One finished, one progressing

 

As you can see from the above and following photos I have finished one of the posts I been working on. It looks good with the patinated copper bowl on the top - though it could be used without the bowl.

Following are a couple of process-progress photos.

I have also made quite good progress with the taller destination post - some progress photos follow.

Fiona and I are doing a lot of tasks to do with the closing down of our public studio and transitioning to smaller home based studios. Lots of sorting, selling, giving away and moving those pieces we will be keeping to continue our work. This means there is not a lot of time for creating - but we grab the moments we can.

Function and form sometimes

 

I have continued working on the post assemblage that will be at the entry to an orchid garden. It will have rusty elements to it - some of the rusty bits were laid out on the work bench - see above.

I have been asked to rout a garden name into the post - needed Fiona's assistance with the lettering and spacing - see image below of Fiona at work.

I routed over Fiona's work - not so neat when you are routing smallish letters into a cracked and hard piece of timber. The process-progress photos below show that the end result it pretty good and has an organic feel about it. The routed letters were inked and after a sand the face of the post was given a coat of oil.

As I mentioned above the timber has many splits; but there is one piece on the back of the post that threatens to split off. I decided to hold it in place with iron strips and long screws. At the end of the day these strips will rust and add a bit of decorative form to the post.

I have someway to go with this post but two of the bigger tasks have been done and I have many of the decorative pieces ready..

Weeds can be beautiful

 

Quite a few flowering plants that grow in and near the road verges are considered weeds or escapee pest plants. Some of flowers are minuscule and others are on creeping vines that just takeover or smother other plants.

 Today I thought I would share images of blossoms of some of these that I see on my morning walks.

Whilst we need to control some of these weed-pest plants we can also celebrate their beauty and recognise the fact that they can be good food sources for insects.

Works in progress

 

I'm progressing three streams of work at the moment; but this post is about 2026 letterpress card and watercolours.

As you can see from the opening photo I was in DEP studio setting my 2026 card into a press chase. Before setting the type I cut a stash of postcard size pieces of letterpress paper for Fiona and I to print our cards. The paper was cut from many offset pieces of paper.

A photo of locked up set up of the card ready for proof printing is below. Because of the challenging times we live in I'm adding words to my new year card this year.

On Thursday I progressed my four postcard sized Scotland inspired watercolours - getting closer to being finished.

I'm hoping next week I will get to finish both these streams of work.

Starting posts

 

I have been asked to make two post installations for a garden. One will be an entry name post; and the other a destination post.

The entry post is being made from a 250mm square by about 600 high piece of extremely hard and dry salvaged hardwood. 

After an hour of sawing a square bottom on the timber;  an hour of sanding all the faces; sanding a very eroded top; and creating a divot in the eroded top I have managed to get the timber to a stage where it looks pretty good and is in the main splinter free and can hold a water basin - see opening photo. 

Some of the process photos follow.

I now have a clearer idea of how to develop this entry post. More work to be done over the next week.

Bees and blossoms

 

I'm totally fascinated by the bee action on the magnolia blossoms on the tree out the front of our home. I'm not really sure what the bees are collecting; but they are revelling in it as you can see from the opening photo. The following photos simply show a bit more of the action - lots of comics and goings.

Of course there were other opportunities to enjoy moments of beauty with the blossoms.

I'm forever grateful that nature is offering such uplifting beauty.