Happiest of New Years

It's been a busy and productive year at Castle in the Air, with a lot of changes for the store and many, many new friends and acquaintances. I hope you can say the same about your year, and that 2010 is greater still. The shop will be closed this coming Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for our annual inventory, and when we open our doors again you'll be able to see us transformed yet again, this time for a brand new decade. Happy New Year!

Commonplace Mouse is Here!

Callooh! Callay! After many adventures, Commonplace Mouse has arrived at Castle in the Air! Today a large truck pulled up alongside the store and a couple of nice fellows helped us unload box after box of the brand new book, the latest publication from our publishing company, Dromedary Press. We're still getting our little hero situated, but soon you'll be able to take this heroic story of a brave little mouse home with you. Hooray!

A Night of Miniature Marvels

In the midst of all the wrapping paper and visitors and the flurry of everything else that happens around the holidays, all of us at the shop take one evening each December to share a nice meal and have our annual ornament swap, white elephant style with numbers drawn from a hat and rambunctious trading. Here are some pictures of half a dozen treasures from the big night. I took these photos at home of the ones Duncan and I took to the dinner, and of the ones our family brought home. The ones we didn't capture were just as whimsical and fun.

The mother and child ornament at the top was my contribution to the evening, a combination of felting and other fiber arts with some doll faces and hands. Julie brought us an adorable cotton batting bird this year. The little peep has a baguette under her wing because she's heading to Paris next year!




Shari felted a sweet star ornament, and as luck would have it, my younger daughter opened it, much to both her and Shari's delight.







John's candy box ship, finished with crepe paper and Dresden trim and flying an iridescent sail, was the first ornament to be opened. It was also at the center of the final surprise of the evening when my older daughter nabbed it after nearly an hour of patient and polite plotting!

Mr. Marsh added to the pile a handmade (and fully loaded) bill holder that could come in handy on a rainy day, and Duncan was glad to take it home.

As for Duncan's gift to us, he brought a precious miniature tea house made of balsa wood and topped with a fresh layer of mica snow. Inside the house an electric tea light flickered, enchanting everyone so much with its cozy glow that this ornament was one of the most actively swapped all night.

The Joy

Somehow, not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to make you glad.

--John Greenleaf Whittier

Do you see what I see?

As you might have guessed, this week is the shop's busiest time of year. We get so many visitors coming through the door, each person looking for something special. Some people who only come around this time of year think we're only a holiday shop! The air is full of glitter, gleeful shouts of children, oohs and ahs from victorious treasure seekers, and the grumbles of those who have run out of holiday spirit.

A big part of keeping one's sanity at this time of year is knowing where to look, and what you're looking for. This is true when looking for holiday gifts, but it's also a good rule to follow in life in general. So when the clouds over Berkeley gave Fourth Street a little sprinkle this afternoon, we stood with our backs to the sun and took this picture to best remember the day.

Will the real Santa Claus please stand still?

This afternoon at Castle in the Air, I kid you not, the real Santa Claus came in to do a little shopping. I won't tell you what he bought, as that might give away the surprise to some deserving reader who has been good all year. Who knew that the real Santa Claus wears a green top hat when he shops?

What was just as strange as Santa's visit was what we found right after he left. Two other customers had been testing pens at different ends of the store. As they walked away, they left behind these sketches. Were they looking at Santa as they drew? It looks like one artist is putting Santa on The Nice List, the other has him down as Naughty!

A real troll? (Part 2)

Last week, when we received the puzzling message from Nils Hiekkalinna, who thinks he might have snapped a photograph of a real Finnish troll, we knew just the person to bring in to help us solve the mystery. Reginald Bakeley is Castle in the Air's fairy identification expert, so we forwarded the photo on to him at his home in Wales. Here's the reply (and the slightly clearer photo) we got back from Reg this afternoon.

