Hansel and Gretel's Crumbs

"They did not awake until it was dark night, and Hansel comforted his little sister and said: 'Just wait, Gretel, until the moon rises, and then we shall see the crumbs of bread which I have strewn about, they will show us our way home again.' When the moon came they set out, but they found no crumbs, for the many thousands of birds which fly about in the woods and fields had picked them all up. "

-From Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm

Sack Religious

When eighteenth-century Shakespeare scholar, Edmund Malone, scissored-out portions of invaluable Elizabethan documents “to retain as keepsakes" before they were returned to their owners, he marred these books forever and created a storm of resentment.* 200 years later, the craftswoman who created Sack Religious, mutilated the Bible, removing every single page, to create something…beautiful.

Sack Religious features a surprising assortment of items made from book components, including messenger bags, clutches, purses, wallets, frames, decorative boxes and shadow boxes. Each piece is made entirely by hand, with an eye to craftsmanship and a wink of good humor.

No part of a book is safe from this innovative, creative-reuse artist: text pages, book covers, illustrations and even sheet music are all crafted into something new and utilitarian.

“To some, it may seem a little savage to mutilate books,” says the owner of this Etsy shop, “A little sacrilegious, if you will. Others, however, know that a great book is much, much more than a great read. I'm no bibliocidal maniac because these books aren't dead, they're reborn.”

To find out more about Sack Religious or purchase an item from this shop, please visit: http://www.sackreligious.etsy.com. Sack Religious items are also featured on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sack-Religious-Handbags/70478852736?ref=share) and MySpace (http://www.MySpace.com/SackReligiousHandbags).

(Photos (from top): Orange Vintage Reader’s Digest Handbag, Alice in Wonderland Book Illustrations Vinyl Bag, Shakespeare Lovers Photo Frame. All Photos courtesy of Sack Religious.)

*From: Shakespeare: World as Stage by Bill Bryson

Mark Twain: Adam at Eve's Grave

"At Eve's Grave

ADAM: Wheresoever she was, THERE was Eden."

-from Extracts from Adam's Diary, vol. 2

Ephemeralogie

The brain-child of a retired librarian and “certified bibliophile,” Ephemeralogie is a tribute to the visual legacy of books and print, as well as the transitory nature of these items. Vintage images, photographs and literary ephemera are hand-crafted into the unique and one-of-a-kind paperweights and coasters featured in this shop. “I’m always on the hunt for “bookish” gifts,” says the founder of this shop, Jennifer Johnston, “and because they’re so hard to find, I thought it would be fun to create my own.”

Pressed under glass, the images used in Ephemeralogie's paperweights are diverse, ranging from famous authors to library décor, from old-school card catalogs to black and white photos of people engrossed in books. These art objects will delight individuals interested in antique imagery and booklovers alike, serving to organize and protect our contemporary ephemera for generations to come.

To learn more about Ephemeralogie and purchase items from this shop, please visit http://www.ephemeralogie.etsy.com.

(Photos from top: Edgar Allan Poe Glass Paperweight, Circulation Desk Glass Paperweight, Library Cat Paperweight. All photos courtesy of Ephemeralogie.)

Mark Twain: Adam on the arrival of Eve

"FRIDAY. The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty-- GARDEN OF EDEN. Privately, I continue to call it that, but not any longer publicly. The new creature says it is all woods and rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden. Says it LOOKS like a park, and does not look like anything BUT a park. Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named NIAGARA FALLS PARK. This is sufficiently high-handed, it seems to me. And already there is a sign up:

KEEP OFF THE GRASS

My life is not as happy as it was."

-From Extracts from Adam's Diary by Mark Twain

Uneek Doll Designs

Step away from those ubiquitous, pink-tafetta-swathed, impossibly-proportioned dolls and meet the hand-crafted dolls from Uneek Doll Designs!

Inspired to make her own designs by the lack of interesting character dolls for a specialty dollhouse, artist Debbie Ritter began to design dolls with unique personalities.

Each doll is infused with significance drawn from literary, historical and cultural events: “Inspired from history, old movies, classic literature, and everything in between, my special characters are made one at time, without a pattern.” Her work encompasses a huge range of figures from author Edgar Allan Poe to the Bronte sisters, Queen Elizabeth I to Susan Boyle, and a plethora of literary characters from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Shirley to Shakespeare’s King Lear.

Intricate attention to period details, careful craftsmanship and a touch of humor and whimsy, mark these dolls as true works of art. “The arms, hair, and even the costumes are all hand crafted personally by me, and I hand paint each and every face!” says Ritter, “I sign and date each and every piece that I do.”

Check out her extensive gallery of dolls available through Etsy.com at http://www.UneekDollDesigns.etsy.com. If you have a particular character or author in mind, please contact her through Etsy to arrange a custom commission. (Photos (from top): "The Bronte Sisters Wear Velvet," "Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Miniatures" and "Mr and Mrs. Bennet." All photos courtesy of Uneek Doll Designs.)

Groucho Marx on Reading

Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog it's too dark to read!

- Groucho Marx -

A Double Grace

In the spring of 2006, while rooting around in my University periodicals section, I found a copy of Art Bulletin with a fascinating photo of a miniature eye set off by a black background. Like any good graduate student I read the article entitled “Treasuring the Gaze” by Hannah Grootenboer, then went to my thesis advisors and told them that I wanted to write about eye miniatures…and Jane Austen. Thus began my fascination with the eye miniature portrait, which has grown into my own little mission to revive this forgotten genre of portraiture. Besides the romantic birth of the miniature as a gift between a lovelorn prince and the off-limits focus of his affections, eye miniatures are beautiful and meaningful in themselves, even when they are anonymous.

As Grootenboer points out in her article, eye miniatures create a reciprocal, unavoidable and unwavering gaze back at the viewer that is unique in the history of painting and miniatures.

As an artist, my favorite subjects are literary, either authors or images drawn from their works. Even if I am simply painting a flower, I find it most satisfying if I can relate that imagery to a poem or passage from an essay. For me, the written word is always part of an image, and vice versa.

This especially true in eye portraits, as vision is such a large part of our experience as humans, and therefore figures so heavily into our language and means of expressing ourselves.

For instance, many modern songs (“Hungry Eyes,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “I’ll be watching You,” etc.) use the imagery of vision, as well as innumerable phrases (“they exchanged eyes,” “she gave me the stink eye,” “I’ve got my eye on you,” “apple of her eye,” etc.). We are a culture shaped by vision--in the sense of creativity and the sense of sight--so the eye miniature as an artistic representation of our means of seeing is modern, even as it evokes the oddities of generations past.

Check out my shop on Etsy to see more of my work at http://www.adoublegrace.etsy.com. I love working on customized jewelry and paintings, so please check out my portfolio and custom designs page at http://www.adoublegrace.com.

Jane Austen defends her art form

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

-from Northanger Abbey.

Welcome!

Greetings! Please come in and enjoy Literary Etsy! The mission of this blog is to explore and promote work by artists, designers and crafters on Etsy that is inspired by or incorporates the written word or literary culture.