Friday, February 28, 2020

Paper and bone

©2020 Barry Smith - Peace, love and peace, and love paper earrings
Whilst we are still in the thick of moving the letterpress studio I wanted to grab a couple of hours to do a bit of creative stuff. The easy option was to finish some paper and bone earrings that had been in progress.

The paper earrings are a collaboration between Fiona and I.  Fiona did the peace and love calligraphy on something like 800gsm scraps of rag paper. I dyed one lot purple; and them cut the pieces up into approximately 10mm squares. The paper in the earrings is offset with silver and crystals

©2020 Barry Smith - Peace calligraphy by Fiona
©2020 Barry Smith - Seven cut peace pieces threaded onto silver rods
©2020 Barry Smith - Paper peace earrings
©2020 Barry Smith - Paper love earrings
©2020 Barry Smith - Paper love and peace earrings
With the bone I just wanted to use the natural forms of some small bones - cut into about 8mm slices. The bone is completed by solid silver beads.

©2020 Barry Smith - Small bone earrings with silver beads
©2020 Barry Smith - Filing the rough edges off
©2020 Barry Smith - Lovely negative space
©2020 Barry Smith
©2020 Barry Smith
It was nice to step out of the demands of moving for a little while.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Soft overnight rain has its beauty

©2020 Barry Smith - What a gorgeous pure, strong enveloping form
We have had a lot of rainy days lately; and it is raining again as I blog. This morning I was able to walk and only encountered one light drizzle. The upside of the drizzle is the way the water clings to the flowers - tiny clear pieces of crystal covering surfaces. I never cease to enjoy the beauty of droplets clinging to blossoms and leaves.

©2020 Barry Smith  - Red rose bud with droplets
©2020 Barry Smith  - Peace rose weighed down by pure water
©2020 Barry Smith  - Pure purple
©2020 Barry Smith  - About to fall
©2020 Barry Smith  - Giant magnolia flower
©2020 Barry Smith  - Pure red
©2020 Barry Smith  - Layers, curls and droplets - white gardenia
And a bit of a bonus - feathers

©2020 Barry Smith  - I startled a kookaburra and it gifted me with a feather
©2020 Barry Smith  - Tiny brilliant fragment on the road
I arrived home refreshed by the natural beauty on the walk.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Getting there

©2020 Barry Smith - Eleven presses (counting the etching press) in place 
The presses are in place; and much of the heavy work has been done; but there is still a long way to go. Below are a few images of the home of Decklededge Press so far.

©2020 Barry Smith
©2020 Barry Smith - Type and paper cabinets
©2020 Barry Smith - Trestles with their new slimline legs.
©2020 Barry Smith - This photo shows the difference in width of the galley presses - the one on the right can take a full A2 piece of paper
Today we purchased more storage from IKEA; so that means more assembling work during the week before we can complete the move and transition of the letterpress studio.

Friday, February 21, 2020

Moving

©2020 Barry Smith - The Lightning Jobber - some parts dismantled for transport - very heavy cast iron press from 1890.
Fiona and I are moving our letterpress press-studio (Decklededge Press) into town - into a commercial space. It will mean we are able to spread out the printing equipment and operate more efficiently and hopefully effectively.

The studio in the shed was looking quite bare this morning as we had moved the type cabinets, trestles, storage cabinets, about 80 draws of type etc etc on Tuesday.

©2020 Barry Smith  - Looking across the near empty studio
©2020 Barry Smith  - A stack of trestle table 'legs' 
©2020 Barry Smith  - Two galley presses ready for loading
©2020 Barry Smith  - Etching press 
Today was the day to move the presses.  Moving the Lightning Jobber Press was a very heavy and slightly challenging task.

©2020 Barry Smith  - Matt and Mark gently manoeuvring the press out the door
©2020 Barry Smith  - Lending a hand to stabilise the press
©2020 Barry Smith  - Making a ramp out of encyclopaedias
©2020 Barry Smith  - All hands to the press to get it up on to a level section of the drive
©2020 Barry Smith  - Safely in the truck
We are now in the process of getting it all sorted. We will share a few photos on that on Sunday after we have had more time to find new homes for things.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Gorgeous welcome to the morning and other bits

©2020 Barry Smith - Light beginning to flood the valley - looking south
The light show across the eastern horizon only lasted about twenty minutes; but it did justify getting up before 5.30am.

©2020 Barry Smith - Slice of the sky including a new moon visible at sunrise
©2020 Barry Smith - Flames in the clouds - looking north east
The other little fragments from the early morning walk brought a sense of delight and calm.

©2020 Barry Smith - Unfurling - note the ting green insect
©2020 Barry Smith - Blossom discard by the feeding rainbow lorikeets 
©2020 Barry Smith - Tattered white flag against a soft cloud sky
©2020 Barry Smith - Sun shining though the hibiscus - such deep colour
©2020 Barry Smith - Delicate shape and layers of colour
©2020 Barry Smith - Two juvenile brush turkeys - they thought they were hiding!!
©2020 Barry Smith - Rich purple to welcome me home 

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Oils aint oils!!!

©2020 Barry Smith - Direction for printing on the larger galley press
It would be hard to classify oiling decks as a creative pursuit. We had got behind on our Jan-Feb maintenance because of rain. Because Saturday and Sunday were dry and next week looks dodgy I spent much of the weekend washing down decks and then applying oil. It is good to have that task off the to do list.

Fiona is giving the letterpress studio a good going over. On one of my passing visits I paused to appreciate the industrial beauty of a aspects of a couple of the presses.

©2020 Barry Smith  - Gears under the inking plate of the Lightning Jobber press
©2020 Barry Smith  - More gears on the Lightning Jobber
©2020 Barry Smith  - Heavily marked roller on the galley press
The bell deck was oiled in January  - whilst checking if it was still good I paused to appreciate the beauty of the peace bell.

©2020 Barry Smith  - This bell has sent many peace vibrations across the valley
©2020 Barry Smith  - Japanese kanji carved into the bell - peac