Opening Night at 64, Clerkenwell.

This Friday 27th April was the official opening of 64, Clerkenwell, Gaby Levene and Julie Landau's vintage and hand made pop up shop and an opportunity to show off our ware to the crowd of one of London's hippest hoods.

Ce Vendredi 27 avril c'est tenu le vernissage officiel du magasin vintage et fait-main de Gaby Levene et Julie Landau. Une chance en or de pouvoir montrer nos produits aux foules d'une des rues les plus branchées de Londres.

 Another one of Julie Landau's Shadow boxes.

Hand made note pads made from old school Patterns.

 Some of the stranger items for sale...
Qualques uns des objets les plus étranges...

 Gaby and Julie got an original Kaiser Calavera Drawing as a Thank You card!
On the right, a fake Francis Bacon by Gaby!

Gaby et Julie on même eu un dessin original Kaiser Calavera en remerciement !
A droite, un faux Francis Bacon fait par Gaby!

 Some of Gaby's more "exotic" Jewelry!... Can you guess how they fit?
Certains des bijoux les plus "exotiques" de Gaby!... Vous arrivez à voir coment ils tiennent?

Pigalle with a Swallow necklace!
Pigalle avec un collier hirondelle!


I'm a huge fan of Julie's Shadow boxes...

 And, of course, our cushions!

All rights reserved. All images and texts ©Die Young Stay Pretty and Kaiser Calavera 2012. Reproduction by any means forbidden unless authorised by copyright holders.
Tous droits réservés. Toutes images et textes ©Die Young Stay Pretty et Kaiser Calavera. Reproduction sans autorisation des ayants droits interdite par quelque moyen que ce soit.

Our new T-shirts are out!

First, we noticed that we do get quite a bit of Traffic from France, which is hardly surprising, given that DIY Market is now nearly upon us!
As a result, this blog will now be written in both French AND English... at the same time! We do aspire to reach more people all the time, and so don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like to contribute another language.
Otherwise... Wow! Do check out our new selection of T-shirts. We currently have 5 models out and we're hoping to double that by the time we hit Paris for DIY Market on 3rd June!

Premièrement, nous avons remarqué avoir pas mal de traffic en provenance de France. C'est  à peine surprenant, comme DIY Market arrive à grands pas.
Par conséquent, ce blog sera à présent écrit en français ET en anglais... Simultanément! Nous nous efforçons d'atteindre le plus de monde possible. Aussi, si vous voulez aider en ajoutant une langue suplémentaire, contactez nous!
Sinon, Wow! Regardez notre nouvelle sélection de T-shirts. On a 5 modèles dispo en ce moment, et on espère en avoir 5 de plus d'ici DIY Market le 3 juin!

These are available in all sizes for worldwide shipping now!
Price: €20/£16 +p&p.
Nos nouveaux T-shirts sont arrivés et peuvent dès à présent être postés dans le monde entier.
Prix: 20€/16GBP +port.

We feel the lineup for DIY Market will be totally phenomenal, so please do check it out if you're in Paris on 3rd June! You can also get a preview here: http://www.facebook.com/diy.market.paris and here: http://www.diy-market.fr/

Nous présentissons que le palmarès du DIY market sera absolument phénoménal, aussi n'hésitez pas à venir nous voir si vous êtes de passage à Paris. Voyez tout ici:  http://www.facebook.com/diy.market.paris et aussi ici: http://www.diy-market.fr/

All rights reserved. All images and texts ©Die Young Stay Pretty and Kaiser Calavera 2012. Reproduction by any means forbidden unless authorised by copyright holders.
Tous droits réservés. Toutes images et textes ©Die Young Stay Pretty et Kaiser Calavera. Reproduction sans autorisation des ayants droits interdite par quelque moyen que ce soit.

My first Mummy's head!

This shows you how my very first mummy's head was made... Enjoy!

 The mummy's head humbly started off as a plastic skull from Urban Outfitters.

 The skull was then primed in brown to get rid of the original gold paint.

