The most frivolous of fripperies: text and activity design for parties. Not even big parties!

Linocut Stamped & Hand-Dyed Bandanas

My dad is into the outdoors. For his 70th birthday, I dyed blank bandanas, carved a large commemorative linocut with which to stamp them, and got everyone at the party to wear one. The bandanas are lovely lightweight organic cotton sourced from MAIWA and still get a lot of use in our family on hikes, unicycle rides, etc.

I had ambitious plans for the party bandanas (a different design in each corner!) that were nixed in order to finish in time. I later finished two of the additional Dad Designs I had planned, tools and a hiking scene. For my own delight I also carved a dragon based on the Luristan newt. I then dyed and stamped more bandanas to sell at SF Zinefest.

See below a bandana given to my brother featuring all designs. My dad got one too, even if it was a little late!

Wisteriafest 2025

Magnets for Wisteriafest 2025, a dinner potluck of purple foods held under the wisteria that was going absolutely ham in my driveway.

Birthday Paint-and-Sips

The current ideal birthday party for me is a paint and sip where I set up a still life with all my tchotchkes and get so into painting that I forget to sip. My friends have a wide variety of artistic and non-artistic backgrounds and are real champions for giving it a shot–twice now!

To set my pals up for success, I cut postcard-size rectangles of plywood, gesso and sand them, and give them bright coats of paint. This is a good amount of space to fill in an hour and a half and less intimidating than a blank canvas. I also provide paints in a split primary palette and no black paint unless they ask really nicely; this creates vibrant results.

Houseworming

Houseworming for my sweetheart. 🪱

Ex Libris Stamp

Not a party but a frippery: a linocut stamp for all of my books. I looked into my heart and asked the 10-year-old bookworm there what would be truly representative of my reading taste, and lo! Another cool dragon was revealed.