Review: Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

It's been a while since I read one of the SF masterworks books (which I claimed I would read all of) but finally I've got back on it, and have read Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon.

If you were looking for some characters, and an actual storyline, this is not the book for you. In fact it is a history of the entire universe from beginning to end told from the perspective of a man having some kind of out-of-body experience.

A really interesting and certainly a thought provoking read, although I've got to say, bits of it were a tad dull. The parts which followed individual planets and the history of their occupants were lot more enjoyable and entertaining than the long sections about flying through the cosmos etc. I would definitely recommend reading the book anyway because the whole concept is so huge, and so different from anything I've read before, I think anyone could read this book and find something in there which makes them think about the universe in a new way.

My Cardboard Life books now available as a set of 4

The My Cardboard Life mini-books are now available as set of four. I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to do this, Volume 4 has been around for a while now!

Anyway, the set is listed in my Etsy shop.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

This isn't anything new, but I thought it was particularly appropriate for this weeks Illustration Friday.

My Cardboard Life cards and prints

New greetings cards! And these ones are Cardboard Colin themed. I've used some of the three panel My Cardboard Life strips to put together a collection in my Etsy shop



The strips included are...
T-shirt
Puppy
Diet 2
Pan-pipes
Bubble bath



As well as the new greetings cards, I've also added My Cardboard Life prints to my Etsy shop. And by Prints, I mean a print of any of the My Cardboard Life strips in the archive. here is the listing

Dogtooth Dave

This is my new friend, Dogtooth Dave.

I really like the dogtooth fabric that I used for his head. The pattern was pretty busy, so I added a strip of white to go behind his button eyes and his mouth. Looks kind of like an eyemask or something.


Dave is now hanging around in my Etsy shop...here he is

My Cardboard Life: Sketches

Some examples of doodles I did prior to making certain My Cardboard Life strips.

Collage Cats card: Happy Birthday

The final card in the Collage Cats series! And it's a classic greetings card message. "Happy Birthday".

here it is on Etsy.

Norman

A new cube-headed plush guy, he's called Norman and I've used grey silk, and white silk.

Every time I make one of these I seem to make the head bigger. I will probably keep doing this until the head is as big as a house and the body is as small as an ant.

Norman is in my Etsy shop...here

Beautiful Mugs

I've become a serious tea fan over the last few years, and I think having a nice mug to drink it out of makes it taste even nicer. I wanted to share some photos of my most favourite mug...

This mug isn't actually mine, it's my Mum's. It's the perfect size for the right amount of tea, and the design is really cheerful too. The text on it reads:
"H.R.H. The Prince of Wales The Investiture at Caernarvon 1st July 1969"
The Prince of Wales' Investiture is some kind of ceremony to do with being heir to the throne or something, I dunno, but this is the commemorative mug about it. Apparently it comes from a set of four in different colours My Mum only had this one, and her sister and brothers had the other ones. I like to think this is the best one.

I've been searching around Etsy for more nice mugs and here's what I found...



Village of coffee. Vintage stoneware mug from Kultur. This is the description on the listing:
"The picturesque town of Coffington surrounds your coffee or tea when you drink it from this mug. None of the residents are out and about on the streets, rumor has it they are all inside enjoying a hot beverage, just like you."
I thought that sounded very sweet!


12oz cup fishy from CircaCeramics. One of the things I like about this mug is the shape. It's really low and wide with a big handle. There's something very visually appealing about it. CircaCeramics has loads of very nice mugs, bowls and plates in this style and I had a hard time picking just one. The images are applied with a Print Gocco and screening black overglaze before firing.


Ceramic TEA FOR ONE black and white from julespompules. The black and white stripes against the red, as well as the way the teapot is sort of leaning makes me think of a Tim Burton film. I've never really understood why you would want to use a teapot for one person, but if you're using loose tealeaves, rather than teabags, then you actually have to. Plus, you get to have two cups of tea this way. The little plate comes with this set, and would be good for putting biscuits/cookies on!

Another collage cat card for the collection

Here's another card to add to the collage cats collection. It's a green, good luck cat with a green envelope!



It's here in my Etsy shop.

I've got one more of these which I will add soon. I sort of want to make more too, but then again, maybe it's time to try a new theme/collection.