Not much to share

 

Whilst there has been a lot going on art wise there is not a lot to share apart from completing 4 wee watercolours of and for Scotland - opening photo and other below. The watercolours will be part of the Pop Up Art Show in the Armadale Village Hall at the end of August.

I have also been working away on two more A7 sized 16 page booklets of poetry - one titled What Remains and the other Farewelling the Light. These two booklets will have a similar format to my Flow Country booklet. Each booklet includes four original fragmentary poems that are my response to four photos I took; and the photographic images are also presented in the booklet.

Preparation for the jewellery workshop is almost completed - all the tools are put aside, all the metal elements for participants cut and findings, such as jump rings, leather necklaces and earring hooks, packed. 

Many projects on the go

 

At the moment I seem to be jumping from one thing to another including: finishing watercolours for a friend (see opening photos; progressing watercolours for Scotland (see below); doing a How to Use Tools document for my jewellery workshop; finishing examples for the workshop; and negotiating the finalisation of my repair work on the Montville footpath.

The watercolours for the friend reflect the colours and subject matters she likes.

I successfully test printed the 16 page A7 sized Flow Country poem booklet on different weight and colour photo inkjet paper. Fiona and I selected some threads to test sewing heavy weight paper; and today Fiona sewed the booklets for me. As you can see from the photos below I think at the tests have worked and I'm good to print booklets for sale at the Pop Up Art Show in Scotland. The thread is a heavier gauge and the colour reflects the bog country - loose threads are deliberate!!!

I'll get around to blogging on the tools and finished jewellery samples soon.

Progressing two projects - poem publication and workshop preparation

 

Whilst we are still in the latter stages of jet lag, both Fiona and I are progressing work that applies to our next visit to the cottage.

We have agreed to do another Pop Up Art Show in our local village hall; but we have also been asked to do a workshop each.

The opening and following photos show the progress I'm making on printing a 16 page A7 pocket poem book. Before heading over to Scotland in early April I had worked with our friend Kim Herringe to develop a template that could be filled in in Word and printed double sided; and once cut into appropriate pieces would become a small A7 booklet. As you can see I have managed to populate Kim's template; and printed a draft document. The good news in Kim's template worked - I just need to get her assistance on steps required to remove the grid lines before making edits and printing some final copies to take for the Pop Up Art Show!!!

The final copies will be stitched along the spine instead of stapling.

After some discussion with Fiona I have decided to offer a one day (really 10am to 3.30pm) of simple silver plate jewellery making - see the design options document etc below. I have also started to cut the silver plate blanks from silver-plated placemats.

 Whilst I have started the metal preparation there is still quite a way to go. I will grind all the rough edges off the blanks - don't want participants cutting fingers; and starting with prepared blanks means they will achieve more. I imagine participants will most likely finish 2-3 pieces - pendants and/or earrings.

Leaves - an artists' book

 

I have completed a  5 'page' unbound  book in leaf form - including grinding and polishing. I blogged on the process of this book a couple of weeks ago - but it is now ready for exhibiting if my application is accepted.

The content of this book is my original fragmentary poem Leaves below:

leaf whispers

ruby

emerald

emerging

unfurling

 

autumnal flourish

copper

golden

falling

flying

 

quiet litterfall

bronze

russet

sheltering

renewing

A few more photos of the finished work follow.

I like the form of this book and the earlier one (Mighty River Trees) that I did for the Narratives exhibition at the Little Red Cottage Gallery Maleny.

Sorting layout

 

I want to print an A7 sized booklet of 4 poems and matching photos - but the catch is I want to print it on our inkjet printer using one A4 sheet of high quality art archival paper. The printing needs to be two sided.

So to arrive at the mock up of the booklet in the opening photo I started with the A4 sheet and cut it into sections that result in 4 pages - two sides.  I was careful to write how the sections related to the two sides of the A4 sheet.

After glueing photos and words in place on the sheets I reassembled the A4 sheet and then photographed both sides to see that the images and words would in fact land in the right spots if created a Word document to match the placement in the photos.

Well I guess the next step is to create the word document; and print both sides on a cheap test sheet. Hopefully it will result in a booklet similar to the mock up in the photos below.

If you have already done a layout and print like this feel free to give me comments!!!!

Vintage type

 

I have been thinking about making limited edition publications using a vintage manual typewriter rather than setting up letterpress type. I'm thinking about typing on tea-bag paper - not a new idea I know but it is new for me. I want to be able to use my own words and achieve an outcome similar to the type in the image above and below. Of course I'm will need to focus on typing accurately!!!!

I brought a vintage manual; typewriter online. It arrived on time and it was well packed -  but as part of the postal procedure the carriage of the machine had been locked. Apparently this is the usual procedure when transporting older portable typewriters. The challenge for me was that there was no manual; and I knew nothing about carriage locks.

As you can see from the photos below I took the case off the machine after checking out online how one might free up a vintage typewriter - just not mine. I did manage to find and operate the carriage lock button; but still the carriage would not move.

I was just about to give up when Fiona and I had another look together and that is when I noticed that a small pin that would move the carriage on letter at a time had jumped out of its bracket - see below.

Once the pin was back in place we tested the movement - hey presto it worked. I put the machine back together and then we tried typing - a few of our efforts follow.

I'm happy that I can now test out this slightly dodgy old machine actually typing a small edition of a prose poem of mine based on fallen autumn leaves cascading over the local weir wall.