Collecting goes to the dogs

:) I love that title! :P

Christie's, you know the big art auction house, is having a big sale on dog art... Yep, paintings of dogs... And you can pick up one for as much as $1.2 million. You read that right.

"Neptune" is a portrait of a Newfoundland dog by Sir Edwin Landseer. It's life-size, and could be sold for between $800 000 and $1.2 mill. (Lucky dog! My parents lab would never sell for that much ;) )

Incidentally, Suzy saw a photo of it, and loved it (she's an artist), so that's got to count for something.

Read more about it here.

It's not a dog... but here's a pig origami.

New commemorative stamp

Some new collecting news about stamps, which will make my uncle quite happy!

The Stamp Collecting Round-up last week posted about the news that the late President Ford will be presented on a new stamp. The image of President Ford will be on the 41-cent stamp which will be on sale after August 31st. Normally, presidents are given a commemorative stamp on the anniversary of their birthday (once the presidents have died that is), but apparently the family chose to release the stamp in August - Ford's birthday was July 14. ... So now Uncle Bob has yet another stamp to collect (and if he sets me this 'task', I can say I already know - won't he be pleased! :) )

And for origami collectors - and I know you're out there - the Fitful Flog has continued his awe-inspiring designs with the Stellated Curved Tetrahedron Redux. I don't think I'll be doing this one for a while! I barely mastered the butterfly above! (Shut up James :P)

$ - Where did it come from?

No, not from a stork. It wasn't dropped down a chimney only to land in a crib. ... Yes, the currency sign. It didn't think about it before, but really, where the heck did that sign come from?

Apparently, the symbol was used in 1782 for the first time. And apparently the US government back then thought it would be ingenious to use the peso as the American currency. No, really!

The Spanish dollar sign, written as $, came from an ancient Phoenician sign (some ancient type folk who lived in the Mediterranean). The sign means strength.

Well, now you know, you won't be checking for storks in your wallet!

Just as puzzling is my puzzle origami fish!

Diamonds are a collector's best friend

Here's my origami for today: a star box!

And the news for today....

Who would have thought that taking a walk in a state park would be a collector's dream day? The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is apparently the best place to go diamond collecting - for all you mineral geeks out there, mom included - with visitors allowed to pick up AND KEEP any diamonds they find.

James said he'd take me one day ;)

The park comes to attention after a young girl found a 2.93 carat diamond at the end of a long diamond-hunting day with her family. Apparently there have already been 332 diamonds found this year alone (!!), with one appraised between $15 000 and $60 000. Wow! Now James really does have to take me :D

Read all about it here.

DIY baseball memorabilia display

DIY Network has posted a video that shows the average person a creative way of displaying your sports memorabilia. I'm not really into collecting sports stuff, but the video is a neat reminder of rethinking the ways that you can display your collectibles. For instance, they show you how to turn all your trading cards into a nice picture frame. I may have to do this at some point in order to display my growing collection of origami cards and pieces!

Check out the video here.

And my origami piece for today is a bat - in homage to the baseball bats in this video!

Corrugated paper and the real link

In a recent post, I mentioned a great instructional video on creating corrugated paper, that was listed on Origami Tessellations.

Eric Gjerde, who runs Origami Tessellations, left me a comment on the post! Here's what he says:

"I'm glad you liked my little site- thanks for the mention! Although I have to say that Paul Jackson is the one responsible for the nice corrugated paper instructions, I just reposted it :)keep up the good work, and keep creating!"

Thanks Eric! And you are quite right; I didn't link to Paul Jackson, who made the video. So here it is:

Paul Jackson, origami artist. His gallery is definitely worth looking at; he puts my origami to shame. My favorite is the rhino. Although the organic abstracts comes in second! :)

And here's a lily to Eric for pointing it out, and being so encouraging! Thanks Eric!

Uncle Bob and his stamps

My uncle is a stamp nut. He collects all sorts of stamps (I guess it is in the family), but he is a big fan of airmail and anything stamps that include planes. Whenever my uncle sees me, he finds a way of "setting a task" for me to do - and that's what he did a couple of weeks ago.

I know, I know. He's a bit weird; but harmless, and actually quite sweet! (You know I mean well Uncle Bob :) )

Anyway, the task this time was to go find out something about the history of the Scott Catalogue. For those who don't know, stamp collectors use the publication as the industry-standard price guide and catalogue of all the latest stamps. Uncle Bob always goes on about some stamp or other from it, and has a huge stack of them at his house.

So in trying to complete my "task" (he never uses a different word, it's always a task), I went hunting on the net to find the info. And it took me all of five seconds.

