Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic

Here's an incredibly painstaking, ridiculously intricate piece of art.
The Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech republic is probably one of the weirdest, most insane works of art. Imagine one part sculpture, and one part mausoleum.


Built from the skeletons of between 40,000 to 70,000 people, the arrangements within the Sedlec Ossuary defy imagination. A Woodcarver named Frantisek Rint, was hired to give order to the massive amount of human remains that had been exhumed after a push to reconstruct the holy ground around a Gothic church in the town of Sedlec.


The bones used in this fantastic macabre wonder had once been the property of hundreds of thousands of people that had died in the mid 14th century due to the Black Death.




These awesome original photos came from Curious Expeditions Photoset on Flickr.
There are more amazing photos
here if you'd like to see more!
There are 33 great ones in total in the set.


And, if you'd like to know more history behind this place, more images and content can be found at
SedlecOssuary.com

Holiday Gifts : Delicious Sweets

There's nothing better than a little bit of sugar to brighten the grey days of winter.
Here are an assortment of delicious made-to-order sweets from sellers on Etsy!
All of these look so amazing (and affordable!)

I am especially looking forward to ordering and tasting the pistachio nougat from Calabasas Candy Co!


Apple Cider Caramel
$7.00
by Calabasas Candy Co

Pistachio Nougat
$7.50
by Calabasas Candy Co

Lavendar Marshmallows
$7.50
by Calabasas Candy Co

Chocolate Creme Sandwich Cookies Covered in Caramel & Milk Chocolate
$12.00
by nikid

Peanut Butter Fudge
$11.00
by JewelofHelion

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cubes
$4.00
by Fahrenheitgoods

Cole Thompson

Cole Thompson takes a lot of really good black and white photos.

These are from a series called Harbinger. I would have called it "Lonely Clouds" or something.

Calligraphy

These little bits of hand type make me so happy. Penmanship is a lost art - A couple of months back I posted a link to a great calligraphy site. I still believe we need to revive handwriting.

Here are a few cute things you can consider getting for the illustrative type loving people on your list.


Tell People
$11.00
by Heidi Burton

Penmanship "Home Room" Pillow
$22.00
by ShopDirtsa

Calligraphy Christmas Card
$15.00
by LaBelleVieDesign

Calligraphy Favor Bag Stamp
$95.00
by Designs by Robin Love

Vintage Christmas Note Cards
$18.00
by La Belle Vie Design

Flourished Copperplate Script Envelope Addressing
$1.75
by Belles Lettres Designs

Rukes + Deadmau5

Deadmau5 came on today while I was working. I was immediately reminded of some amazing photos I saw a couple weeks/months ago, taken by Rukes, an event photographer who seems to do a whole lot of Deadmau5 photography.







It seems like he puts on a good show.

Pretty Hate Machine

Pretty Hate Machine, by Nine Inch Nails, was the first Compact Disc I ever bought. I was pretty darn young and it shaped what I listened to for a lot of my formative years. For better or worse.

When I saw there was a newly released 2010 Remastered Edition of Pretty Hate Machine, I knew I couldn't resist. If you're anything like me, listening to Head Like a Hole brings your childhood flooding back in a rush of nostalgia. And it's definitely worth a listen. Compared to the new version, the original sounds like a tinny AM radio.

Pretty Hate Machine is a product of it's time, for sure, and probably doesn't hold up as well as Nine Inch Nails' later works... but man, oh man, does it take me back.

Holiday Gifts : Time

These clocks by Igenoki, Dan Johnson Designs & Decoy Lab are amazing.
I especially love the baby bunny design - the illustrations by Decoy Lab are fantastic, and are such amazing backdrops for these fantastic clocks!

Check out the links below for more great clocks & decor by these awesome designers!

A.
Animal Clock Uma (Horse)
$80.00
by Igenoki

B.
Cheesecake Clock
$29.00
by DanJohnsonDesigns

C.
Mini Wall Hanging Tea Pot Clock
$18.00
by Decoylab

D.
Modern Baby Clock - Owl
$58.00
by Decoylab

E.
Counting Bunny Clock
$30.00
by Decoylab

F.
Wood Panel Cuckoo Clock - Lime
$34.00
by Decoylab

Holiday Gifts : Leading into 2011

I can't believe it's almost December.
There are only a few weeks left of the Fall semester and it's already snowed a fair amount. I've been thinking a lot about new years resolutions, even.
So far, I've only narrowed down to:

1. eating more chocolate
and
2. drinking more tea

Here are some beautiful calendars for you to look at - straight from some awesome designers/artists over on Etsy.

2011 Summer Surf 5 x 7 Calendar
$15.00
by elgarboart

2011 A Year of Love 5 x 7 Calendar
$ 12.50
by bomobob

2011 Manila Hardbound People Planner
$18.00
by Notebooksetc

Gold and Curry 2011 Weekly Planner
$32.00
by RockpileBindery

2011 Invincible Summer Animal Calendar
$12.00
by Spinstersummer

2011 Wall Calendar
$35.00
by Behappynow

Holiday Gifts : Mugs

I'm going to be posting quite a few fun things here on the PB blog for cute gifts for the holidays. I've been on a vintage kick over the last couple months and it's carried forward into my gift giving.

Here are some great vintage mug choices for the coffee or tea drinker in your life!
I've hand picked these from the bountiful pages of Etsy! Everything on this page is an authentic 100% vintage set (except for the upcycled one which has new mustaches on vintage mugs!). I love the shapes, handles, and graphics on these babies!


