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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Oct 6

My book on calligraphy for greetings cards and scrapbooking was 'banned' before it was published. Scrapbooking groups wouldn't let me join—they believed the book would encourage people to d-i-y, & they had members with shops that sold products like rubber stamps with lettering.

Now out of print.

Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Sep 20

The dark shading is the previous interpretation of the coast, with China extending below the equator, inhabited by Seres people.

The paler shading shows the new revised coastline with a little of Australia. I wonder who surveyed this #map, when (early 1700's?) and if anyone used it. Any ideas?

Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Sep 10

I hike for longer when boots are comfortable.

I can't get into a library book I've borrowed that has 16 words per line, tightly packed lines of small type, narrow margins, 42 lines per page, 20 line paragraphs... and it's on the History of the Book.

You'd think they'd have learned from history.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Sep 10

It's time to query a picture book.

Does anyone else buy hand-puppets of the characters before the book deal? It may never become a book.

Hmm, I think kids need to make up their own key to the map, based on the illustrated the scenery in the story.

#PB #AmQuerying

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Sep 7

Who broke Mrs. Moody's eggs? She’s so cross & cranky, the foxes are frightened & can only say ‘Yelp, yelp!’. She’s so angry & agitated, the pigs are petrified...

I only created these pictures for fun, but a publisher has requested a dummy. Maybe, with help? Wish I'd practiced sketching animals.

Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Sep 7

I know how much your advice has benefitted many creators, but does it preclude you from considering the work for representation?

My agent for 10 years has retired...sigh! I hope you open to queries soon.

Best wishes,
Peter Taylor ...former science, art and occasional math teacher

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Aug 21

Yes, you can read the whole 1873 newspaper if you have good eyesight or a hand lens.

Was it meant to be read, or was it just an advert for Dallastype printing process, patented by Duncan C. Dallas?

For my proposed Book of Small Things for kids 11+

#Vintage #Typography #Typesetting #Kidlit

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Aug 14

Hoping that children will be encouraged to experiment and have fun with letters.

#WorldCalligraphyDay

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Aug 13

In WWII, my uncle helped pay for a temple elephant to take part in a parade in Arokonam #Arakkonam in India on August 5, 1944.

I wonder if the parade is still held... #WorldElephantDay

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Aug 8

Thanks so much! Let me know if there's ever a way I can help you, and if your 6th graders want ideas. Maybe I should start a YouTube channel on all kinds of creative possibilities, like easy artistic papermaking and...

I learnt to write Italic at school when I was 9 in the UK. It can be addictive 😀

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Aug 7

Love this - thanks for posting Victoria!

Victoria Maderna @victoriamaderna.com · Aug 6

So I was searching for Rien Poortvliet's stuff on Etsy and I came across this gnomes illustration of his that I hadn't seen before.

The flies in the bucket. The bits of insect on the floor.
The tadpole picture on the wall.
It just might be one of my favorite things ever.

Illustration by Rien Poortvliet of a gnome couple tending to a bedridden frog.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Aug 7

Traditionally created art that's different, plus self-illustration with photography

My agent for 10 years has retired...seeking a new one.

#BP, #MG & #YA author + how-to for adults.

#kidlitpostcard #kidlitartpostcardday #kidlitartpostcard
#calligraphy

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Aug 3

Going through my grandmother's #scrapbook album from about 1885.

Not what we would send as a New Year card...

#Vintage #Antique #Victoriana

#AmQuerying my idea and sample sections for a Giant Book of Small Things children's parents, grandparents and ancestors may have owned or used.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 31

Working on THE GIANT BOOK OF SMALL THINGS: a self-illustrated #MG #YA compendium of tiny objects kids' parents, grandparents or ancestors may have owned or used, including world record holders for the smallest of their kind. #KidLit #NF #AmQuerying #Vintage Sample chapters & proposal completed.

THE GIANT BOOK OF SMALL THINGS: a self-illustrated #MG #YA compendium of tiny objects kids' parents, grandparents or ancestors may have owned or used. It includes world record holders for the smallest of their kind. A 1994 Uzbekistan 1 tyin coin was worth $1/200,000, £1/303,000.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 29

In about 1980, I was given these prints—taken off the original #ThomasBewick woodblocks.

Can anyone please tell me if they were printed in a book, or books, and which one/ones (not Select Fables or History of Quadrupeds, I believe)?

Thank you!
#Illustration
@sandbish.bsky.social

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 28

Recorded family history is valued. Love my G-grandfather's diary of his wedding. Recorded anecdotes can later be used in stories, too.
My favorite activity for #schoolVisits:
Describe something funny a neighbor has done an add it inside a folding card of their house. We create a story streetscape.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 28

The #vintage Marigold Painting Book by #KateGreenaway gives very sophisticated instructions for adding colour to the outlines provided.
#Illustration.
...cold colours which are to serve as shadows to warmer colours should be laid on first.

How many kids are taught that today in colouring books?

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 27

From my British grandmother's #vintage #Antique #scrapbook album (1880/90s I think). At least the top half of the scrap matches #KateGreenaway's 'Under the Window' cover picture.

Did she design and sell the scraps herself or through her publisher, or...?

Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 20

Hablot Knight Browne, Phiz, provided #illustration for several authors, usually did three watercolours a day & etched 1,603 plates for #Dickens. Some wore out and he redid them: spot the differences. As a commission he also painted watercolours of all the etchings for the Dickens' works.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 20

Love this, and how his trees seem to take an active part in the story. I believe it would have been printed on a three colour press, and he developed and limited his watercolour palette to suit.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 14

Help, please! When did adding a type letter & painting over it stop?

Is it 1470s Nicolas Jenson type as ascenders of 'd' extend below the baseline—how long was his type used after he died? Johann Amerbach is supposed to have printed the first Roman face—whose type?

Thanks!
#typography #typesetting

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jul 14

Not sure of the age of these leaves I own - about 1600?

How did they manage to cut the punches so small...and the paper is incredibly thin!

#Typography #Typesetting

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jun 27

Can't wait. This artwork and that on Greer's website is amazing!

Greer S. Vega @greersvega.bsky.social · May 6

Ahoy and Hello, Bluesky!

I’m Greer S. Vega—author, navigator, and believer in curious minds.

My debut picture book Nell the Navigator and the Starbound Schooner sets sail this fall!

#kidlit #BlueskyBooks #picturebooks #kdp #WayfinderAcademy #amwriting #booklaunch

A glowing schooner sails across the ocean nearby. A compass rose is faintly visible in the sky. Text reads: “Greer S. Vega – A safe haven for curious minds. Nell the Navigator and the Starbound Schooner Setting Sail This Fall.”

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jun 5

Brilliant! Best wishes from Australia.

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Peter Taylor @petertaylor.bsky.social · Jun 5

Encouraging children and adults to read, write, and be creative.

Seeking commissions and a new agent - my last one for 10 years has retired. Please investigate my www.writing-for-children.com website!

#kidLitARTpostcard #illustration

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