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A day at the Zoo
About me
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15 Mei 2012 | 13:27:40
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Like most kids of her age, Rosa is fond of animals. I can't even begin to count how many books about animals we've been reading since she was born, and how crazily often I've been pronouncing all the animal sounds for her. Let's say it's quite a miracle that I still speak human language after all those boohs and quacks... (and still she refuses to repeat most of them! ;))
Anyway, we thought it was time to take Rosa to a real Zoo. And even though quite some of the larger animals were hiding for naps on that sunny day, Rosa was quite impressed. She was a bit quiet and very observing, but it was obvious that she really enjoyed to see the animals, the monkeys in particular!
Another thing that she really adored was the trampoline. Right now Rosa's very much into imitation, and when grown-ups imitate her crawling she's having so much fun!
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One two three...
Things I make
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13 Mei 2012 | 11:35:25
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One of the things that's both exciting and a bit frustrating about making ceramics, is that there's always a 'before' and an 'after' stage in the making process, with the firing in the kiln as the defining part that marks the difference between before and after. There's no 'what you see is what you get', or well, a lot of times what you see before is more or less what you get afterwards, but sometimes not, and you never know when 'sometimes' is... ;)
Like when I made a plate for Caroline that looked fine before firing, but that somehow ended up coming back from the firing with some very small flaws in the printing. Charming little details that prove it's handmade... or just not good enough? I always find it hard to decide. So I made a second one, that luckily enough had no imperfections.
But you don't always get there with making the same thing twice...
In rare cases you even have to make it three times! Now find the differences... ;)
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Style as art
Interior decoration
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04 Mei 2012 | 12:22:06
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There's stylists who make you feel that all they did was put some vases with flowers on the table, and there's stylists (teamed up with great photographers) who make you feel like you're looking at a painting or a work of art. Fascinating color combinations, interesting details, the perfect use of space, shapes and lines...
Finland-based Susanna Vento is one of these stylists who create these wonderfully styled images, many of them together with photographer Kristiina Kurronen. I've seen her work around a lot lately, it's so strong and fresh and graphic, it's not hard to see why so many people love this!
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Up to no good
About me
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20 April 2012 | 18:56:11
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I'm afraid it doesn't really correspond with any pedagogical view on parenting, but by accident I've found the perfect way to make Rosa give her best of smiles on a picture: saying no!
We hear it quite often: 'She's a bit naughty, isn't she?' Well yes, Rosa is, and most of the time I absolutely love that, because Rosa being naughty is so cute and often hilarious (and her 'being naughty' is still quite innocent, if you ask me). I guess I don't handle it very well, because most of the time when she's not allowed to do something and she does it anyway (with that irresistible naughty smile) she makes me laugh so hard and love her so much, that my 'no' isn't very credible anymore.
A little while ago, when Rosa was climbing on something that she wasn't allowed to climb on and I said 'No, you can't do that', she looked back at me with a big smile, then pointed at me with an admonitory little finger and said: 'No no no no no!' Of course I couldn't stop laughing, and Rosa seemed quite pleased with her little joke.
But the result of all this is that the word 'no' doesn't have much of a warning effect on her anymore: she thinks it's some sort of a joke and it makes her laugh out loud. So lately, when I was taking some photos of her and she laid her hands on my wallet (one of the things that she's not allowed to play with), I said 'no' again. The result of this was the cutest series of naughty and triumphant smiles, that I couldn't help but keep taking pictures of while Rosa happily kept doing what I told her not to...
Ah well, let's get back to serious parenting tomorrow (and I think we must find a new word for 'no', because that has obviously lost some of it's meaning ;))!
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Small name tiles
Things I make
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20 April 2012 | 13:06:14
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I'm about a hundred years behind with both blogging about all the things I recently made and listing them in the shop, but I did manage to add these to the shop a little while ago: custom made small name tiles! There are many designs and possibilities, you can read more about them here.