Don Schilling, who writes the Stamp Collecting Round-up blog, posted on the very topic just a few days ago. The blog looks like it's an excellent resource for stamp collectors, and I bet Uncle Bob visits it every day (I bet he's going to ask me where I found the information, and he's going to say 'Oh, that good ol' place!'). Anyway, according to the blog, the Scott Catalogue developed in 1867, after John Walter Scott began circulating a price list of his dealership's catalogue. Read the full post here.

So next time I see Uncle Bob, I can tell him all about the history of the catalogue - and hope that he gives up on giving me these little tasks! :)

By the way - today's origami is a box. For Uncle Bob's stamps!

Harry Potter and the Wonderous Theme Park

If you're anything like me - and the rest of the reading world - you'll love the Harry Potter books. I fell in love with them a few years ago, and since then have been collecting whatever I can on the topic of HP wizardry.

The LA Times recently reported that a 20-acre Florida theme park will be created, with more than $200 million going into it. Hopefully the park will open in 2009. Disney apparently turned down the opportunity to create it, which I guess is kind of stupid on their part, since HP is big business. And even bigger for J K Rowling, the author, who's bound to get all sorts of royalties.

Wow! Imagine all the great things you could have there - train stations with invisible platforms, candy stores galore (with, of course, chocolate frogs!), wand stores, costumes, castles... flying cars! ... Strange creatures! The Times says there will be three areas, the Hogwarts Castle (of course!), Hogsmeade Village, and the Forbidden Forest (brrr... no creepy spiders for me).

Watch the video announcement here.

And in homage to that news, my origami for today is a popcorn box!

Asia cracks down on video pirates

Edit: Here's the butterfly pic...

Who hasn't gone out and bought a cheap DVD or video, only to discover that it's a pirated version?

Recently, James has been complaining, because every time he tries to buy a rare DVD of some obscure movie, it ends up being a fake. You know how pirated movies always have at least one person standing up in front of the screen, or a phone going off, or the screen goes blurry for a second? Well, it occurs to me that collectors of film and TV items have a huge disadvantage. They are working against all sorts of forgers, frauds, and other people. (For example, my recent discovery of fake movie autographs on ebay) How on earth can they possibly buy authentic merchandise, when so little of it is actually authentic?

So what's being done about all those naughty pirates? Most of the pirated movies are coming from Asia, where it seems it is fairly easy to go into a cinema, set up a camera, and press record. But I found out recently that Malaysian ushers are using night-vision goggles (yes, that's right!) to spot pirates in the dark. So far they've caught 17 people, and have even gotten trained dogs to sniff out DVDs - with good results!

Read more about it here.

Oh, and today's origami piece is a simple butterfly.

Wal-mart to close fabric and craft sections

I'm in the middle of a big craft project at school this week, and needed to buy some papers, string, that sort of stuff. I thought I'd be able to get it at my mom's local Wal-mart; visiting my parents makes it ideal, as my mom loves the store and goes there all the time.

But I was really disappointed because my mom's local store has decreased its area devoted to crafts. James almost had to take us home, because we spent an hour trying to figure out if they'd just moved the crafts to a different part of the store. Finally, we gave up.

I've been talking to some friends and family, and apparently they've all had similar problems; Wal-mart seems to be closing down all their craft and fabric departments.

James suggested I look it up on the net, and I found some stuff about it. Here's a petition to stop Wal-mart from closing the departments. There's a blog post on it here.

This makes me really mad, because my mom loves making and collecting miniatures and dolls, and I know that she has spent a lot of time in Wal-marts. I can't believe that they would just make the departments disappear, with no warning, and nothing to replace the hole that is left. Ha! Wal-mart says that 'celebration centers' - with yarn, fabrics, and 'celebratory' items like birthday hats, etc - will be the replacement. But I doubt that there will be a good selection like there was before.

Send a letter, spend a little more

Edit: Here's the sumo wrestlers pic...

Today’s project? Two sumo wrestlers, origami style! Tee hee, they are so cute! (I really need to get myself that scanner, so you can see all the cool pieces I’ve made!)

You know, I was reading Yahoo yesterday, and everybody has probably heard the news by now – stamp prices are increasing. I didn’t think much of it, and this doesn’t sound like interesting news, but James made a good point about it last night: for every time a stamp price increases, a new batch of stamps must be made with the new price on it. And that’s big news in the collecting world, since that means a lot more stamps to collect.

Read about the news here.

Ooh – and before I forget – props go to Origami Tessellations, for all their inspiring links! This is a really neat site, with lots of pics. Today’s post includes a step-by-step instructional video on how to make corrugated paper. See it here. I’ve already started mine!

eBay hunt

I’ve been really getting into the posts from ‘The Fitful Flog’ lately. Philip doesn’t just make great origami, but he also photographs them in wonderful ways. His pentagonal compass rose box is such a very nice piece that I wish I could take it home with me (I think he might be offended if I just turned up and demanded he hand it over). Anyway, I just thought I’d give some ‘props’ to the guy, as I really enjoy reading all about his life and his origami in one hit!

