Ack, it's almost December. A new category seemed like the easiest way to keep track of possible goodies for friends and family. Here's some nice small gifts found while trolling the internet at 4am--

Drawing Papers 40, Mark Lombardi: Global Networks
Affordable prints of Lombardi's obsessive network mappings?! Yes! This publication comes with a curator statement, poster and index of George W. Bush, Harken Energy, and Jackson Stephens, ca. 1979–90 (5th Version)
$10 + $6 s/h from The Drawing Center

Uprisings Poster, kozyndan
Kozyndan's variation on Hokusai was commissioned for the cover of Giant Robot 28, check out the rest of their prints too... lots of good stuff.
offset prints on 80lb cover stock, 16.5 x 22 inches, signed
$15 + $5 s/h from kozyndan's shop

Animal Rubber Bands, Passkey Design
They come in 'zoo' or 'pet' styles. Cute, but expensive with the shipping added in. If you can find a store that sells them, one box still works as a nice surprise.
$15 + $4.95 s/h for both sets from uncommongoods.com, buy just one set for $7.95 + $5.95 s/h from wishingfish.com

Hug Salt And Pepper Shakers, Alberto Mantilla / MintNYC
MintNYC's mortar & pestle and piggy bank are adorable, but the salt & pepper shakers win out.
$24 + $5.95 s/h from the momastore.org

Light Bulb Salt & Pepper Shaker
wrapables.com is also home to a crazy tape dispenser
$7.95 + $5 s/h from wrapables.com

Tiny Showcase produces limited edition tiny artwork prints by a new artist every week. The artwork is always lovely, and ridiculously affordable at $20. A percentage of the money from each print sold is donated to a charity chosen by the artist, as well as the artist herself and Tiny Showcase to help cover shipping/etc. costs. The print runs usually sell out within a couple days, so sign up for their mailing list or check back every Friday/Saturday.

Marshmallow Heaven" by Allison Cole

Acumulus Nobilatatus, Paul Noble
An unfolded, 26" x 18" poster, originally included in the Property section of Cabinet Magazine issue 10.
$15 before s/h from Cabinet Magazine

99 Cent, Andreas Gursky
poster 56" x 34", image 52" x 28.25"
$24.95 before s/h from the momastore.org

Chicago Board of Trade II, Andreas Gursky
poster 80cm x 60cm, image 66.8cm x 38cm
12 pounds (~$21) before s/h from the Tate Online

Pearblossom Hwy., David Hockney
46" x 36"
$25 before s/h from The Getty

TAK Brand Pushpins, Ideation Designs
Dug up out of an old post. The double pins add strength and stability while preventing paper from swiveling, the oversized head is ergonomically inspired and the horseshoe shaped channel allows users to organize wire and hang up holiday lights. Like the animal rubber bands, if you can find them offline and avoid shipping, they're much more appealing.
6 pack for $3.98 +$3.90 s/h from TAK

2006 Pentagram Calendar, Kit Hinrichs
Each month features a different classic type face along with the birthdays of typographers and information about each featured type face.

12"x18" Desk/Wall Size $18, + $7.50 s/h from petermiller.com
23"x33" Wall/Super Size for $29.95 + $7.95 s/h from kenknight.com

notes:
Peter Miller Books has some other snazzy calendars too. I like the NAVA International Long Calendar in big and small sizes and the pricier/classic Stendig Calendar.
For size references, check moleskinerie.com's pictures. The Pentagram supersize calendar is huge!

at nicole's house on the weekend, i was served blooming tea. these crazy teas are hand sewn (so vendors say) into compact balls of different shapes which 'bloom' in water. the leaves flavor your drink while turning into a sea anemone at the bottom of your glass/tea pot. one ball gives about 7 cups of tea. we tried jasmine and lily flavors. tasty and cool looking/creepy.

i tried to find more information - they show up under all kinds of names - display teas, artisian flower balls, flower burst tea, and 1000 day flower tea. ambrosia teas has the best selection i could find, though adagio and tenren are about a dollar each. best bet is probably chinatown though (always).

my guess is, it's the next bubble tea craze. it's not on wikipedia yet, but it's already on flickr (more). glass and acrylic tea pots will sell tons. asian people love stuff in their water.

Another threadless sale. shirts are $10 until june 15. Here are two:

Picked up a great artbook at Cinders Gallery today.

A Great Big Stillness
by Justin B.Williams and Luke Ramsey
Islands Fold Book Two ISBN-0-9781394-1-0
Full color offset, 20 pages plus cover. 5.25 x 7in

A Great Big Stillness is the second collaborative project by Luke and Justin. The gouache and watercolor paintings for this book were created during Justin's Islands Fold residency. Available for $7 from Islands Fold.

Also check out --
Justin B.Williams at Motel Gallery
Luke Ramsey website
Luke Ramsey Interview

i was wondering if bacon wrapping paper exists... and it so does. As does a nice rival for bacon bandages.

Bacon Wrapping Paper Gift Wrap - $3.95
Two 20" x 30" (50.8 cm x 76.2 cm) sheets of quality wrapping paper in each set.

Beef Bandage Steak Band-Aids - $4.75
Each 3-3/4" (9.5 cm) tall metal tin contains two sizes of latex-free, vinyl, adhesive bandages (three 3" (7.6 cm) long large T-bones, ten 1-1/4" (3.2 cm) small T-bones). PLUS A FREE TOY!

Even more fascinating. You can buy a bacon wristband. live strong brother.

Bacon Wristband - $1.95

Hold-It Bookends - nice aluminum bookends that can hold your pens, scissors, flowers, notes, anything! 7"l x 2.5" w x 5.5" h. $48 for set of 2.

Invisible Bookshelf - a shelf bracket that makes your books (or at least a select 15 lbs. worth of your books) float in the air. 5.5"l x 3"w x 5.5"h. $15.

Mechanical Music Box Set. Make your own music box melodies with this mechanical music box set. Comes with hand-cranked music box, one pre-punched music strip that plays the "Happy Birthday" song, 3 unpunched strips (48cm), a hole punch, and instruction manual to have you creating your own music box melody in minutes. 3" long x 1" wide.

Also available at Amazon.