Amsterdam: Part Two

1. fossils 2. autumn views 3. window display 4. little car 5. antique anatomical model 6. wall chart in the amazing Het Grote Avontuur

Amsterdam: Part One

1. window display 2. bikes, bikes, everywhere 3. walking to the AMC 4. amazing wallpaper at the Frozen Fountain 5. street patterns

Four beautiful days of crisp mornings and map reading, armed with a Museumkaart and a pair of sturdy walking shoes, getting lost and not caring in one of my favourite cities. We never stopped moving, not wanting to waste a second of our time. With each visit to Amsterdam I fall in love with it all over again: the cats, the art, the wonky canal houses, the stylish Dutch folk multitasking  (kidsdogsumbrellaphone) carelessly on bikes in situations where I would most likely just end up in a heap on the floor.

Our list of adventures includes visiting the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frankhuis, Stedelijk Museum, the Hermitage Amsterdam (where the Van Gogh collection currently resides during renovation of the museum), Rembrandthuis, FOAM gallery (currently hosting the incredible Diane Arbus exhibition I saw earlier this summer in Berlin and that you NEED to see) and playing with beautiful feline friends at De Poezenboot; not forgetting trawling shops/antique/design centres including Droog Design, Frozen Fountain, Boekie Woekie (a lovely little shop selling artist books) and Het Grote Avontuur. My highlight of the trip was taking the train to the stunning Vrolik medical collection, where I spent hours staring at rows of skeletons, jars of organs, molar pregnancies and other such oddities whilst marvelling over how wonderful and intricate and vivid our bodies are. Plus there are the amazing meals we ate (Burgermeester do an incredible veggie burger with goats cheese and tomato chutney, oh! and some kind of hazelnut chocolate heaven from Pucinni Bomboni) and tasty Dutch beers.. It almost broke my heart to leave. 

However, as sad as I was to go, I am back in my little house with my fat cat, looking forward to our quilt class and making a dent in my huge pile of library books. I guess things aren't so bad after all here in wet England. More pictures tomorrow, for now, sleep!

Dots Printhaus

dots printhaus is an independent screenprinting business based in Leeds. Whilst Martin printed an Eco Screen Print clients design, I cured the t-shirts with a heat press and entertained myself by examining every inch of their beautiful workshop, taking a few pictures via Instagram. You can read more about them and all the wonderful things they do over at their website. Johnny and Joe feature in a short film you can watch on the Leeds Made website surrounding the theme "collaboration"; best of all their twitter account is headed by a lovely dog called Alfie.

two versions of home

birds & wasps nest via Instagram [follow me @skeletonvine]

p.s. the Gizeh Records 2012 sampler is now available to download over at the Gizeh Store, featuring ten beautiful (and free!) tracks from the likes of Conquering Animal Sound, Sleepingdog, A-Sun Amissa, FareWell Poetry and a few other talented folks. We shall also be announcing two exciting new releases later this week, so please check back soon!