Luke has this great toy (given to him by my cousin) full of lights and shapes and buttons and songs, all in French, and he absolutely LOVES it. “Ainsi font, font, font, les petites marionettes,” it sings as you turn it on. We’re trying to expose him to French early on (we also have a CD of French nursery rhymes and sounds for babies his age), so hopefully one day he’ll be able to teach us what we have long forgotten. I look forward to us one day taking him to the south of France, to where I met his mommy. And we’ll eat poulet-frites. (Funny enough I got a postcard from Menton today).
petescully 
This is a beautiful entry into your journal Pete. Hard to believe how quickly they grow.
Beautiful, a lovely composition Pete.
great drawing! I notice you tagged this (and many other entries) copic pen. I have some copic markers, but haven’t used their pens. How do you feel about them? I’ve been using some uniball pens for a while but I feel like they’ve been dying lately, a lot sooner than they used to. I can’t figure out if I’m just drawing more, or if the pens went down in quality. Got any pen reccomendations for fine line work?
cheers! I enjoyed drawing this one.
Pens…finelines…I really enjoy using micron pens, but the nibs give way on me (or at least lose their newness) long before the ink runs dry, so I go through a lot. Copics pens are great, they are really crisp and the nibs last longer, but I usually prefer the microns. I like uniballs but haven’t done much drawing with them for a while; their nibs last way longer than copics though, but aren’t nearly as fine or precise (even though I use them for specifically loose lines). And the great thing about the copics is you can get refillable versions, where you can change the nibs (the bookshop at MU has them; not that I’ve bought one yet…). Staedtlers are also nice for a fine line, but definitely way behind micron and copic (and the black is not quite as black as in those either). Those pens pica showed me when i bumped into her last week, fountain pen nibs, they were very nice, forget the name now though.
Thing is, this is all pen-geekery which I love, but when you see what incredible work andrea joseph does with cheap ball-points, it kinda puts it all into perspective!
Andrea Joseph is amazing!! Wow. is all I can say.
I know, her stuff’s mind-blowing, especially her latest one of the school-desk.
Hi,
I was wondering if you knew where they got the toy that sings “Ainsi Font”. My daughter’s grandma is French and has been singing that song to her whole life. I would love to have a toy that sings it. The maker or any identifying info about the toy would be helpful. Thank you!
They toy is made by vtech, and plays all sorts of French stuff, but that song when it’s first turned on. I don’t have a product name though. I also have the song on a berlitz first words in french CD, for babies.