littlepaperbird

friday

2012-01-13T18:44:00.002Z

First week of maternity leave over, and it still feels a little bit like I might have to go back to work next week, but also mostly like this is what life should be like! I've eaten proper dinners and cooked nice teas, the dishwasher and washing basket are empty, and the ~~junk room~~ baby's room starting to look less like a recycling plant (maybe). It's also been so nice to be able to make things in the daylight in winter...

I'm knitting a cotton blanket/shawl for the baby, a pi shawl, and my first attempt at a circular cast on (4th time lucky!) It's slightly disconcerting that the whole thing looks like a giant unattractive doily-like hat, but hopefully blocking will rectify that, if I can manage it. And I have some mustard yellow yarn for the edging if I dare...

I've also been making progress on my long term embroidery project. I love the work of Moira Blackburn; the colours and composition and the history behind the designs too. It's fun to design my own samplers, but much more relaxing to sew one of these. Half way there...

A couple of quilts completed too (for gifts, so no close ups yet...)

And Coco is feeling much better now, she is good at helping...

saturday

2011-12-31T14:39:00.000Z

Today is quiet. I've cleaned the house from bottom to top, swept the cobwebs off the ceiling (then got mud on the carpet, oh well) and now I'm sat with an hour to spare. Peace.

And I'm going to go upstairs and carry on the clear out upstairs in the soon to be babies room. Yesterday I got rid of all my cardboard stash (what, you don't have a cardboard stash? Lovely large pristine bits of corrugated cardboard, no stickers or dints or print or writing, just waiting to be turned into packaging or storage boxes or who knows what... but also taking up about half of the wardrobe...) Its gone in the garden to be used to cover the veg beds in spring, the half built veg beds, oh well. Perhaps I'm starting to accept I won't use these things I keep just in case; that its better to use them now or to pass them on rather than to keep them there and have to keep track of them in my mind. Maybe my priorities are going to change, I want life to be simple.

2012 is going to be interesting...

wednesday

2011-12-28T17:20:00.000Z

Coco is home and looking much better (apart from a shaved patch, oh dear!) I think she'd kept the rest of the patients awake all night miaowing (she's a noisy one) but hopefully she'll be ok, back for a check on Friday (sorry Coco, cat box again). If only I could explain to her whats going on... oh well.

Photos from a walk across the park to the midwife today, muddy and very windy. Baby has jiggled himself head down, so all is well, and only a month and a bit to go of feet wedged between my ribs (hurray!)

On the way home there were hundreds of these birds, all picking at the moss and sitting in the trees and wandering about. They took no notice as I walked through them, then a few minutes later they all took off at once, filling the sky. I like birds.

tuesday

2011-12-27T17:50:00.002Z

What a day. My little cat Coco is in the cat hospital tonight. She's been having kind of coughing fits for the last few days and I thought she perhaps had a hairball. She then started having trouble breathing so I took her to the emergency vets where she's had x-rays and scans and all sorts and been diagnosed with asthma. So I'm grateful it wasn't her heart or anything terminal, but it means medication for the rest of her life :(

She is a bit of a stress head anyway, and I feel so sad thinking about her in a cage at the vets all alone, can't wait until tomorrow when she's back home with me. Hope you're ok Coco.

friday

2011-12-23T12:48:00.003Z

Well, the shortest day is over, and what a beautiful one. Sunshine, blue skies, unusual clouds...

Today it's raining, but the mood lifting effects of the sunshine linger on. That combined with time off work, spending time with lovely friends and family and feeling my little baby swizzle around in my belly (trying and nearly succeeding to spill my cup of tea). More and more daylight now until I meet him...

tuesday

2011-12-20T18:37:00.002Z

All the invitations are printed, and all that remains is to decorate them with tiny paper bunting, a task I'm actually looking forward to. I like fiddly repetitive activities and it's a good excuse to use up some of the contents of my 'white paper' draw (perhaps my favourite draw, who knows?)

These are just a few of the variations I printed as test pieces; three different card stocks, 4 background alternatives, three colours of ink. I'm terrible at making decisions about this kind of thing and usually just go for trying to do all the options, but I managed to narrow it down. It's really worth making test pieces like this (for me at least) as often things turn out very differently to how I expect. Even though it took me all morning I think it's time well spent as the final one I chose is definitely the right one. Although I didn't narrow down the backgrounds really, and ended up using 3 of them, oh well!

The actual screen printing went surprisingly smoothly. In the past when I've printed wedding invitations for others or large print runs there has always been a blocked bit of screen, or a break down, or botched prints with faint bits, bled bits, blurry bits. But today out of nearly 400 prints (two colours on the front, one on the back) only one went wrong and had to be binned. Very unusual. I'd made double of every screen in anticipation of problems, but really this ended up being a luxury as I didn't have to wait for screens to dry between layers, and instead of being stressful (like printing in a limited amount of time usually is) it's was actually quite enjoyable. Could've been because I had the workshop to myself and could sing as loudly as I wanted...

monday

2011-12-19T21:53:00.001Z

Started work on printing my wedding invitations today...

It's hard to draw neatly when someone is kicking the table from inside your belly...

wintry workshop

2011-12-17T19:16:00.000Z

Lovely workshop at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery today, pop up Christmas cards inspired by some of the paintings and prints of wintry scenes in their current exhibition. A real mix of people, both adults and children (and even a 2 month old baby who was very cute indeed), and some fantastic cards made. I'm always so excited to see the results at the end of these workshops, they're always so imaginative and carefully done and individual, they put my examples to shame!

