Tales from Studio Mailbox

Affordable German Precision

I've totally forgotten to post on my latest tool purchase! 

I was lucky enough to recently stop by a Heiko Wild booth.  Wild (pronounced "Vihld") is a medical instrument company that for whatever reason occasionally has tools for sale during festivals. 

I suppose there is enough of a market for non-medical customers like model-builders, artists, shrine makers (yours truly) as well as the freak who likes to perform surgery in the comfort of their home.  Who am I to judge?  I'm grateful.

They have flat nosed tweezers, pointy tweezers, off-set tweezers, tweezers that are always open and need to be squeezed for their points to meet as well as the opposite tweezers which are always closed and need to be squeezed in order for them to open.  The tweezing possibilities are endless and at times, overwhelming.

Made in Germany, affordable, non-rusting, nice.  

Guilty confession: this year I bought a tweezer with an intersected groove at the tips.  The little hole in the middle of the intersection enables the user to get a thread around whatever it is they've got in the grips of their little tweezing hands... wwwwhhhaaa hah hah hah (evil laugh here)

Wunschzettel

Today is First Advent.  My husband says his family tradition is to set the children's wish list outside the door where it magically disappears overnight.  The kids then hope for weeks to see their wishes appear at Christmas.

My 2yo can interchangeably use the words "wish list" and "Wunschzettel"  yet I sense that because every single thing he's chosen on his list is made from plastic means that he is secretly more American than German.  This seems blasphemous knowing that we're in the the land of the world's most coveted wooden toys. 

Maybe this can be justified since Lego being Danish and Playmobil being German are local companies and therefore his wishes are not contributing to Santa's sleigh emitting excessive carbon footprints. 

Or maybe I'm just a dreamer.

Mail Art Wishes

 I'm entering a drawing for a new book that's come out here in Germany by Eberhard Holders titled, Sketch and Scrap Book.  The give-away is hosted by a company named Boesner who happens to be the single most amazing art supply store that saved my creative soul when I moved here.

As a their long standing customer, all I had to do was send in a postcard before the 15th of December.  It didn't say anything about the drawing being "random" so I'm secretly hoping it's perhaps a contest.  If not, then my backup plan is leaving all my threads hanging so it gives me a better chance for my card to get drawn from the hat.

Of course the message is very subtle, letting them know I'm open to the possibility of winning the awesome book...!! I mean a girl doesn't want to beg...wish me luck!

Lucky Sighting!

Despite having more internet router problems, I spotted one of THESE!!

The universe is bringing me luck for sure...

I'll need it since I'm trying to master the ability to post from my iPhone!

As an aside, it is a bit creepy that German chimney sweeps dress in total black.  My first reaction is, "Cripes call the cops.  Someone is breaking into the neighbor's house!!"

Then when you realize what's actually going on and you get up close you see them wearing a strange metal ball on a chain with spikes. It looks completely medieval.  This of course brings your thoughts back to a scary place.

I'll have to formulate a good Schornsteinfeger interview and get back to you with the results.

Allerheiligentag

 Just to clarify, the Germans do not traditionally celebrate Halloween.  However the first of November is "Allerheiligen," (the equivalent to All Saint's Day).  There is a good summary of November German holidays here.

The cemetery in our little village is amazing right now.  Despite pouring rain, the graves are immaculate.    Not only are weeds and leaves absent, but fresh flowers and plants are everywhere as well as lit memorial candles flickering and sputtering in the elements. 

I know live people who are not taken care of so well.  This kind of remembrance is a beautiful sight.  

 

Oktoberfest ATC Giveaway

Commenting on this post will put you in a drawing to win one of these Oktoberfest ATCs!  Check back next week around

Wednesday when I will announce the winners...(and ask for mailing information).

Created from a discarded & cleaned Knorr spice packet and torn Bavarian napkin, the scraps were then sewn to pre-cut ATC cardstock.

*Packaging was not scrounged, it was privately donated.  Let's keep it between us that I'm not making gravy from scratch these days...

Please simply leave a comment, perferrably a positive one.  Actually, please go to a bunch of posts and comment on all of them while you're at it.  Say a bunch of nice stuff, about anything, the weather even.  And then come back next week and see if you win.

Sweet Stamped Sayings

I found the sweetest little stamps with German sayings on them from a company called Heyda whose website and blog are worth a visit even if you don't understand the words. 

I was so happy to find something actually in the German language!  (Most supplies I find here are in English, and basically the same stuff I can get in the US or England). 

These stamps are made from an extremely thin piece of rubber stuck to a thin cushion mounted on a thin piece of wood.  I like that they don't take up a lot of space and are perfect for take-along projects because of their portability.

In truth, I am the worst stamper on the face of the earth.  My images come out smudgy and I push too hard and end up with spots that weren't supposed to be there.  I guess I just like printing and paintbrushes better, but I still stamp anyway especially when I want to brighten up mail art envelopes. 

I'm going to have to start collecting each of the sayings in this product line because they're the perfect size for ATCs.  A little embellishing with Sakura pens around the borders, a little machine sewn embroidery and you've got a nice little ATC in less than 10 minutes.  These will be fun give-aways in the future so I won't tell you what they say... you'll have to translate them yourself when you get one!

Boxbeutel Bottle Wall

Check out this beautiful and strange creative masonry! 

I was walking down the street of my village and when I looked into a building I spotted this wall through the doorway because the light was coming through it.  (God bless the iPhone).

I recognized the boxbeutel shape immediately and wondered who thought to use empty bottles as glass blocks.  It created the most groovy green stain-glass effect imaginable.  

It just goes to prove how special this strangely shaped bottle is to this area!

Bavarian Beef

Did you know that the difference between an ox and a steer is only age and/or castration?  Until today, I thought that they were completely different animals!!  I guess I just figured they were something like horses and donkeys.  Alike yet different.  Oops.

In German, oxen are "Ochse."  Our village is named Ochsenfurt.  There are painted cows all around (Pretzel #14 is on a side of beef actually).  All this time I've been thinking to myself, "The poor Germans don't have more than one word for these hooved beasts.  And all these wonderful artists have decorated our town with these lovely creatures, but they've got the wrong animal..."  

I'm so glad I haven't been desperately down at the courthouse trying to sway the city officials to my warped understanding of the animal kingdom!  

Vokuhila

Vokuhila, or maybe Vo-Ku-Hi-La, the abbreviation for "Vorne Kurz, Hinten Lang" (literally: Front-Short, Back-Long) is German slang for one of my most beloved haircuts - the mullet!!  Also known in social circles as "Hockey Hair" (careful here, I'm married to an old pro), this style is most famously shown in the movie Joe Dirt.  

The 1st Lady of my small village enlightened me with this when we were discussing the need for my son's first haircut.   I explained, "I don't know how to say it in German, but he's got a little mullet going on."  

"A mullet?"  She contemplates this for a mere second before explaining the German Vokuhila concept to me.   

So although I'm heartsick with the thought of my baby's fine scraggly hair getting chopped, I've been contemplating a European she-mullet for myself!!  Should I do it?  A sort of longish Joan-Jett revival??