35 Years of Geekdom

Every now and then my inner geekiness comes out and I get a little sentimental. It happens about every five years, on an anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars movie, which occurred here in the U.S. on May 25, 1977. I was seven years old then, and that summer my whole life changed. For the next six years, my world revolved around the Star Wars saga and all its licensing glory--seeing the movies multiple times in the theater, collecting every toy, book, magazine, newspaper clipping, even jotting into a notebook the times and dates when the themes were played on the radio (OCD)... My best friend at the time, Jim, lived down the street and was as obsessed as I was. We created a fan club for all the kids in the neighborhood and even put out newsletters (made on the typewriter with carbon paper for multiple copies).

So on this 35th anniversary (yes, can you believe it has been 35 years?!) of the release of the epic that started it all, here are some examples of posters that appeared in theaters around the world to promote the greatest movie of all time.

This Designer's Chocolate + Peanut Butter

Move over Brangelina. Step aside mac & cheese. There's a new power couple in my world! This week House Industries unveiled a pairing of two of my favorite things in the world: typography and AMAC boxes! I have been using AMAC boxes for organizing since the early '80s. They are stackable, come in sizes from 1" x 1" x 1/2" to about 4" x 4" x 8", and best of all, they're made of clear, colored plastic, and when the light hits them...oooh! Designed in the early 1960s, these boxes are part of the MOMA's Permanent Collection. You can buy them in all their colorful glory at the Container Store, but now House Industries has decorated a set of five with letters, numbers, and typographic ornament, which can be purchased online exclusively here.

Friday Fotos and Finds

Click on the photos above to check out my Instagram feed. Here are some goodies to end your week, including some DIY projects for any free time you might have over the weekend!

1. Upcycled miniature toy cloche
2. The emerging art of reverse graffiti
3. DIY ceramic monogram mugs
4. Make a color palette from any photo
5. Make a socktopus!
6. Washi tape cupcake flags

Enjoy!

I'm Cuckoo for Fire King!

On this last day of Retro Kitchen madness, I thought I would post some pictures of the Fire King mugs that inspired my Koffee Klatch fabric design. The first four are photos from my collection.

Then there is a photo of what is probably the most sought-after Fire King advertising mug: the Stuckey's Coffee Club cup. I'm not sure why this particular mug is so popular, perhaps because Stuckey's was probably a good example of the kitschy road-side truck stop restaurant of the '60s, '70s and '80s. The Stuckey's mug is not necessarily rare--there's at least one for sale on eBay at any given time--but one in mint-condition still fetches upwards of $80 in an eBay auction.

And lastly, a photo of a fabulous display of Fire King and Pyrex glassware in all its colorful glory. *sigh*

Koffee and Kawaii

Continuing the Retro Kitchen theme, today I take a quick look at breakfast, and the work of Mayene De Leon. I've always had an appreciation for Kawaii (quite often I would spend my allowance on scented pencils and erasers at the Sanrio store when I was a kid), but I think it takes an artist with a certain talent to create Kawaii characters, many times using only eyes to make them so expressive. Mayene is one of those artists. She works for a major San Francisco-based type house during the day, but at night she makes breakfast food come alive!

Here are a couple samples of her work: fabric featuring bicycle-riding waffles, donuts and pancakes; and plushie donuts and eclairs (yum!). Read more about Mayene and her Kawaii adventures on her blog, and check out her Etsy and Spoonflower shops for more sweet goodies!

The Building Blocks of Nostalgia

My son loves to build things with blocks. Now that he has moved on to Duplos and Legos, and doesn't play much with the vintage wooden blocks that hid dad played with as a kid, I can display the old blocks...and have fun using them to "build" the displays myself! Here are some cool sets of blocks (vintage and new) that I've found and will probably have to collect now that I've seen them. Blocks aren't just for kids anymore!






Sources... 1:} vintage Halsam Alphabet Blocks via sushipotparts on Etsy - 2:} Fred XYZ Blocks via CMYBacon - 3:} vintage Japanese building blocks via sushipotparts on Etsy - 4:} Miller Goodman ShapeMaker blocks CMYBacon

Two Inspiring Kitschy Kitchen Books

In honor of the Spoonflower "Retro Kitchen" fabric-of-the-week contest, I've been posting pictures of retro kitchens on my Facebook page. On the blog I thought I would feature a couple of books that you may find as inspiring as I do.

First, the Kitchen Kitsch book by Jim Heimann. It features page after full-color page of mid-century illustrations and graphics of food, food brands, packaging, book covers, kitchens, and more, all gathered from old mail-order cookbooks, recipe pamphlets, and advertising. You'll discover something new every time you look through its pages!

The Fire King Mug Book was published in Japan and written by Satoshi Yamashita. I've had this book since 2004 and refer to it regularly. It is probably the best book available for Fire King collectors, but is hard to find in the U.S. (I bought mine on eBay). It contains pictures of over 850 mugs, from standard production designs to advertising and licensed characters. Each mug has a rarity ranking as well. And even though it's written almost completely in Japanese, it is designed beautifully and is still an awesome resource!