Lyn Jellison

I’m very excited to do some collaborative work with my friend Ginny Speaks from All is Well. Ginny has been wonderfully supportive of my blocks and wanted to try a few sample blocks for her booth at the American Artisan Festival this weekend. Some of her colors came out a little altered in the translation process, but Ginny, thankfully, took it in stride. We will continue to tweak the technical aspects as she will be taking orders for custom blocks at the festival. Ginny has a plethora of fun handpainted items that make great gifts or mementos, so be sure to check out her booth!

This group is a set of display stands and pedestals for a friend who paints pottery. She wanted all black and white papers which turned out very nifty indeed.

A wise and thoughtful friend suggested using children’s art to decoupage blocks. Brilliant!  So, of course, I started with my daughter’s things eventhough she’s not very crafty. Most of these came from her preschool class. Then it had to have a picture to really make it a memento worth displaying. (The crayon doodles are courtesy of my husband).

The picture below shows a stack that we keep on the mantel. The top block is from a 1970 map of Italy as a remembrance of a trip. Then the child’s block on the bottom is obviously delightful for us. The one in the middle is a nice connector until something more personal finds its way into the mix.

Some of the best parts of old maps are the illustrations that go with them, the animals, people and monuments that decorate the edges. And, of course, the older ones seem more interesting.  In college in New Mexico my friend’s father said he always liked looking at maps of the south because the names were so exotic to him. Being from the south, I thought those names sounded pretty hick, while Cloudcroft, Truth or Consequences, and Taos had more cache in my book. There are some pretty good names reserved for the ocean floor, Mathmaticians Seambunts, Porcupine Bank, Investigator Ridge.  And if there weren’t a four year old standing here saying, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, I might be able to string together some thoughtful sentances on the nature of maps, but you get the picture.

I need to get a picture of this set of blocks. There’s a 3″, 4″, and 5′” block from a map of Mars. I have a friend whose little boy is obsesses with all things Space, so that’s where they ended up. When I get a good snapshot, I’ll update it here.