Isle of Dogs - Possible Stationery Addict

We are a fan of the latest Wes Anderson film of Isle of Dogs (犬ヶ島). We have visited their London exhibition at The Store X on The Strand, don't miss out on the exhibition if you haven't been yet as you will get to see about 17 different scenes from the films and the lovely puppets.

The film has recently launched something called Daily Scraps with a really cute website name too dailyscraps.dog. This website is a mobile only website, that allows you to have a paw scratch of the infamous trash sacks that are deposited onto Megasaki and may have a chance of winning some amazing Isle of Dogs merchandise / film props - i.e. your puppy snaps. Dream eh?

One thing we have discovered is that we think there could be a stationery fan in Isle of Dogs. Whilst we had a scratch and sniff around the scrap bags in hope to find our puppy snaps, we unveiled stationery! Woohoo! Definitely no trash to us, we hit treasure! We found beautifully illustrated stationery and text books aligned to the same quirky design aesthetics of the film along with japanese translation and pronunciation of each of the stationery goodies. There's even a cook book. Yum! Although we may have yet to win any Puppy Scraps, we have scored the opportunity to see some super duper adorable stationery illustrations instead! A cute beaut to feast the eyes with. 

Images courtesy from DailyScraps.dog / Isle Of Dogs Movie.

We also particularly love this behind the scene clip on how some of the Isle of Dogs puppets are made and the intricate details that have gone into make the stop-motion film. Happy puppy snaps time! 

Pantone Fruit Smoothie

Pantone Smoothie a project by Michael Kushner and Hedvig Kushner that documents delicious fruity smoothie recipes along with a matching pantone smoothie swatch. Yum!

Online Carrot Museum

Who loves carrots? We do. We have included carrots in our Sunday Roast Pencils. On the 4th April, it's International Carrot Day #InternationalCarrotDay. We are glad to have stumbled upon the World Carrot Museum. It is a virtual museum that has pretty much all the information on carrots, from shapes, sizes, colour, A to Z on the different varieties and even a fine art page on carrots. The fine art page include works of René Magritte and Henri Matisse.

Our favourite part of the museum apart from from the A to Z of the different varieties of carrots is that it has a floor plan to help navigate around the museum. Every room is a link to a different section of the website. We particularly love the name of the room "Vitamin A" and "Wild Carrot".  For recipes, you can just click on "Carrot Cafe" on the map. Hooray for Carrots! 

DIY Faux Chocolate Easter Eggs Tutorial

Eggstra Eggstra! This year Easter lands on April's Fools day. We always like a bit of tongue and cheek, there's no better time for a tutorial for a little bit of egg-foolery! Hee hee!

Who likes chocolate easter eggs? We do! We have just the tutorial for the chocoholics out there that are expecting a chocolate easter egg this easter - NOT! It's April's Fool after all. 

Through this tutorial we will create the egg-foolery of faux chocolate eggs, by dyeing eggs to look like chocolate eggs. Yes, there's more to this than meets the eye and we shall sit the eggs on to a placement card. Perfect as an addition to an Easter table setup.

Here's how to make them:

MATERIALS

• 6 Duck Eggs (We use Clarence Court ones, as duck eggs have a white shell so it easier to colour the eggs)

• 12 Quail Eggs (For faux mini chocolate eggs, just like mini eggs, quail eggs are ideal)

• Breakfast Tea Bags (We love a strong brew. We like Yorkshire Tea Bags).

• Coffee

• Distilled White Vinegar

• Paper to print the placement cards. We recommend pastel paper from Paperchase, but white paper will just look as nice.

TOOLS

• scissors

• spoon

• oven rack to dry the eggs

• saucepan or bowls to dye eggs in

METHOD

1. Hard boil the eggs. For the duck eggs it takes about 15-20 minutes. For quail eggs about 10 minutes. Once boiled, run the eggs through cold water to cool the eggs down.

2. We are using two of our daily brews, coffee and tea as natural dyes to dye the eggs.

   • Dark Brown Effect (like Dark Chocolate) : Make 2 strong cups of coffee and add 2 tablespoons of vinegar and pour into a saucepan.

   • Reddish Brown Effect (like Milk Chocolate) : Pour 2 cups of hot water into a bowl and add 4 tea bags. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar into the bowl. Leave the tea bags in to brew for a stronger colour.

