accompanying photograph features grandson Rob Farrell's hand pointing to one of the heads:

Two shrunken heads, dark-skinned and complete with hair and headdresses, stared impassively as curious bidders examined them at an unusual auction of Indian artifacts Saturday.

The grapefruit-sized, 19th century South American Indian heads sold for a total of $22,000 to Ripley's Believe it or Not. It plans to display them in one of its museums, which feature oddities.

"The heads, I think, set a world record," auctioneer Michael Bennett said, adding that he expected the pair would only sell for about $14,000.

The heads were part of a collection of artifacts amassed by Eugenia Shorrock, 95, of Dover. Other items included tribal masks, wooden Indian statues and an antique buffalo skin robe. The robe, expected to sell for about $15,000 only brought $7,000. But some of the statues went for more that $10,000.

Shorrock, who lives in a nursing home, acquired her unusual collection from various sources over the years, but never traveled to South America herself, said her daughter, Ruth Farrell. "She became acquainted with people who had them and made it known she'd take anything," Farrell said.

The heads came from the Jivaro tribe, which collected enemies' heads after battle, removed the skulls, boiled the skins, then carefully shaped them by hand to retain the victims' features, Bennet said. He didn't know from which South American country they came.

(The Jivaro are a tribe of people from the Andes mountains. Read more in this article from EveryCulture.com .) The Toledo Blade picked up the same AP article with an additional quotation from Eugenia's daughter Ruth, who decided to sell the collection because she no longer had any interest in it: "Bureau drawers don't do a thing for shrunken heads. . . I like to see things used or displayed."

Eugenia Shorrock is mentioned as owner of two boa constrictors listed in the longevity literature for reptiles and amphibians. One citation is in: Snider, Andrew, and Bowler, K., Longevity of Reptiles and Amphibians in North American Collections, 2nd ed. And the other is in: Kevin Bowler, Longevity of Reptiles & Amphibians. 1977. For this information I give credit to Frank and Kate's Herpetological Web Page.

I also read on Melinda's Red Tail Boa Page that a boa at the Philadelphia Zoo, originally in the possession of Eugenia S. Shorrock for its first 33 years of life, lived for a total of 40 years 3 months and 14 days, longer than any snake species ever kept in captivity, to date.

And, finally (how cool is this!) I found a publication on eBay titled Collections - Eugenia Skinner Shorrock by Michael Bennet Auctions, Portsmouth, New Hampshire published Feb 15, 1992. The description reads: 'Softcover. Stapled binding. 44 pages, 8.5" x 11". This is session III, listing 583 items, many b/w photos.' I just purchased it with "buy it now" and I will share it with you all on a future Postcard Friendship Friday!

Alton Bay, New Hampshire Reptile Zoo

Here's an interesting New England oddity preserved on a picture post card from my collection: The Alton Bay Reptile Museum. It reminds me a bit of Perry's Nut House (also re-visited here) of Belfast, Maine. Look at the cute monkeys framing the second floor windows!

The owner, Eugenia Shorrock, was mentioned in a "miscellany" article published in Time magazine on September 4, 1944: "Safe. In Alton, N.H., Mrs. Eugenia Shorrock, keeper of a reptile zoo, kept her purse in the python cage."

I found an advertisement from 1950 for the Reptile Museum (image here) which reads: "REPTILE ZOO AND GIFT SHOPS. PRESENTING Living Reptiles, Animals & Curios. A choice line of Jewelry, and Gifts for all occasions. Miniatures & Collectors Items. Toys - Souvenirs - & Greeting Cards. NEW Arrivals from the Far East. Bicycles. Row Boats for Rent. Live Bait for Sale. ALTON BAY, N. H. Tel. 156. ON LAKE WINNIPESAUKEE. EUGENIA S. SHORROCK, Prop."

Alton is the largest town in physical area of the lakes region. Since the mid-1800s, tourism has been the principal business. In 1872, the Boston and Maine Railroad launched at Alton Bay the steamer Mount Washington, the first side-wheeler and largest vessel on Lake Winnipesaukee. When destroyed by fire in 1939, a replacement ship was found, also christened Mount Washington. Today, it continues to carry summer tourists between stops on the lake.

Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest lake in New Hampshire. It is approximately 21 miles long (northwest-southeast) and from one to nine miles wide (northeast-southwest), covering 69 square miles with a maximum depth of 212 feet. The lake contains at least 253 islands, half of which are less than a quarter-acre in size and is indented by several peninsulas, yielding a total shoreline of some 288 miles. The driving distance around the lake is 63 miles. Winnipesaukee is the third-largest lake in New England after Lake Champlain and Moosehead Lake.

A site called OldPostcards.com has an interesting array of old stores and shop postcards, which includes the same view of the Reptile Zoo. Wishing you all a happy Postcard Friendship Friday!

Back in Studio 2

Today is moving day. I am reclaiming what was my second studio here in the front room of the first floor of my house.

