Been experimenting with restricting myself to basic and even inappropriate drawing tools. So I’ve been doing a couple of drawings using just cheap bic pens bought from W H Smiths on the crappiest paper I can find – trying to make the drawing as detailed and realistic as possible. This is one of the first attempts.

You can buy Mahl sticks in specialist art and craft stores or on the internet, but if you are on a budget it’s pretty easy to make one for a fraction of the price. Here’s what you’ll need:

Step One

Drill a hole about half way through the styrofoam ball. You want the hole diameter to correspond to the circumference of the dowling. *Tip: start with a smaller drill bit to get the hole started otherwise you may split the styrofoam.

Step Two

Fix your dowling into the drilled hole of the styrofoam ball.

Step Three

Cut a square of chamois leather that will cover the styrofoam ball and have some excess for tying.

Step Four

Use twine or an elastic band to secure the chamois in place and.. voila!

My chosen scent was introduced to me by my sister a few years back. It’s one of those rare things in the fragrance world, a cologne that actually works as a unisex scent. Czech and Speake No.88 manages to smell both masculine and feminine without compromising one or the other. A difficult line to walk. And it is rich, spicy and full of heady, exotic aromas.

But more importantly, it ticks the exclusivity box. I like that most people have never heard of it. I like that Czech and Speake’s shop is found in that most British and gentlemanly of London locales, St.James’s, nestled behind Piccadilly and around the corner from The Ritz on Jermyn Street. It makes me feel a bit rakish and urbane when I stock up on No.88, although I can’t really afford to stock up on further luxury items from Jermyn Street’s other gentlemen’s outfitters and exclusive boutiques: Church’s, Hawes & Curtis, and Fortum & Mason to name a few. But I’ve made my choice, and I am loyal to my old friend Czech and Speake No.88.

*One final note. I love No.88, but love it most in autumn and winter. Its richness seems to suit these seasons. It also lingers perfectly on clothing such as scarves and coat collars. I also subscribe to the two signature way. So my summer scent is Acqua De Parma, an Italian classic. Perfect for summer, full of citrus fruits. Another unisex scent, worn by Carry Grant and Audrey Hepburn. A bit easier to find than Czech and Speake, but still has enough old school glamour to be a great signature scent.

I’ve been looking lately into what you can do nowadays with good browsers and webkit transitions to add little moving flourishes to site design. I think if these transitions are employed subtly and not obtrusively they can be really cool. It also means that you can add an effect when changing from one style to another using CSS3 without having to employ Flash or Javascript. Of course, you have to remember that Internet Explorer doesn’t support these transitions.

In the example below, I’ve just added an ease-in-out to an H1 class with a ribbon image background. When hovered over you get a subtle movement of the banner that would be cool for an a:link to another page.

 
  .ribbon-header {
  -webkit-transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out;
  -moz-transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out;
  -o-transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out;
  -ms-transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out;
  transition: all 0.5s ease-in-out;
  }

  .ribbon-header, article:hover >.ribbon-header {
  padding: 0 3.5em 0 2em;
  -webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -moz-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -o-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  -ms-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;
  }