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      Film Diary: Wings

      Wings

      Film Diary: Krylya, 1966, directed by Larisa Shepitko

      Russian director Larisa Shepitko's career was cut way too short when she was killed in a car accident at age 41, but thankfully we have access to her two major works through Criterion's Eclipse Series. Wings is her first feature after graduating from the All-Russian State Institute for Cinematography and it is already a mature, quietly stunning film. The combination of a memorable performance by Maya Bulgakova as the main character, universally human moments, and beautiful compositions makes this film stand its ground with its contemporaries and mourn for all that could have been for this remarkable director. I highly recommend both Wings and The Ascent.

      Wings 6

      Wings 4

      Wings 3

      Wings 1

      Wings 5

      Preview & Process: Martine Workman's Mother's Day Card

      After 7 years of making cards, we're finally taking the big leap into specific holidays! We're kicking things off with this upcoming season's popular slogan of  "moms, dads, and grads" with new artwork by our good pal Martine Workman. While the cards are off at the printer, we thought we'd give you a preview of our Mother's Day card and a peek at the process.

      Martine started sketching out her ideas during her residency at VCCA and we zeroed in on this drawing in particular as we felt we hadn't seen anything like it before as far as Mother's Day cards go (or otherwise). "Fancy string" made us think of bakers twine and the typography was just something unusual. As you can see, it started out as a very rough idea, so the next step was for her to draw and ink the lettering and try out some colors.

      Martine Mother's Day Sketch

      Next she added the detail to the string and cleaned up the drawing. Harking back again to bakers twine, we thought blue and green would make for a nice combo--it's feminine without using the typical pink. The standard red, while most familiar, was a bit too candy cane/Christmasy for the occasion. The lettering looked great, but felt too stark on just white so she played with lots of combos for the background, pumping up the color for the lettering so it wouldn't get lost in the mix.

      Martine Mothers colors

      There were a lot of great options, but in the end, we both had a gut response to one version as being the one, and thus our new card was born! We can't wait to have the final printed product in our hands in a couple weeks so we can share it with you and the moms in your life.

      Martine Mothers Day

      Philatelic Friday: Vietnam Unified

      So yeah, it's been quite a while since my last Philatelic Friday post, but what's a year here or there? I was spurred on by finding an old binder (a Mead Organizer with a puppy and kitten on it--total 80's style) full of more stamps (it's funny how I don't even remember having collected so many). I have several sheets with stamps from different countries and this Vietnamese stamp caught my interest with its rather contemporary design and great color scheme.

      Vietnamese Stamp
      1976 Vietnam

      It didn't occur to me how difficult it would be to pin down some information on the stamp. Searching the text brought up lots of Vietnamese language pages which wasn't too helpful. Finally I pinned down this page and translated it to find that this seems to be half of a stamp set issued in 1976 marking the re-unification of the country. According to this Wikipedia page about the postal history of Vietnam, these must have been issued in July/August as it still has the name of the North Vietnamese state printed on them (the text along the top). The whole page is an interesting read as you consider that stamps were originally issued there in 1862 under French colonial rule and then there was a Northern and Southern state. Anyhow, that's a lot of history for a 12-cents stamp!

      Holiday Ordering Deadlines

      There is still time to get your holiday gifts in time for December 25th (in the US)! Just use our handy shipping guide below!

      US Orders:
      USPS First Class Mail or UPS Ground: order by Monday the 17th
      USPS Priority Mail or UPS Three-Day Select: order by Wednesday the 19th
      UPS 2nd Day Air: order by Thursday the 20th
      UPS Next Day Air Saver: order by Friday the 21st
      USPS Express Mail: order by Saturday the 22nd

      If you choose Free Shipping it is unlikely that it will arrive on time.

      Portland: Crafty Wonderland & The Portland Bazaar

      It's another holiday sale weekend of double the fun here in Portland! December 8th and 9th bring us two days of overflowing craftiness in the form of Crafty Wonderland‘s Super Colossal Holiday Sale at the Convention Center and the 2nd Portland Bazaar at Sandbox Studios. Admission to both events is free so come on down and say hi and make a huge dent in your gift list!

      Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale
      Oregon Convention Center, Hall C (we're at booth 23)
      777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd, Portland, OR 97232
      December 8th-9th, 11am-6pm
      free admission

      The Portland Bazaar
      Sandbox Studio, 420 NE 9th Ave, Portland, OR 97232
      December 8th 9am-5pm, December 9th 9am-4pm
      free admission