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In and out of focus
About me
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16 April 2012 | 23:14:02
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I love DIY culture and the fact that I'm able to do lots of creative things with relatively little real knowledge of it. I'm able to fire ceramics in my kiln, but don't ask me all the ins and outs of firing every possible type of pottery. I know how to finetune my pictures in photoshop, but don't ask me anything about the tools I never use. I know how to take nice pictures, but don't ask me too much about the technique behind my camera. This goes well most of the time, but when all of a sudden trouble arises, it's real trouble...
A few days ago, after I had changed my lenses, I felt that my camera wasn't focusing very well. I was taking pictures of Rosa and while I normally focus on her eyes, this time it just didn't really seem to respond when I was trying to do that. But when I took the next picture it seemed to work fine again. And then the next picture it just didn't feel right once again... Was it me? Was it the camera? Did Rosa move more than usual? I still haven't really figured out. Just when I was close to certain that there was some mechanical problem, I did a series of test pictures of random objects that seemed all fine. But still somehow I feel like my camera isn't fully responding the way it used to. And then sometimes I just wish I was a professional, who could understand, analyze and solve any problem just like that, and not just someone with 'the vague feeling that something isn't fully right'.
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Oh yikes: my huge yard sale!
About me
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12 April 2012 | 23:50:28
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It's kind of a miracle I ever started a shop, because all my life I've been far much better at buying things than at selling them. Though I've always sort of convinced myself that I could 'always sell it again on some auction site' when I bought yet another beautiful thing that I didn't really need, somehow I hardly ever do that. Truth is that I hate all the fuss of bidding, sending emails, measuring sizes, checking clothing for every possible little stain or hole... So I hardly ever do it, while my cupboards and closets are slowly turning into heavily stuffed warehouses of dresses that will never fit me anymore, ceramics that I will never use and beautiful vintage shoes-that-in-fact-never-fit-me-but-that-I-somehow-bought-anyway.
  
But I looked myself in the eye and got started, real slowly, with taking some pictures of a very small part of the first large pile of clothes. I have lots of vintage dresses, coats, high heels and boots, lots of King Louie dresses, lots of great vintage ceramics... So far I have managed to put a few things on Marktplaats (you can find all my ads here), but I'm undecided yet about what would be the best place to sell these things. I might add some stuff to my etsy shop as well (if I can get myself to do all the listing stuff...).
I will be selling many more things, mainly dresses and other clothes in sizes XS-S-M, I have so many fabulous vintage dresses and it's kind of a shame that I'll probably never wear them again. Let me know if you see something you like (through a comment or email: ik_ben_nina[at]hotmail.com)! To be continued...
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Pet with a hat
About me
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12 April 2012 | 20:30:39
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Okay, I must admit that particularly this first image is a bit one in the 'pet with a hat' category (you know, those picture postcards of cats with a sun hat on, monkeys wearing swimsuits and dogs smoking cigars), but these two pictures of Rosa recently really made me laugh!
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Tired
About me
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11 April 2012 | 21:52:15
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All this climbing and walking...
... it does make you tired!
Dolls and toys are tired too...
In fact we're all a bit tired(Is that an understatement? It is!).
Since she was born 16 months ago, Rosa has never ever slept 'through the night', not even once. The best nights we ever had were like from 7 till 4 or 5, and then the circus of (a)waking started again. And those were rare, exceptionally good nights (we had a few of them this January ;)), though 4 or 5 in the morning is too early, no matter what. Now we're back at waking up a few times during the night again, but the good part this time is that final wake-up time now is like 6.30 instead of 4 or 5 in the morning. However last week Rosa got a terrible cough that now wakes her up all the time during her first few hours of sleep, so these last few days even the calm hours between 7 and 12 have been rocky. Her naps (that have always been close to non-existent) have improved a bit though lately. Let's hope this step of learning to walk will make her a bit more tired and a better sleeper...