3. Add 3 eggs to the coffee mixture and slowly simmer the eggs for about 30 minutes. The liquid should not cover the eggs entirely (for a marbled effect). If you prefer an even coat of colour around the eggs make sure the eggs are fully immersed in the dye. Whilst the eggs are simmering, use a spoon to turn them every now and then.

4. Similarly add 3 eggs to the tea mixture. We have done a 50:50 split between the coffee / tea dyed eggs, it's optional. The liquid should not cover the eggs entirely (for a marbled effect). If you prefer an even coat of colour around the eggs make sure there is enough liquid to immerse the eggs. Whilst the eggs are simmering, use a spoon to turn them every now and then.

5. The richness of the colour depends on how long you soak the eggs in the dye. For the marbled effect, as the vinegar erodes the texture of the shells once the dye is cooled, gently rub the surface of the eggs in a circular motion. You will see some of the dye colours being rubbed off ( don't worry, it’s part of the effect ), and place the eggs back to the dye. In total we left the eggs for a deeper colour in for about 3 hours. For the lighter shade eggs, we took them out after an hour.

6. Leave the eggs onto an oven rack to dry. The tea bags dye liquid should result in eggs that have a more reddish tone like milk chocolate, but that is also dependent on the type of tea you use. The coffee dye should result in a darker brown, like dark chocolate shade.

7. Eggs dyeing is a bit of "Eggsperiment" - if the solution is too acidic, the egg shells are more prone to crack. For dyeing quail eggs, note that, if the quail eggs are submerged in the dye for about an hour, when you rub the egg shells, the natural pigmentation (i.e. the teeny tiny polka dot freckles) may be rubbed off. This is due to the acid softening the shells of the eggs.

8. Download the templates, print and cut them around the dotted line. We printed the placemat cards on pastel paper, however white A4 paper will work. The resultant placemat card will be around the size of a A6 postcard. and each postcard has tiny chicken feet illustrated on them with the options of the text "You're A Cracker!" or "You Make Me Crack" , quite literally. The templates can be downloaded by clicking on the below link:

• You're A Cracker Egg Placemat Template

• You Make Me Crack Egg Placemat Template

9. Place the dried dyed eggs on to the placement cards and share the surprise!

The tradition of decorating easter eggs, is to signify the arrival of Spring. Although the weather is not quite spring yet, but we hope the pastels and fun with this little spoof will bring a spring in your step. Happy Easter! 

P.S. The placement cards can also be downloaded to be used for real chocolate easter eggs (without any foolery) for plenty of smiles.

Easter Outfit Illustration

Never knowing what quite to wear for an Easter gathering with the family? These beautifully illustrated New Yorker covers by illustrator Maira Kalman, who has illustrated many other witty whimsical New Yorker covers are an inspiration. Time for an easter bonnet everyone that would make a good outfit of the day! Remember to hashtag #OOTD.

We are also particular fans of Maira's illustration on dogs, her book Beloved Dogs.  

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Who loves toast? Especially when toast is combined with a topping of kawaii art? That is us. Foodie Nayoko Kobayashi from the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa combines the cutest icons, from emojis, rainbows, beer glasses, mushrooms, flowers to minions and decorate the humble white sliced toast bread with a background of cream cheese and colourful glossy application of jam. 

Here's some of our favourites of Nayoko's creations which can be found via Instagram account @Nayoko054 including watermelon, sushi, doughnuts, burger, milkshake and really cute fruits - check that 3D grape effect!

Food for thought : probably a British version of toast bread art could be with scones, clotted cream and jam?

Isle of Dogs Map

Pencil drawings especially maps are a real treat like this cute hand drawn map of Isle of Dogs submitted to the Londonist. 

Wouldn't it be cool if Google Maps has a hand drawn version of their maps for navigation? 

Colourful Houses Bring Smiles

German artist Janusz Grünspek has photographed a series of work namely Urban Pics featuring colourful house facades including rainbows, dreamy pastels, strong bold bright colours including purples and pinks, but our favourite houses are the ones that make faces from the facades. (Spot the orange ones!)

Images courtesy of Janusz Grünspek's instagram account @janusz.gruenspek. In addition check out his beautiful sculptures it makes us smile too!