Recycling

The person who lived in this house before must have been  bit of a hoarder. We found a cupboard full of old boxes for sending encyclopedia and books. Since he kept the boxes so long, I kept them too knowing they would come in handy when sending my creations into the world.

Story Bowl: the Charioteer

Some weeks ago I was asked to make a story bowl with a charioteer, a female one, dressed in a long garment. The horses did not need to be there. It meant to go with a poem the client had written. She allowed me to publish it here. It's in Dutch, I will not attempt to translate, so apologies to any non Dutch readers.

De Wagenmenner ment

het paard Paniek, de Tomeloze,

de hengsten Haast en Plicht,

de merries die met gebogen hoofden

door de oude voren hun hoeven voeren.

Voetstoot niet. De Wagenmenner maant.

Volg de ronding. Omarm de bocht.

Galoppeer. Draaf. Win de race.

En draaf. Ken ook de avond.

Weet het hooi. De nacht. Het stilstaan.

’s Avonds tel ik of jullie hoofden kloppen.

The bowl is about 18cm in diameter. 

To get an idea of size, here's the chariot and driver while I was working on it:

KADO KADO 2012

This year is is the second edition of KADO KADO , a temporary shop in Ekeren , near Antwerp.

There will be a good variety of items at affordable prices available, perfect for your Christmas shopping.
Want to know more about the participating artists and their work, head over to the facebook page.
I hope to meet you there :)

Sweet Saturday: Aniseed icecream

As you might or might not know we moved house. In the house we bought we found a good as new ice cream maker, nothing fancy, but worth a try now we finally got some nice weather. I made strawberry sorbet following the recipe and than something I came up with, an ice cream with aniseed. Once I googled I soon discovered  was not the first one, but well what did I expect; not so difficult to replace vanilla with aniseed ;)

In the Netherlands you can buy aniseed flavourited sugar cubes. To make warm aniseed flavoured milk, lovely in wintertime. For a mug you would use about 4 cubes. I used 12 cubes for the ice cream, this gives a strong aniseed flavour.

• 125 ml cream
• 125 ml milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 45 gr sugar
• 12 aniseed sugar cubes

Heat the milk and the cream, bring to boil and than turn of the heat. Mix the yolks and the sugar until it become whitish in colour. Add this to the milk and the cream also add the aniseed cubes. Bring this to the boil and boil for a couple of minutes, leave to cool.

Take your ice cream maker and pour the cooled mix into it, let it work for about 30 minutes (same as vanilla ice cream, as I'm not sure that all machines need the same amount of time).

Once finished I put it in a plastic container and back in the freezer for (minimum) another 30 minutes. I served it with home made berry juice/jelly, works well together, the acid of the berries is a good contrast for the aniseed.

Bon apetit :)

Friday Find: M.OSS design

Today I want to share with you the work of a Netherlands-based designer Marcel OSSendrijver; M.OSS design. I think his lamps are just so light and pure. And somehow cute too.

If you want to find out more head over to the facebook page of M.OSS design.

Fridy Find - Esther Hörchner

Somewhere on the internet I came across a cute teacup. It made me smile instantly.

It was by a design by a Dutch illustrator: Esther Hörchner

There are more cups, saucers spoons and teapots in this series named "blote meisjes" naked girls. 

Someone has been a sweet tooth and emptied the sugar bowl :)

 Be sure to check out her website for more awesome illustrations, creations and paper-cut art.

Friday Find: MouseBlossom

Today I want to share with you the work of Yvonne de Jonge, the woman behind Mouseblossom. 

She has a great hand for drawing and her illustrations are so delicate and sweet. She uses her illustrations to decorate a variety of objects, like brooches in fabric and felt, so you can carry these adorable little creatures with you at all times.

To see more see and read more:  Mouseblossom.