 During the whole process, real mummy's heads were used as inspiration to achieve the highest possible level of realism.

 Once again, DAS modeling clay was used to model the ears.

 The eye sockets are filled with gauze to help with the modeling.

 The skull was then painted bone colour. Ground cork was added inside the eye sockets and nostrils to imitate rot.

 Modeling the face was done in just a few hours. DAS can be painted directly with acrylics without any priming needed.

 Frontal view of the finished head. Patina is created by dirtying up the head with soil and ground coffee.

All rights reserved. All content is copyright of Fabrice Arfi.

Cushions for sale at 64, Clerkenwell!

Wow!
You can now find a selection of our cushions at Gaby Levene and Julie Landau's pop-up shop at 64, Clerkenwell Road, London.

Click to display Map!

The Skull and Knuckleduster Pillows are looking great in the shop display!
The light boxes are by Julie Landau, of Eve and Eileen. Find her here: http://eveandeileen.com

Sull pillow looking totally awesome in the window. All other pillows are by the ridiculously talented Gaby Levene. Find here here: http://www.bluedragonflyfilms.com

I can't resist introducing you to the shop's very own Mascot, Ms Thea Butter. Thea Belonged to Gaby's Grandmother, herself a talented painter and, we're told, an exceptional art forger!

Ms Thea Butter lounging with a Skull Pillow!
All rights reserved. All content is copyright of Fabrice Arfi, with the exception of artwork depicted,  © Gabrielle Levene and Julie Landau 2012.

Logos for Die Young Stay Pretty!

We're joining forces with Die Young Stay Pretty for DIY Market in Paris in early June (still to be confirmed!)
http://www.diy-market.fr/
http://fr.dawanda.com/shop/dieyoungstaypretty
and http://www.facebook.com/my.queendom.for.jewelry
and so have been designing logos like crazy!

All logos are for printing on shirts, bags and badges/buttons

By the way, anybody knows of any cheap screen printing plans in London?

Kitsch and Vintage Propping.

A few small items can make a huge difference in an interior.
Left to right, we have:

a box of turn of the 20th century glass plate negatives, an early 1960's Florida transistor radio, a pre-war copy of Macbeth with a souvenir Eiffel Tower (purchased 2 years ago!) a vintage silver plate trophy cup, an original 1960's plastic Smiths kitchen clock, an early edition of Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales, a photocopied picture of the pope from a theatre set, a prop Mayan sacrificial knife (also made for a play!) a 1947 nickel silver football trophy cup, a 1980's Royal Navy Zippo lighter and a collection of original 18th and 19th century novels and poetry. No item cost more than £50.00. Many were found or given, the cheapest was probably the Zippo lighter (£1.00 at Jubilee market http://www.jubileemarket.co.uk/) and the most expensive, clearly, the original illustrated Oscar Wilde Fairy Tales.

I personally like to mix original vintage items with home made ones. Both support each other and help shift the focus from one item to the next.

Left to right:
Keane's Ethnology (Cambridge University Press), Smith's Galic Antiquities (an 18th century translation of the poems of Ossian), Sorcellerie dans les pays de mission (Belgian treaty on Witchcraft from 1938). On top is a Victorian silver sugar bowl (Peter Reimer Hinnerup, Copenhagen, 1841) with a sprig of Scottish heather. Behind is a theatre set repro of Erasmus Darwin's portrait by Joseph Wright of Derby. To the left, a fake Egyptian mummy's head made using the principle described here http://kaisercalavera.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/ebay-skull-painted.html

All rights reserved. All content is copyright of Fabrice Arfi.

New range of cushions!

Our latest additions!

Every cushion starts as a 2 dimensional drawing.

 Wool patterns are appliqued with our stunning 1960's Singer 99K sewing machine. Our current fabric of choice is Italian lambswool.

These will be presented for the first time at Paris' next DIY Market.
Check it out here!
http://www.diy-market.fr/


All rights reserved. All content is copyright of Fabrice Arfi.