"Most intriguing! My personal 'expertise', as you are calling it, extends mainly to the real world which involves the sense of smell. And it's quite a good thing that Mr Hiekkalinna was traveling at highway speed when he got his shot in. Had he been standing in the path of an oncoming troll the scent alone could have knocked him senseless. Perhaps we can borrow a scrap of his clothing and see whether by chance it picked up any trace of the troll's earthy musk??

"HOWEVER: I won't leave you high and dry here. My colleague Professor Marcus White (Inverness curator and archivist) has an unfathomable love of all this email and computer mumbo-jumbo, and he got straight to work on sorting out this odd photograph business. He's got all the latest high tech, and is especially keen to use it regarding questions of fairy sightings.

"I attach his _slightly_ clearer version of the picture. Goodness knows how he's able to do this sort of thing. Hope this helps...I'll keep you up to speed as I hear more from Prof.

"RB"

A real troll?

Ever since we started the Castle in the Air weblog last fall, we've received emails from people who never would have heard of us otherwise. They often want to know more about the products and classes we offer, and sometimes they have questions about how to use a particular sort of craft material. Occasionally, though, the messages fall into the "special case" category. Here's one such note we received this morning:

To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to you from Finland and have something to tell you about that you may find interesting because your website is about the gnomes and trolls and such things as this. I always laughed when I heard of these creatures, even here where there is so much of them in the folk stories. But today I didn't laugh when I was driving through a part of the highway in Kurikka, because there I can tell you I saw something strange. A picture I have put in this email is of what I saw. I am very sorry for the quality because it is not very good, but I think what I saw might be one of the trolls of this country. I thought it was a bear maybe but it moved like no bear I have seen. Can you show it to your experts and tell me what they know of it? Maybe you can solve this strange mystery. I thank you!!! A new believer, Nils Hiekkalinna

Of course, Castle in the Air does have a few "experts" on hand in the field of troll identification, so we've sent Nils' picture on to them and will report back as soon as we can. Mysterious indeed!

Marvelous Marolin

You may be surprised to learn that, among all the glitz of the season, one of our most beloved collections at Castle in the Air is the beautiful and understated work of the Marolin company. This family business has been making the finest paper mache sculpture -- including this exquisite nativity scene -- for over 100 years in Germany. Their pieces have been part of Castle in the Air since the store opened.

Our visitors always notice the Marolin nativity scene in December, of course, but throughout the year we also display the company's fairy tale characters and other historical figures (we currently have Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Adam and Eve, among others), and our teachers often incorporate Marolin doll parts into their classes. In fact, Marolin brought the parts shown here out of retirement exclusively for Castle in the Air. Our store is he only place to find them. We loved these expressive faces and sweet little arms so much from the moment we saw them, that there was no way we would let them vanish into memory like so many other lost treasures.

Jack Frost

There's a little frosty painter
Who soon will come around
To put a silver edging on
The grasses on the ground,
Upon the window pane he'll paint
A fairy landscape, strange and quaint,
And some cold morning you'll awake
To find he's frosted Mother's cake.

A certain seasonal visitor has been making the rounds this week in Berkeley -- Jack Frost! I suppose it's closer to the truth to say that Mr. Frost is a winter visitor in many parts of the world, but that it's rare for him to show up in our town. But just yesterday Duncan saw three inches of snow piled atop a car that drove down from the top of the Berkeley Hills, and when I visited one of my neighbors this morning her children were breaking half-inch sheets of ice off the top of puddles.

Shooting Stars and Silver Bells

This Thursday night we will have our final class of the year in the Studio for the Imagination, the second of John McRae's Heirloom Christmas Ornaments class (Two seats left as of this writing.) John is bringing in some vintage silver ball and bell ornaments and a trove of glittery adornments (including bullion, tinsel, scrap, and other goodies) for them. Take a look at these photos of the ornaments John and his students made last at last week's class. I'm sure the ones this week will be just as dazzling.

Roll Up for the Wonderful Snow Baby Box!

