Would you like some lace with that designer?

Charles Locke Eastlake

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Frank Lloyd Wright

Charles and Henry Greene

Gustav Stickley

Charles Voysey

All these and more at Cooper's Cottage Lace.

$5 Worth of Week Long Sunshine

One bunch of daffies + some random greens that don't want to die = two bouquets + me feeling a little better about the fact that it's still snowing.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science.  Here is my testimony to Marie Tharp (1920-2006), mapmaker and artist extraordinaire, whose  transformation of oceanographic sonar data into detailed drawings of the ocean floor changed the way the world viewed the Earth's surface and paved the way for the acceptance of plate tectonic theory. 

Tharp's famous 1977 map of the world's ocean showing the largest continuous mountain chain on the planet, 40,000 miles long.

early sketch of Atlantic sea floor

In her own words:  "Not too many people can say this about their lives:  The whole world was spread out before me (or at least, the 70 percent of it covered by oceans).  I had a blank canvas to fill with extraordinary possibilities, a fascinating jigsaw puzzle to piece together: mapping the world’s vast hidden seafloor.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime—a once-in-the-history-of-the-world—opportunity for anyone, but especially for a woman in the 1940s.   The nature of the times, the state of the science, and events large and small, logical and illogical, combined to make it all happen."

sketch of Atlantic off of Spain

You can see how the topography contours (bottom half) emerged from the ship track data (top half).  Imagine doing this for the entire ocean.

Copies of Tharp's maps can be purchased at Marie Tharp Maps.

Jean Nouvel's Desert Rose Museum

(click to enlarge)

This sublime (and virtual) building was pictured across the top of the New York Times Arts section yesterday, accompanied by an article announcing the unveiling of French architect Jean Nouvel's new design for the National Museum of Qatar.  I knew without reading beyond the title what had inspired him, not because of any special artistic insight, but because I'm a geologist by training.  The building evokes the form of desert gypsum crystals, better known as sand roses or desert roses, which typically are a beige-pinkish color, the same color of the concrete the architects are planning to use.

(photos from Jean Nouvel ateliers)

From the NYTimes:  "Inspired by sand roses, the tiny formations that crystallize just below the desert’s surface, the building’s dozens of disclike forms, intersecting at odd angles and piling up unevenly atop one another, celebrate a delicate beauty in the desert landscape that is invisible to those who have not spent time there. The lightness with which these forms rest on the land, meanwhile, conjures the ethereality of desert life."  They go on to call this the "French architect’s most overtly poetic act of cultural synthesis yet."

I couldn't agree more, it is poetic.  What the NYTimes didn't show was a picture of gypsum crystals, which I think would have given readers a much better sense of how truly evocative this design is.  Here, for your viewing pleasure, are some I downloaded from the web.....

Klimt's Golden Kiss and Needlepoint

 The Kiss (1907-08, Oil and gold leaf on canvas)

Is there a romantic anywhere that isn't moved by this painting?  From wikipedia, "The Kiss falls in line with (Gustav) Klimt’s exploration of fulfillment and the redeeming, transformative power of love and art."  Click on it and be dazzled.

You can view the painting at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in Vienna, Austria.  If you'd like to make your own little piece of Klimtian beauty, Candace Bahouth's gorgeous needlepoint pillows are now on sale at Ehrman Tapestry.  They are in a pleasant 10-holes-to-an-inch size.

Inspiration from Naumkeag

If it is spring it must be time to start thinking about gardens and an amazing one can be found at Naumkeag, another over-the-top summer retreat designed in the Shingle Style by McKim, Mead, and White.  Here are a few pictures I took at the Stockbridge, Massachusetts, estate --- I am feeling the inspiration.

I love the elegance of simple green plants in simple pots and irregularly cut stone pavers.  Fletcher Steele, a noted American landscape designer designed this "Afternoon Garden" in 1926 (the house was originally built in 1885).  It included the carved and painted gondola piers the owner brought back from Venice.

I also love the nonsensical squiggly pathways in the Rose Garden....

(photo from Kim Knox Beckius)

And this peaceful rill of water leads to Fletcher Steele's most famous creation.....

(photo by Felice Frankel) 

...the Blue Steps (1938) which lead to the cutting garden.  The water channel reminds me of this even more spectacular channel photographed many years ago in Hawaii (I can't remember where but it was in a botanical garden on Kauai).

An earlier pot post from Alhambra, Spain....

Kid Quilts

These complicated quilts were made by a 14 year old.....my very own May Morris, now in college.

Another post about quilts you might like.

Wooden Countertops in Kitchen

(Bruce Buck for NYT)

 A week or so ago this picture of performance artist Marina Abramovic's kitchen was in the New York Times.  Everything was starkly modern but the wooden island made it all seem warm and welcoming.  Eighteen months ago I installed wooden countertops during a kitchen renovation (ironically it replaced simulated butcherblock Formica from 70s).  I bought two 12 foot lengths of cherry butcherblock unfinished countertops from Lumber Liquidators for $329 each and one 8 foot length for $250.  I hired cabinet maker Devon Thibeault, "The Underground Carpenter", to cut them to size including the mitered corner you see below and some complicated cuts around the cabinets on sideboard and around sink.  Then I finished the counter pieces (on saw horses in middle of room) with a tung oil product called Waterlox that I can't say enough good things about.  I used the Waterlox SEALER/FINISH in Medium Sheen.

Here are a few more technical details.  I believe Devon used biscuits and special counter brackets (underneath) to pull the corner together.  You could obviously make the big island seen in the Abramovic kitchen the same way by splicing two pieces together.  We were worried about the end grain around the sink but it has been perfectly stable.  I used a brush to apply Waterlox and put two coats on underside and five coats (I think) on top surface sanding with very fine grit sandpaper between coats, using the very finest between last two coats.  A deep luster came up through this process.  One counter I did during a few days of very high summer humidity and it took many weeks to cure completely (so don't make that mistake).  The other was fine from the get-go.  The counters are impervious to standing water (even overnight) and I have only used soap and water to clean.  I have never waxed or polished surfaces (all pictures taken this week).  I once scrubbed the finish so hard it got dull and cloudy, so I lightly sanded the spot and brushed a new thin coat of Waterlox on it and it looked like new---you cannot tell there was a "fix".

No one recommended installing wood counters, in fact quite the opposite, but I think that is just because people generally have little experience with wood in a kitchen.  The counters are very slowly developing a nice patina, especially the section to right of stove where I do a lot of work.  This picture below shows that if you shine a bright light just right you can see little divots from the bottom of wine bottles opened on the counter.

The backsplash tile was two odd lots bought for $20 at the Boston Building Materials Resource Center, a great recycling place; sink from Craigs List; faucet from ebay; stove/hood from liquidator; knobs from Lowes.

Divine Lion Design

My spring Lion Design yarn catalog arrived recently on my doorstep.  The photographs are so seductive it's hard to resist the temptation to pick up the phone and start new projects.  This is especially true as they cleverly package kits so you get that great all-in-one project feel that is so nice with needlepoint for instance.

a nice cashmere sweater to snuggle up to?

yum, raspberry, butterscotch, hazelnut and apricot....with your fisherman

Here are the two crochet projects I like.....both "easy" (but must resist new needle projects till finished with Morris Peacock tapestry).