I started off in the upstairs front room (shown below) which is now the office.

Then to the front room where I'm returning now. Here I am (below) 5 years ago before I turned into an old hag (just kidding - a little).

From there I moved to the carriage house next to the barn, a small room off of my bead shop which is now a gallery. The photos below show it cluttered to the max!

The fourth studio location, which I am in the process of vacating now, was the library (now in total chaos shown below). I'm anticipating having easy access to all of my book shelves again. With the big oak table clear, I will have a nice well-lit spot for classes in jewelry-making and collage.

I've been preparing for this move for three weeks now so today is a big day. It's amounting to a total space overhaul. You can never have enough bins, boxes and bookcases. Life will be good!

Looking back on those pictures, most of them put me on visual overload. Too bad I can't leave the new studio empty like the top photo. (More empty studio views.) It would be nice to have a decompression chamber. Fat chance of that but I guess I can always go stare at snow!

Why Moderate Comments?

To say "I live for your comments" would be only a slight exaggeration. That notwithstanding, comment moderation is now in effect to prevent posting of out-of-context links. My apologies to the regulars and the real.

I don't know about you, but it makes me nervous to click on a link that only says "_ _ _ _ _ _" posted by someone I don't know. I may not like what I see when I get there.

As suggested by Paula at self taught artist I have eliminated the word verification requirement, if that is any consolation!

More First Collage

I came across this photo which shows the left edge of my First Collage Circa 1970. There's a very young Bob Dylan on the edge.

It's interesting to take a look at the bookshelf to see what I was reading. Mostly fiction back then. In those pre-Amazon days I was a member of two or three book clubs. I can make out: Being There by Jerzy Kosinsky; Mandala by Pearl Buck; Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; Goodby Columbus by Philip Roth; The Season of the Witch by James Leo Herlihy; The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles; Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy; The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier; Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse; The Godfather by Mario Puzo; The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton [some fat historical novel about Russia - Nicholas and Alexandria, maybe]; Three Novels by John O'Hara; A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin; Summer of '42 by Herman Raucher; The Sterile Cuckoo by John Nichols; and Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford.

Visual Design on the Computer

I have a second edition of Wucius and Benjamin Wong's Visual Design on the Computer which was published by W. W. Norton in 2001. Nearly perfect given the age of my computer and software.

Wucius Wong is my new hero. Aside from having a knock-out cover, this book explains how to make Photoshop perform like a graphic artist would like it to. If you have been trying to get an handle on digital collage as I have been, check out this book!

Also highly recommended are: Principles of Color Design, Principles of Two-Dimensional Design, and Principles of Three-Dimensional Design.

Three-Dimensional Design

I purchased Wucius Wong's Three-Dimensional Design because a used copy was available from the same vendor that offered Two-Dimensional Design. I'm not ready to think three-dimensionally but I'll have this on my shelf when I decide to create a rhombicuboctahedron or something.

It's illustrated with black and white photos of three-dimensional objects constructed largely of paper, some with string. Very inventive stuff which suggests both collage and jewelry applications.

Also highly recommended are: Principles of Color Design and Visual Design on the Computer.

Two-Dimensional Design

Wucius Wong's Principles of Two-Dimensional Design is Art 101 and all of the other classes I never took condensed into one amazing 77 page book. The black-and-white illustrations alone serve to spark ideas. Arrays of dots arranged into optical patterns. Great stuff!

Also highly recommended are: Principles of Color Design, Principles of Three-Dimensional Design, and Visual Design on the Computer.

Principles of Color Design

Here's another of my favorite color books by Wucius Wong. (I wrote about Elementary Color by Milton Bradley earlier.) I bought Principles of Color Design 20 years ago and I'm still digesting. I entertained the futile hope that once I fully understood it I would have mastered color.

It's helped me to make more intelligent choices. When faced with a color dilemma I can ask myself: "What would Wucius Wong do?"

Also highly recommended are: Principles of Two-Dimensional Design, Principles of Three-Dimensional Design, and Visual Design on the Computer.

Visual Thinking

I was drawn to the fabulous cover on this one. It caught my eye just as I was leaving. Published in 1972, Experiences in Visual Thinking was written by Robert H. McKim of Stanford University. Contents include: Background (thinking by visual images - images in action - ambidextrous thinking - learning to think visually); Preparations (materials and environment - relaxed attention); Seeing (externalized thinking - recentering - seeing by drawing - pattern-seeking - analytical seeing - proportion - clues to form and space); Imagining (the mind's eye - visual recall - autonomous imagery - directed fantasy - structures and abstractions - foresight and insight); Idea-sketching.

One subject covered at length is "blocks to thinking" and ways to overcome them. Something tells me that this book is an important find for me. I have since discovered a site called The Awakened Eye, a blog which includes a post titled great work comes from self-forgetting, and the lovely collage art of Miriam Louisa Simons.