If you're on the Castle Crier email list, you have already heard about the newest little friend to be found at Castle in the Air -- The Snow Baby! This cutie sits atop a glittery snowball, one that is secretly a box that opens to reveal candies or whatever other holiday treats you put in it.

The Snow Baby Box project was sparked by my visit to the awe-inspiring Golden Glow of Christmas Past convention this summer, where over 1000 aficionados of antique holiday ornaments get together to swap stories and vintage items. There were so many little Snow Babies there made of cotton batting and wire. I knew I'd have to try my hand at making one when I got home.

We've posted the instructions for making your own Snow Baby Box at the Castle in the Air Online Shoppe homepage. You can also pick up the Snow Baby Box Kit there -- enjoy!

The First Light of Advent

This morning was a special one at my house, as I'm sure it was in the homes of many of my friends and customers -- the first day of Advent! Our Advent calendars and other traditions mark the procession of days to Christmas Eve. One new Advent item we've got at the shop is the Advent candle. These white tapers are over a foot tall and have a festive Christmas tree printed up the side. There is a number and an ornament for each of the 24 days in Advent. Sitting with one of these Advent candles is surely an antidote to all the hoopla that's part of the holiday season.

A Sign for All Time

If you've ever walked around Berkeley and stopped in your tracks to check out a well-made sign for a shop or restaurant, chances are you were admiring the work of Steven Vigeant, owner of Berkeley Signs. (Click over to Steven's portfolio for some memorable shingles.)

We hired Steven to make a sign to hang above the door at Castle in the Air, and look at the unbelievably gorgeous one that he brought us! Just like the artisan products we carry, the sign is made with the same attention to detail and old-school methods we love. Steven created it in a Victorian style, with chipped glass, painstaking hand-lettering, and three kinds of gold leaf.

From the moment the sign went up last week, people on Fourth Street have stopped to comment on how much they love it. It catches their eye because it's such a rare treat to see real art used in commerce. We're living in a time in which mechanization is favored for its convenience and craftsmanship is dying out. I'll venture to say that the only person who loves the sign more than us and our customers is Steven himself, because he got the chance to go back to the techniques and tools of a golden age. And because the sign's double-sided, he got to make two! I hope you can come by and see it in person. We're so pleased to have it pointing the way into the shop.

More Holiday Haps on Fourth

Santa Claus Comes to Fourth Street
Santa Claus is coming to...Fourth Street! Meet Santa and his elves at "The Berkeley Pole" in the courtyard across the street from Peet's Coffee on Fourth. And as artistic representatives of all things magical, Castle in the Air is providing the decorations!
Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 - 4:00 pm

Extended Hours
Castle in the Air is one of many shops open late during the holiday shopping season. Through Christmas Eve, our hours will be:
10:00 am - 6:00 pm Monday through Wednesday
10:00 am - 7:00 pm Thursday through Saturday
10:00 am - 6:00 pm Sunday
We will also be open late December 21, 22, and 23 for all the last minute shoppers.
On Christmas Eve, the store will close at 4:30 pm.

Live Music and Entertainment
Local artists will keep your spirits bright with live music and entertainment all along Fourth Street each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and December 21 through 24.

Free Hot Cocoa and Cider
Warm up with a free cup of hot cocoa or cider at one of our newest neighbors, Chocolatier Blue Patisserie at 1809A Fourth Street.
Hot drinks every day from 4:30 - 7:00 pm (weather permitting)

Holiday Lights
Santa's reindeer won't have any trouble finding Fourth Street. Thousands and thousands of bright and colorful lights adorn the trees and lampposts, bringing holiday sparkle to the shopfronts and restaurants.

When Black Friday Comes...

The store and all of Fourth Street is teeming with humanity today, the day with so many names -- The Official Start of Holiday Shopping, Buy Nothing Day, Buy Everything Day, and Black Friday (both because the of the maddening hordes of shoppers and because this is the day that many stores go "into the black," beginning to make profit for the first time all year).