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Planeta Tangerina
Art and design
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10 April 2012 | 13:24:46
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This is so beautiful... If their books were published in Dutch, I'd so be reading these to Rosa every day! (if she'd agree of course, Rosa has very strong preferences... Lately she's been haunting us with this bizarre and totally incomprehendable 1970s book called 'Little Peter's world travel', such an annoying little book but she insists that we keep reading it to her. Must hide it somewhere! ;))
Planeta Tangerina is a Portugese publisher that specializes in beautiful illustrated (children's) books. They also sell related products with their illustrations, such as screenprints, ceramics and notebooks, which all can be found in their online shop.
Oh, how I hope some of these will be translated to Dutch or English soon ;).
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New in the shop
Things I make
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04 April 2012 | 11:14:31
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A lot of new things in the shop! I also have some more updates of tiles and some seconds planned for the next couple of days... so have a look!
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Shape & color
Ceramics
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03 April 2012 | 20:17:43
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It's been a while since I really made my own ceramics (right now I only print on vintage ceramics, which is quite a different thing) and I'd love to get started again someday. Recently my very inspiring ceramics teacher, Netty van den Heuvel, passed away, and I realized that I could never go to her classes anymore. Those classes have played such an important part in my creative development and in what I'm doing today, I can't even begin to explain that. So it's a strange idea that if I'd ever want to start taking ceramics classes again, it's going to be with someone else.
Though right now I'm not very much involved in die hard ceramics making, ceramics still inspire and amaze me quite a lot. When I saw this page on Ben Fiess' website, my jaw literally dropped. So impressed with the beauty of these shapes and colors together. Just look! If I'd ever forgotten how much I love ceramics, now I remember again.
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Wow. Wow. Did I already say wow?
Art and design
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30 Maart 2012 | 17:26:22
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I'm not a brooche person at all, but these so make me want to wear one! These ceramic brooches are from a brand new Italian etsy shop called Atelier Gilet. Don't you almost want to eat these?
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The baker's daughter
Things I make
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30 Maart 2012 | 13:11:07
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I guess when you're the baker's daughter, you always get the leftover bread and cakes at the end of the day.
And when you're the headmaster's daughter, your behavior in class will always be monitored extra carefully.
But what when you're 'the screenprinter's daughter'?
Then you get things with your name printed on them all the time!
Ah well, there are worse ways to spoil one's childhood, aren't there? ;)
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Circus Rosa
About me
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28 Maart 2012 | 22:00:56
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This is what she'd love to do all day, if we'd let her: climbing on the window sill of her little room, doing funny tricks and watching what happens on the street below.
Don't worry: the windows are locked carefully with extra locks and the keys out of reach for her. We're always standing right next to her when she's doing this, and after some play time we close the door to her room so she can't enter unattended.
Still I find it scary, yes, but on the other hand I see her climb with so much confidence and I rather see her grow up with confidence in her body and the way she can use it than with fear. I've always been scared of falling, scared of losing my balance, scared of taking any risks when it comes to sports, I don't want to raise Rosa the same way.*
With children, there's this continuous seeking of balance between not taking unnecessary risks and becoming an alarmist. Children have to learn and grow confident by stumbling and falling, yet you'd never forgive yourself when a severe accident happens because of you being too nonchalant. I struggle to let go, and hope for the best.
* Once, I was about eight years old, I deliberately tried to challenge myself and did take a sporty risk: we were at a large playground with a 'water playground' area. They had put these tiles in a big pool at a large distance from one another, so that you could jump from one tile to the other. In a strange moment of desperate bravery, I chose the tiles with the largest distance inbetween, started running and the moment I jumped, I realized: 'I'm never going to make it'. And with the faint, hesitant jump that followed that moment of lack of confidence, I ended up somewhere halfway in the water.
It was a chilly day and my mom, who was terrified that I'd get a cystitis, insisted that I'd wear one of my baby sister's diapers under my wet clothes to avoid getting a cold troughout the rest of the day (we were on a day trip). Oh, the humiliation! I think I've never fully recovered (and I'll happily attribute my total lack of ambition when it comes to sports and physical training to that dreadful day ;)). |
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Tiles in the shop
Things I make
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26 Maart 2012 | 11:23:48
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I think pretty much all the available tiles are in the shop now, you can find them in their own tile section... Enjoy!
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