Functional

Six medium sized hand made ladles with brass and copper rod handles. 

I needed to make more functional metal bits for Maleny Additions. I have packed and delivered: Leaf Teaspoons; Leaf Tea Caddy Spoons; and Leaf Pate Knives. Just need to make and deliver ladles.

I decided to make 4 small ladles (bowl diameter 45mm) - good for sauces etc; and 6 medium ladles (bowl 60mm in diameter) 0 good for serving curry, rice etc.

Ten circles of metal were cut and pressed; and then hammered, ground and polished.

Brass and copper rod handles were fashioned and ground and polished.

And then the handles were riveted to the bowl sections with small brass and copper rivets. The rivets are actually cut down brass and copper nails I bought from a hardware store in Tatebayashi Japan quite a few years ago now.

Stash of completed ladles on the same old workbench in the "new" workshop.

 

Four small hand formed ladles

Rainbow Peace in time for International Peace Day

 

International Peace Day is on 21 September (Monday in Australia). I wanted to get a set of Rainbow Peace mini-posters (A5) completed before the day. I printed the backgrounds a couple of weeks ago. The ink was thick and in overlapping layers so it has taken a while to dry. It was further complicated by the fact that there was a smear of vegetable oil on one section the glass inking plate; and this got mixed in with the yellow and has caused it to dry more slowly and to get a dappled effect on some backgrounds.

Anyway as you can see I did get a series of the posters done - opaque white over the rainbow colours. The worn wooden type results in a a good textured look - and the message is - peace might be imperfect but it is better than hate, fear, brutality, oppression.

Because I could I decided to print some white on grey. Different presentations of peace. You might see a bit of yellow and blue has transferred to the first run of grey posters. It was picked up from one of the wetter rainbow backgrounds at the end of the rainbow print run.

White on black scraps of very textured and fibrous paper; plus a bit of copper dust on a couple..

All in the name of peace - imagine it.

Grey light and moisture

 

The day started quite bleak (see below) - grey, mist and the threat of rain - it had rained overnight. As you can see the early morning sun appeared almost sulphurous (see above).

The rain had washed the flowers and given them a delightful abundant look.

I wandered a different route today for my walk - one of Maleny's old streets. I chose to take a walk down a longish set of stairs (see below) that enables one to cut down into town by going from the upper street to the street quite a way below.

The photo was taken about halfway back up.

Mini-posters for daily inspiration

 

I'm printing some posters in preparation for a poster related exhibition that Fiona and I will have at Deckled Edge Press towards the end of the year.

This mini-poster incorporates the words I use in my Daily Leaf Words sets. I mixed the three colours above as I want to offer folk a bit of choice but also I wanted to create a calming blue and green.

I have used 2.5cm tall vintage wood type and set each word on top of each other - making for a continuous column of words and colour. They are printed on 300GSM white cotton paper.

I couldn't resist adding a bit of bling.

The mini-posters are already for sale at DEP for $35each.

First from the new workshop

 

It seemed quite fitting that the first bits of hammered metal from the new workshop should be leaves - one of my favourite forms.

Last weekend I was asked by a visitor to DEP studio-gallery-shop could I make her a pair of leaf earrings with clips given she does not have pierced ears. Of course I could as you can see from the opening photo graph - the leaf drops are about 35-40mm long.

After bolting my two vices to the workbench today I got into the process of making seven pairs of leaf earrings with different length drops.

Cutting up silver-plated drink coasters.

Folding and shaping the leaf forms.

Grinding, polishing and twisting the opened leaf forms.

And assembling a couple of pair including the wee ones below - leaf form is about 1.8cm. The longest reaffirm drop is about 6cm.

Preparing rainbow backgrounds for peace

 

Recently I have printed a couple of mini-posters (A5) - one on change and one on weariness. I decided I wanted to print a peace poster in time for International Peace Day - 21 September.

I set myself the task of creating a rainbow background for the poster. This involved using seven rollers and inks for the job. Each A5 sheet of paper was rolled on a sheet of recycled A4 computer paper.

I have made 12 background hoping the I will get 7-10 good mini-posters. The ink will probably take about a week or so to dry before I can overprint the rainbow with the word peace.

I haven't decided if I will overprint in white or black yet. I have been thinking that white would be more peaceful. I will be printing using wood type - tallest letter is about 5cm.

Ready, set - almost go

 

Fiona and I are doing the final unpacking and rearranging after our big move from 601 to 119. The photo above shows that the jewellery assembling desk-bench is now ready for action the second bedroom - Fiona's sewing table is also in that room.

The workshop still had a way to go. We decided to move our big heavy oak L-shaped office desk into the new workshop; and I would cut it down into a manageable work bench. It was too big for our new office space; and no one else wanted such a big heavy desk!!!

The desk had to be pulled apart to enable it to be moved.

The L-shaped return was cut off; and a smaller work bench is created - the left over timber will be given to a friend to use to make cutting and cheese boards.

My guillotine is now attached to the bench - no more lifting it up and down off the floor. The filing cabinets make for good storage.

And the space is clean and ready for work next week.