A.
Vintage Floral Stackable Mugs
$18.00
by SwankyLady

B.
Multicolored Mustache Stacking Mugs
$39.50
by Vinyl Soul

C.
Floral Montage Vintage Royal Crown Pedestal Mugs
$15.00
by Recycled Charm

D.
Mod Flower Mug
$5.50
by Scmcdonald1s

E.
Set of 4 Ironstone Pink Flower Coffee Mugs
$19.99
by 2peasinaModPod

F.
Mod Optical Art Mugs - Pair of 2
$12.00
by SewPeace420

G:
Pretty Lady Mug
$7.50
by TheBestThings

H.
Set of 2 Vintage Rainbow Mugs
$13.00
by KayaPapaya

I.
Vintage Ceramic Mug Set
$18.00
by Jherrmann

J.
Set of Vintage Animal Bone China Tea Cups (5)
$30.00
by CrabvilleinAutumn

John Kenn

In grade, middle and high school it was worksheets. Working a restaurant in college, it was receipts, order tickets, napkins and paper cups. Later, in an office, it was the margin of notes from countless meetings.

Doodling is a way of life, and you use what you can find. The yellow post-it note drawings of John Kenn are an excellent example of doodling at it's best.







I just want to live in this world.

Kim Burke

You can buy collectible tiny food from your local Japanese import store. Those are pretty amazing, and I confess I am guilty of buying quite a few little sets, but they're nothing on the handmade creations of Kim Burke.


The textures she pulls off at such a tiny scale are incredible.


Each piece has it's own sheen.


Her cat is pretty impressed, too. Or maybe upset, since it's too small and inedible to eat.
Look at her Flickr for a ton (a gram?) more cool work. She sells things on Etsy, too!

The Good Old Days

When I saw this shirt on webcomic/nerd super-site Diesel Sweeties I had to grab it immediately. Because it's elitist AND true.



I remember those days fondly.

Girl Talk

Yesterday, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis) surprised-released his third album, All Day. Like his previous albums, it's available for free (or whatever you feel like paying) on Illegal Art.

Girl Talk's albums are created from a wealth of unauthorized samples. Although it might not make music publishers happy, the albums are always available for free and fall under fair use.

I was a huge fan of his previous album, Feed the Animals. Some people felt it was too schizophrenic, but the constantly shifting pace ensured some of the better juxtapositions left you wanting more, and anything that felt less inspired never lingered long enough to be offensive. It was a one-stop, frenetic party.

From what I've heard, All Day seems to be a worthy successor.

Baldur's Gate II

Baldur's Gate II holds a special place in Paper Bicycle's heart. Although Lindsay doesn't play many games, it's easily her favorite (well, next to the impossible-to-find Darklands). It's huge, epic, dense and fantasy as f**k.



Originally released in 2000, it's not the easiest game to find (and run) these days. Until today. Thankfully, you can now grab Baldur's Gate II Complete from Good Old Games for dirt cheap.

Good Old Games is an amazing site that offers tons of classic PC games for super cheap, optimized to run on modern systems without a hitch. And best of all, every game they offer is DRM free.



Sure, it's PC only and Paper Bicycle is all Macbooks. But Baldur's Gate II is so good that Lindsay bought a PC laptop for the sole purpose of playing it. That's love.

Skullyplush

Chris Schons is an amazing comic artist with a passion for toys, video games and nerd culture. He's also a close personal friend of Paper Bicycle.

He just recently completed his first round of Skullyplush, a line of stuffed characters created to honor the tiny, pixelated heroes who risk life and limb to entertain us daily.





Visit his store. Go get one! Or a bunch! Whatevs no big whoop!

Festival Cinq Saisons 2010

Festival Cinq Saisons (Five Seasons Festival) takes place in the French town of Chaudfontaine. I don't know much more about it because I don't speak French. Sorry.

But the work on display is very, very cool.

Fred Eerdekens

Fred Eerdekens creates sculptures that may not look particularly special at first glance. Once properly lit, however, they become almost magical.







(via My Modern Met)

Lovely Package

Lovely Package features tons of amazing packaging designs.

They have a wide variety of fun categories, including a spotlight on student work. Current student Chul Lee came up with this super smart, geometric packaging motif for coffee and all the things that go along with it.

Le Royaume

"Le Royaume" is the 2010 graduating student film from Gobelins, in France. All I can saw is 'Wow'. Wow wow wow.

Natasha Allegri

Natasha Allegri is so amazing in so many different ways. She is currently working on Adventure Time! for Cartoon Network with Pendleton Ward. Her styles are so amazing and diverse. Truly talented.

This is part of a comic she did for an alternate reality, gender-switch version of Adventure Time! See more here!



And here's just some more cool stuff. Click here for more!

Sibfox

Remember when there was a popularity surge in dog breed mashups? How about a species step backward in the canine family tree? Sibfox is a pet fox distribution company, so you can head right on over if you think you've found your new best friend.

And even if you are pretty sure you've reached your pet limit–like the rest of us here–the site also has interesting information about the origins of this peculiar species.
If anybody does get a pet fox, by the way, let us know.

Sam Weber

Watching Sam Weber grow as an artist has been pretty amazing. I've admired his work since I was still in school, but he's really continued to grow and advance to a whole new level and it's really remarkable.

He recently announced that he did the cover for American Illustration 29, and it's pretty breathtaking.









I stopped picking up illustration and design annuals last time I moved, I think. They're really big and heavy and add up fast when you're packing boxes. But maybe this one will be an exception...

Ebay's Reusable Boxes!?!?

What a cool new way for a message in a bottle? Ebay has created these reusable boxes to be shipped around that started in October. After a few months they will track them to see if they are effective! For more info, visit inhabitat.

Piel Script

A good script font is tough to find. You always need one, but it seems like you never have one that works just right. I'm always on the lookout for excellent new ones.



Piel Script is a beautiful new font that pays homage to tattoo culture. And I like it a lot.

(via Veer)