It's on the busy busy days like this that it's easy to forget that life exists outside our little world. But just a few days ago a nice woman came in and dropped off the postcard pictured above. She's helping to organize a crafts fair for the Pastures Preschool in Bodega, California, on December 4, and she made the fair's announcement card using crepe paper and Dresden from Castle in the Air, photocopying her work onto cardstock. It's always such a treat to see what people make from our materials. Have fun at the fair!

Blue Castle Badges In The Post

Noble & Noteworthy Individuals, perk up your ears!

Today we hand the postman the latest batch of Blue Castle Badges. If you have recently accomplished one of the Achievements, then you can expect your badge shortly.

(The Blue Castle Badger wishes to say that he found the scent of all the illustrated letters to be delectable. And also that he would like to have typed this post himself but, being a Badger, hasn't a clue as to how such things are done.)

Holidays Are Here!

Watch the video to fly among the branches of our Christmas tree!

A Walk-In Wonder

Now that the holiday season is in full swing at Castle in the Air, I can reveal to you the wonderful project we've all been working on. The picture above might look like a vintage postcard, but it's actually a walk-in tableau! You and your friends and family are invited to bring your camera to Castle in the Air and snap a holiday scene in front of the card, or step inside and pose in the wood-framed window in front of our snowy backdrop. Visitors who remember our Mermaid Grotto photo booth from early last year say that this one is just as grand -- come see for yourself!

Revealed!

Huzzah and Hooray! The Grand Transformation is complete and the Winter Wonderland is revealed! We burned the midnight oil, as well as a bit of dawn oil, putting the finishing touches on two floors of holiday ornaments, decorations, and treats. The gnomes were especially helpful, probably because we didn't have our fairy-hunting exhibit this year. And even though they don't have much use for metal pins, I hereby award our resident brownies the fairyland equivalent of the Blue Castle Badge for all their hard work throughout the year keeping our shelves tidy and labeled, with everything in its place. Organization pays off -- it helped us create our Wonderland that much quicker this year!



Castle in the Air has been through the Grand Transformation nine years in a row, and I've got to say that this year's holiday display is the most amazing one yet. We have so many new wonders to share with you, and for the first time ever, two floors for you to explore as you get ready for your holidays.

Here We Go!

Holiday Haps on Fourth

Castle in the Air isn't the only place on Fourth Street to undergo a Grand Transformation for the holidays. In fact, the street itself turns into a winter wonderland with activities, treats, and visits from Santa. We'll be posting notices for the different happenings as they draw near. Here are a few starting this weekend.










Extended Shopping Hours
Beginning Monday the 21st, many shops will begin staying open until 7:00 pm to give you a chance to enjoy Fourth Street into the evening.

Holiday Street Lights
Beginning this Friday at dusk, Fourth Street will be aglow with thousands and thousands of colored lights. It seems the display gets bigger every year, and it turns the street into an even grander place for an evening stroll.

Free Cocoa and Hot Cider at Chocolatier Blue Patisserie
Just a few doors south of Castle in the Air (at 1809A Fourth Street), Chocolatier Blue Patisserie is one of the newest additions to the neighborhood. We're often stopping by for their scrumptious chocolates and tarts. Also starting this Friday, you can visit them between 4:30 and 7:00 each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening to enjoy live music and a complimentary hot cider or cocoa.

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Whatcha doin'?" It's a fairly common question at Castle in the Air, especially among the staff. There are at least two qualities I would say we all share here at the shop -- our own artistic expertise and a curiosity about each others' work. So it's often the case that we collaborate on projects, especially large ones around the holidays. Sometimes it's planned, and other times it grows out of that simple question: "Whatcha doin'?"

Take the holiday wonder John McRae's been putting together for us. (I promise I'll tell you what it is soon. I know, I'm dying to tell you too, but I'm kind of enjoying the suspense!) When he realized that it needed a wintry backdrop scene, he asked if I could pitch in. Of course!