This week I’ve been scouring eBay for a present for a friend. He’s really into film posters, and I thought I would get him a Star Wars poster that was autographed. I tell you what, eBay is just the best. Whatever you are looking for, it’s there. I’ve been able to buy all sorts of origami stuff, including some of my favorite origami books. I find it so amazing that so many people have so much to sell – it makes you think about how many things we throw out every day that someone else might have a use for.

Anyway, I think I’ll go and bid on something before it disappears!

My letter

Edit: Here's the bonnet pic!

So today’s origami project is a little bonnet. I mentioned in my previous post that I had an Origami-a-day calendar: well, this is today’s. Unfortunately, the instructions aren’t all that clear, and I’m stuck at the point where ... never mind. I was looking at the instructions and the folded piece in order to write an explanation of where I was stuck, and then *poof* I got it. (It was the point where you valley fold the end of the paper to make the bonnet’s hem. I don’t think I was reading the instructions very carefully, because if I’d looked at it properly, then I would have understood.

I’m not exactly doing the origami in order, so the next piece I’m folding is a paper hat.
James was telling me this morning that I should post on my swap meet find – the 1840s letter – because he finds it so fascinating. Apparently. I’m not sure if he’s sarcastic, so if he is, then this is really going to bore him.

I bought the letter for $6. It is fairly unintelligible, but I think the address is to: A Stevenson Esq., B L Co, Langholm. I think that’s in Scotland. The paper itself is a bit damaged, with deep creases in the folds and some discoloration. There is one large page, which has been folded in half, then glassboard folded, and then folded over into a third of its size (making an envelop). The letter obviously had a seal, as there is a clear imprint on the paper; there is also a swirly design embedded in the paper. Inside the letter is as follows:

“New... 18 June 1840 –

“Dear Sir,

“I think that it ... no more than common courtesy to wait the arrival of the Post ... before noting Bills and being in such a luxury to extend the .... At least ... that it is the practice with all the ... Branch Banks at Warwick to make noting Bills nearly the last thing ... shutting up and also at the National Laugholm.

“...

“yours ...

“Aml Armstrong”

Eventually I’ll work out the words where I inserted the ellipses, but for now, who knows?
I don’t normally buy letters when I’m out collecting, but I thought it was such an interesting example of history. Most people would find a letter about a bill to be mundane – heck, I know I do every time my utilities arrive – but this is a perfect example of my comments in my previous post. In this letter, there is a snapshot of time, expression, language, style and fashion, and pure commonality. I was reading the National Geographic yesterday (April 2007 issue) on the plight of our sea-going creatures. It noted that in New Zealand, they try to preserve areas of their seas that are both unique and average. By doing so, they think they can preserve a wider range of sea life. Perhaps my letter is just a way of preserving a little of the average of someone’s everyday life.

... Now get this thing out of my pocket, it’s starting to creep me out! It’s a bit creepy carrying around someone’s bill from the 1800s.

First post!

Wow! My first blog! I'm so excited!

I know people have been blogging for a while now, but really, I've only just caught on. All my friends have been doing it, and they keep saying for me to get one... and now I have! (So there James :P)

Anyway, I thought I'd start by blogging a bit about my collection, since that's what my blog is going to be about. As mentioned in my profile, I collect paper and origami, but I also like collecting in general. There's something really exciting about going to a yard sale and seeing what you can find. This week I found a great little swap meet that sold all sorts of neat stuff. There was even some ephemera (I'm teaching myself all these new words; ephemera is all types of collectible papers), and I went home with a letter written in the 1840s! I'd post a pic, but I don't have access to a scanner at the moment.

But I do have a pic of some origami I made... hmm, no I don't. Still no scanner!

I'm not really that great at making origami, but my mom got me this Origami calendar, where you make a new one every day. I think it was from 2002, but hey, at least I'm still doing it :)

Actually, I wish I had been in New York this week - though I live in NY, I'm home visiting my folks - because I read on the Post that the American Museum of Natural History had a big sleepover. My kind of fun! The whole point was to get people to stay the night at the museum, and allow them to view displays at their leisure. Not only do you get to camp out 'under the whale', but you get origami classes, midnight fossil hunting, a look at the night sky through the planetarium, plus heaps more. *Sigh...*

The Post even lists a whole bunch of other museums which offer extra activites, which I think I'm going to have to check out at some point. I'd love the 'Roar 'n Snore' in Baltimore!