I’m on a pattern kick and have been for a while now. So while wandering around D.C. during my trip a couple weeks back, I couldn’t help but notice all of the cool patterns around the city. Here are just a few of the many that caught my eye:

1. Ceiling of the rotunda in the National Archives
2. Brass grate in the National Archives (in the hallway across from the rotunda)
3. Wrought iron gate on building near National Mall
   
4. Malachite sample in Natural History Museum
5. Pattern on painting (sorry: can’t tell which one!) in the National Gallery
6. Wine bottles in Berliner Bar: I thought these looked kind of like cross-stitching or pixel art
7. Granite sample in Natural History Museum

I’m not sure yet how these will influence my work, but at the very least I’d like them to influence my fashion sense. Maria’s post on Ugly/Pretty got me thinking that most of these could make for some pretty cool tights or maybe a skirt…

Some of my favorites from last week! (Links in the list below; right click to open in new window.)

• A book of a guy comparing his silhouettes to famous silhouettes (via SwissMiss).
• A hysterical inscription on The Book Inscriptions Project blog from a book entitled “Doktor Bey’s Suicide Guidebook.”
• I really just want to put my feet into these rugs from the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich (via Cool Hunter).
• I love, love, love Chris Benz’s colorful clothing lines, and his web-site is pretty cool, too! (via Oh Joy!)
• A pretty awesome chair, good for seat crunchers, via Smashing Magazine. (I’m not sure that you can buy this; it has made its way around the blogs, but I think it was originally part of a show.)
• An awesome flea market guide from Design*Sponge, listing all of the flea markets in a variety of my very favorite states (Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachussetts)!
• Cool photographs of naked Olympians! (via Crap We Like)
• Another cool Smashing Magazine find — a retro phone that you talk into instead of your cell phone.
• I love this ASL (American Sign Language) pattern (and the tank top, which isn’t availible for sale, unfortunately!) in a book which includes designs from Julia Rothman (from Julia’s book design blog, Book By Its Cover).

Click on the images above or the links below to see some of my favorite blog-finds this week! Remember to right click to open in a new window! Have a wonderful weekend!

1. I don’t know why, but I totally love this Oh Deer print from Print a Day. I would love to use this design as ironic wrapping paper!
2. A Binder Clip Typeface?! Creative & cute! (via Swiss Miss, via I Love Typography)
3. Hello! You There! is a web-page that allows you to send anonymous complaints and suggestions to whoever is out there bothering you in real-life. Totally cool project! I can think of a few notes I might want to send… (via Veer)
4. OMG! I am so excited about this movie, Gentlemen Broncos, about a sci-fi author who steals some kid’s writing camp piece for his novel. I’m excited not only because it stars a large-eyed Flight of the Conchords member, and not only because it’s directed by Jared Hess of Napoleon Dynamite, but because it has its own fake sci-fi web-page which copies the creepy / poor design of many sci-fi web-pages out there. (thanks again Veer!)
5. A texting pattern from illustrator John Coulter. So cute and doodley and fun!
6. Okay, so Veer struck gold this week and posted yet another cool thing — a free, online 3D drawing program. You can’t really make anything too detailed, and your need your own 3D glasses, but the idea just seems so cool to me!
7. After my Book Week post on book crafts, I was super-excited to see these cut-out books on Swiss Miss from designer Kelly Blair (who has tons of other cool and colorful things in her portfolio).
8. Love this letterpress print, Gravity’s Rainbow (a rainbow made of sharp objects) from I Am Still Alive posted today on +KN.
9. As I’ve mentioned, I studied ASL (American Sign Language) a few semesters, so I really love these “manual alphabet” necklaces from Lorena Barrezueta posted this week on Design*Sponge.