So here's one more tantalizing glimpse at what we're putting together. It will be up in the store after the Grand Transformation this Thursday. But until then, you can find out more by dropping by, peering over our shoulders, and asking "Whatcha doin'?"

Counting Down the Days

You might think that this scene is from our miniatures cabinet...

...but actually, it's one of our new Advent calendars! (Can you see the little "20" window next to the shop-keeper's head?)

This year's Advent calendars and cards have arrived, and as usual, they're a big hit with everyone who visits Castle in the Air, not to mention with all of us. We love this tradition, which grew out of different German customs of counting down the December days through Christmas Eve.

Some German families in the early 19th century would make a new chalk mark on their door every day beginning December 1. Others observed Advent each day by hanging a seasonal picture in their home. And other families used candled wreaths or clocks in anticipation of Christmas.

Of course, the most widespread Advent tradition today is that of the paper calendars with windows that open to reveal a sweet little picture for each day of the 24 days. Everyone in my family gets their own calendar to open, and then we have several that we share. In the past few years we've have six to eight calendars going in the days leading up to Christmas, but other years that number's been as high as 16!

Rubber Stamping Wood Grain

Up in the classroom at Castle in the Air, John McRae's been busy constructing a truly marvelous seasonal surprise. You'll have to wait just a few more days before we show you John's invention, but in the meantime, here's a look at an interesting part of its construction.

John is a true blue do-it-yourselfer, so when he needed some planks with gnarly grain for a detail on the project, he decided to make them himself. He applied a coat of brown acrylic paint to a smooth board, then immediately went to work with his wood grain rubber stamp. Here's a video where John shows us how it's done. He says the secret is in rocking the curved stamp back and forth as he glides it along the board. Enjoy!

Heavenly Bodies

Here are some photos from the first of two Angel Tree Topper classes John McRae is teaching at Castle in the Air (the second class is tonight). Students begin with a special copper and wood armature finished with painted paper mache arms and heads pressed from 100-year-old molds. To this, they add a cotton batting gown dusted with vintage mica snow, then decorate their angels with stars, orbs, and other celestial accouterments.

In classical thought, angels are said to dwell in the space beyond the stars we see every night. Having seen these heavenly bodies in person, we have to agree!

Divine Lines

John McRae has been scouring his treasure trove, and today he brought in what he might call a "hank" of vintage postcards for us to see. He found a lot of great holiday cards that we'll be reproducing for the season. (It's only a few weeks until the holiday shopping begins, but of course we've been thinking about it and working behind the curtain for quite some time already!)

Here's a more everyday card about fortune-telling, a popular pastime at this time of year. Click on the picture to get a better peek at the prophecies. Looking at your own palm, can you divine what sort of lover you are?

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

Autumn leaves aren't the only thing blowing in the breeze this month at Castle in the Air. Our cuckoo clock collection has been sprouting wings and flying right out the door! It always surprises us which items garner interest all of a sudden. The clocks, most of which come from Germany's Schwartzvald, are a dear part of the shop, so we've placed orders for several more to arrive between now and the end of the year. Come by to check out the intricate woodwork and the whimsical dancing and chimes on these treasures.

(Strange cuckoo trivia: Did you know that the cuckoo bird lays its eggs in the nests of several other species of birds, and that the eggs always match those in the "cuckolded" nest?)

Worlds Within Worlds

We're all back from our jaunt now, transitioning from the fantasyland that is Halloween in New York to the equally bizarre and expectant pre-Christmas world at Castle in the Air. More on that soon, but today I want to describe my dream world experience on Halloween day.

Somehow my vacation let my body get a nasty cold, but I was determined to attend the amazing day of multimedia presentations that was Lawrence Weschler's "Halloween Wonder Cabinet" at NYU's Cantor Film Center. Weschler brought together a dozen speakers and performers to talk about the marvels of art, science, nature, and where they all combine. Listening to Laurie Anderson talk about hanging out with NASA was all the more spacy as I sat in the dark, my cold fogging my senses. I didn't know how out of it I was until the next day, when I realized that the familiar looking gentleman in the tiny audience whose identity I'd been puzzling over was Lou Reed. Or maybe not.

