I didn't get to walk in the wee hours this morning as we needed to get Fiona on her way earlish to teach down the coast. So I thought I'd share s few bits, such as the bit of rusty fence wire above, that were in my phone. The photo above was taken on Sunday as we walked home from town.
A couple in the 'yard' photos such as the tree ring I installed today; and a welcome shower of rain seen from the deck as I ate lunch.
And a few delightful blossoms etc.
Fiona and I have been gradually doing more posters in the lead up to a poster exhibition at Deckled Edge Press studio-gallerybefore the end of the year.
I wanted to do an A5 poster about choice - I came up with "I can and I will". We have a number of wood ampersands in our type collection; so I decided to build the poster around one of the bigger gorgeous pieces.
Fiona suggested that doing a poster on you can and we can would be more inclusive. So in the end that is what I did.
The ampersand had to be printed first not only because of colour but more importantly it was well above type high. I also got to play with some different papers and some triple printing - I think ampersand lovers might like the lead photo.
Whilst I was in the swing of things I decided to print an affirmative A4 poster about having big dreams - we need to dream big. Fiona added to the design by selecting the 'big' font (Italian wood type) and suggesting a gradation of blue for dream.
I think the "I can, you can, we can" and the "Dream big" posters have all worked out well.
I have completed making 9 pairs of tiny metal book earrings. The pages are approximately 1.5cm wide and 2cm long. The books are made from silver-plated brass cut from vintage silver-plated drink coasters. Each pair or earrings has two words stamped onto the middle leaf: 4 pairs have love and peace; and 5 pairs have joy and hope stamped on them.
A few images of the making process in bit of a random order.
A completed pair. The earrings wires are deliberately simple with a slightly thicker gauge silver wire and longer tail as the tiny books still have a bit of weight to them.
I made 9 pairs as a few people said they want to buy these for friends for Christmas. Making these small books is quite fiddly - lots of steps and small bits. But the end product is a little bit special.
All of the blossoms in the first section of this blog post are about 1cm in diameter or less. In fact the thyme blossom immediately below is about 2-3mm in diameter.
The dew on the rose and other blossoms was so delicate today - fresh.
The lime tree and cupheas Fiona and I have planted are settling in.
Wallabies and a resident currawong are regular features of early morning walks.
Light and rainbows including the layer mountain shape below feature outdoors and on the kitchen bench.
Fiona and I have been tossing around ideas about cards we could print for the Christmas period. We want them to be a bit different. I started with this card - it can apply to Christmas but can be used for other celebrations.
The card was printed using very old wood type - love the honesty of the nicks (see h and !) and scratches
I have been asked to make a few more pairs of silver-plated leaf earrings so that folk can buy them for Christmas gifts. The request included that I make shorter drops this time - the longest is about 4cm. I got them done now incase people want to send them overseas. The metal was cut from good quality silver-plated drink coasters - silver over brass.
The wee ones below are a bit asymmetrical - but then again so are tiny leaves. The thinner leaf drops are about .5-.7cm across and the longest drop is about 2.5cm. The other set are shorter - shorter leaf is about 1.5cm long.
Having creative fun in both the letterpress studio and the metal workshop.
I offered to make Graham 20 mini meditation bowls for the members of his meditation group. The group is celebrating 10 years of meditation - pretty impressive. The bowls are made from 40mm squares of silver-plated brass as you can see from the edges of the stack of 22 above.
The metal was cut from two small sandwich trays. I stamped them with the tree of life symbol before cutting - easier to hold the metal when stamping.
