Miniature Paris on your Mantelpiece

You can probably guess from that crazy header at the top of my site that I have a thing for vintage photo collages, and you know I have a thing for miniatures because there’s an entire category dedicated to teeny tiny stuff. So when I stumbled across this little eShop on a French online marketplace, I went…

Nature’s Humble Gold: The Unexpected Elegance of Straw Craft

And now, for a DIY project at the intersection of spooky and cozy: the corn doll – which isn’t always in the form of a doll, mind you. That term is shorthand for any kind of straw artwork, be it a horseshoe or a crown, a dog or a pentagram. We love it because it’s…

Why Not Tattoo Your Walls like the French?

At this very moment, a drunken Dionysus naps in the doorway of a villa overlooking the French Riviera. In another room, the head of Apollo keeps guard of a marble fireplace, and Diana the Huntress rounds up her nymphs in scenes of cosmic mischief dreamt up by the artist Jean Cocteau, and immortalised – tattooed,…

This Guy Knits ‘Ugly Sweaters’ for Every Place He Goes

Not all heros wear capes. Sam Barsky, for example, wears sweaters. Nearly 200 of them at this point. The Baltimore, Maryland native has taken the internet by storm recently with his talent for knitting sweaters of, well, everything, from the glory of Stonehenge to the streets of Baltimore; an incoming tram, or the Hollywood sign.…

If You Like Animals, You’ll Love Amber the Taxidermist

Ah, Death. The last taboo – or one of them, and especially in America. “I think a lot of people assume I’m out here hunting animals, which just isn’t the case,” Amber Maykut tells us in her New York City taxidermy studio, “I study them. I love them.” Her workspace is tucked away in a…

Stop Everything and Check Out these Miniature Book Houses

So here’s something that absolutely needs a place in my cabinet of curiosities– book houses! Real books, “hollowed-out” and filled with a miniature vignette setting, complete with tiny scaled wallpaper and parquet flooring. They come from a little-known artist I found in the far corners of the net, Shannon Moore, who has been working with…

Not Your Grandma’s Cross Stitch

Say what you will about the internet, while we so often feel like it’s taking us away from the simple pleasures and quality time with our hobbies, only the internet could bring back a thing like cross stitch. And is there even anything more quaint and nostalgic out there than cross stitching? Not only is the internet spreading the…

Babies Need Culture Too

I‘m guessing I probably don’t have a huge amount of readers below the age of 18 months, but I’m going to reach out to them out anyway. So babies: if you’re reading, it’s time you told your adults to stop buying you all those ridiculous and immature toys that prevent your inner quirk from evolving. You should to be surrounded by cultural…

Cancel Your Plans, Start a Fashion Comeback with Crocheted Can Apparel

“Nice enough for an evening out but still casual enough for that weekend get away,” promises a 1975 pamphlet featuring a variety of special crochet patterns using aluminum cans. Just when you thought your personal style was getting a little tiresome– Messy Nessy swoops in with the perfect seventies style comeback to save the day… But you…

Abandoned London Corner Store Revived with Squishy Cadburys and Fluffy Crisps

When I was a kid, I used to set up a make-believe grocery shop in my bedroom and have a whale of a time for hours on end, selling imaginary products to imaginary customers. Artist Lucy Sparrow has pretty much taken this childhood fantasy and made it real (and I’m pretty damn jealous). Meet Lucy,…