Weschler arranged the day's talks to progress from the macrocosmic to the minute, so after (among other presentations) hearing Walter Murch's concert of the music of planetary orbits and witnessing Peter Hutton's meditative movie of light falling on the fjords of Iceland, I traveled to the microscopic world of May Berenbaum, who gave an appropriately spooky talk about insect antics creepier than anything you'll see in a horror film, including bugs that wear corpses as disguises or mimic dung to avoid being eaten.

By the end of the final presentation, the neighborhood's trick-or-treating kids had already gone home to bask in glory of their candy cornucopias. I emerged into New York's Halloween night beset by demons in dime-store masks, carrying my own basket of imaginations and dreams back into the fantasyland we call the real world.

Happy Haunting!

Wonderful Wishes for a Spooky and Fun Halloween!

Mr. Marsh Speaks!

My family is taking a brief Halloween holiday to go to New York City, where we'll be checking out the fall leaves and, as fate would have it, cheering on our own Mr. Marsh at his first author appearance!

Mr. Marsh will be discussing The Mentalist's Handbook at Observatory in Brooklyn the evening of Thursday, October 29. I couldn't miss this chance to visit Observatory, especially as it is the gallery space for one of my favorite weblogs, Morbid Anatomy.

To learn more about Mr. Marsh's appearance, visit the Observatory website. Maybe we'll see you there!

Coven Gone Wild!

Yesterday John McRae and three crafty spirits convened for a witches meeting. The results? These devilishly delightful spellcasters! The Masked Ball Witch comes apart at the waist to hold candies, spell components, or whatever treats or tricks you might have picked up during your witches night out.

Storytime

We've been planning an expansion of our bookcase at Castle in the Air for a while, and this month seemed like the right time to bring in the books. Rainy days are perfect for curling up with some hot tea and a good story.















When choosing the books for our shelf, we thought back to the writers and artists that inspired and thrilled us as children, so we've got selections from the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, T.H. White, Nick Bantock, Lisbeth Zwerger, and many more. And of course my favorite, Miss Suzy by Miriam Young and Arnold Lobel. (110 five-star reviews on Amazon!) One very special book that I hadn't seen anywhere for many years was The Neverending Story by Michael Ende printed in red and greed ink. It's storytime!

Mist, Snow, Feather & Thorn

Thank you to everyone who came out to last night's reception for Picturing Childhood. Amid all the people enjoying the photographs and chatting, it truly felt as though Castle in the Air had changed into something greater than before. If you haven't seen the show and are in the area, please try to make it out before it closes November 18.

Speaking of gallery receptions, our friend Bella Bigsby has one coming up this Friday. Bella's wistful landscapes and nature studies, like Thistle, shown here, are perfect for fall.

mist, snow, feather & thorn
paintings by Bella Bigsby

at

H Julien Designs
1798 Shattuck Avenue @ Delaware
Berkeley, Calif. 94709
(510) 548-7400

Studio hours: Tues.-Sat. 10am-6pm
Artist Reception:
Friday, Oct. 23
6-9pm

Exhibit continues through Nov. 28

A Week of Kindness

Things are a bit surreal around the store today as we spend time in the gallery preparing for tonight's reception of Picturing Childhood. But the children in the antique photographs aren't the only ones living in a sepia-toned fantasy land. The hawkish gentleman and his catty companion in our window display stepped straight out of such a world.

Here are the cards that inspired our window. They were printed by Charles Overbeck at Eberhardt Press in Portland, Oregon, and they depict scenes from Max Ernst's Une Semaine de Bonte, or A Week of Kindness. Ernst created the scenes by collaging together Victorian illustrations from novels and encyclopedias, issuing the results in a series of self-published pamphlets in 1934.

Many thanks to Charles for reviving Une Semaine as a series of cards. You can visit the Online Shoppe to see all eight images.