My shocking quality photos don't do them justice by the way. My camera has broken and phone pics in a subtly lit room are never going to come out very well :( Oh well, still a good day. Now I'm off to thread fuzzy balls on a string as my house is looking distinctly un-christmassy.

2011-12-15T18:13:00.000Z

Last day of teaching before maternity leave. I still have a week or so to go but there'll be no students around, so it felt like a last day, that strange feeling as I walked out the door. And apart from a late start due to a fall on the ice this morning (baby's ok, I'm ok) it's been a good day. A reminder-of-what-I enjoy-about-my-job day. I hope when I go back in a year I can remember how to do it!

Anyway, I've got thoughts of how I want to spend the next month before the baby arrives. Thoughts of tidying and organising; so many unfinished jobs around the house, so many brown stalks in the garden, a room full of books and paper and cloth and whoknowswhat that needs turning into a room full space for a new person. I'm a massive hoarder but I can feel a purge coming on, and that feeling doesn't come very often so I want to take advantage of it. I'm feeling inspired by the fact that the total worldly possessions of this small person inside me can currently fit into one medium box, and whilst I'm fully aware that these things change drastically it's made me wonder how I've accumulated so much stuff in my life. Its too easy isn't it. So off it goes.

I'm on a precipice.

ps spot the chicken

2011-11-09T16:55:00.001Z

Today I will take a walk through the woods, to look at the leaves and to breathe the air. In February you will be born, and before then the leaves will turn yellow and orange and brown, and fall to the floor, and maybe snow will come and cover everything. But it will melt and you will be here. Here to see the leaves return, little green buds on bare branches.

Through the darkness into the light. I can't wait to meet you.

soft ground experiments

2011-08-23T21:32:00.007+01:00

With time to spare in the workshop today I decided to try some experiments in soft ground etching. Soft ground has always been my favourite way to create etched images but as we are a 'non toxic' workshop the traditional method of melting wax onto the plate is out. I read that Graphic Chemical relief ink can be used as a ground; soft when it's wet and then also as a hard ground when it's dry, and thought it might be worth a try...

I tried various thicknesses of ink, applied with a roller, and various different tools to draw both through paper (which lifts off ground) and directly (which displaces it). I tried drawing on the plate as soon as it was coated, then at 10 minute intervals as the ink dried. Unlike my previous attempts with a different acrylic soft ground, this ink seems to dry quite slowly giving a large window of opportunity for drawing... top image drawn through paper after 5 mins, bottom drawn after 35 mins...

I also tried painting with various consistencies of the ink directly on the un-coated plate, and used water to dissolve parts creating the opposite effect...

I didn't get chance to etch the plates as the ink takes up to 24 hours to dry depending on thickness, but I can't wait to see what they all turn out like as it feels quite promising. Now I've just got to work out the etching times...

P.S. I like the little mono prints made with the removed ink too :)

5 trees

2011-07-13T19:30:00.009+01:00

A new book...

on bags

2011-05-17T11:07:00.005+01:00

A bag for my lovely friend Emily.

I seem to make her a bag every year (2007 2008 2009...) and as I had this upholstry weight floral Cath Kidson fabric I thought why should this year be any different. A girl can never have too many bags right. And the more I sew the more I learn and the more I think I can do better than the bag I made before. So, sorry Emily, you are the recipient of the evidnece of my learning curve ;)

The design for this bag just seemed to come together one day, as these things sometimes do. I saw a bag with a woven strap (on the street, on the internet, who knows where) and when I was thinking about a present for Emily that image popped into my head, and it seemed to suggest a curved bag, to follow the line of the strap. So I cut out some shapes, a front and a back and a flap and a gusset, and sewed them together with thinking about it all too much. Kind of like having an image of a finished thing in my head, then closing my eyes and moving towards it without worrying about going of the track. A kind of intuition? Of having had enough sewing go wrong to get a certain feel for the right direction? Certainly a feeling of freedom that could perhaps get quite addictive.

I just looked back through my archives, looking for a bag I'd made in the past to compare this one to and realised I've actually made quite a few... Perhaps all this bag making practice is starting to sink in...

Friday

2011-05-13T19:21:00.001+01:00

At work I am lucky to be surrounded by lots of talented people; artists, designers, print makers and all sorts. My manager (after a bit of persuasion, he's a modest type) has decided to offer some of the beautiful books he makes at PapercutBindery on Etsy. His books are even better in the flesh, his attention to detail is something I aspire to (I'm definitely up for a bit of 'if no one will see it then maybe it doesn't matter and I can get away with not doing it', where as Roger's spines are lined to perfection..) Anyway, he's taught me a lot about binding in the years I've worked with him and I thought you might like to have a look at his work...

This sketch book is my favourite so far I think, but he's got more on the go in his little cellar bindery, including some gold edge gilding, so I can't wait to see those. The traditionally bound Japanese books (paper stitches and everything) are beautiful too, real craftsmanship...

Next I'm going to get him to start a blog...

All images copyright of Roger Grech 2011

...

2011-05-10T15:26:00.002+01:00

I've been really enjoying sewing recently. I've put a new table in my workroom (the old table from the kitchen, which has been replaced by an even older, more appropriately sized, table) and its great to be able to sit to the machine. Previously I had it propped up on a box and I sat on a cushion to sew pressing the presser with my knee. Worked great but bad for the back. Anyway, sitting to a table and having the iron to hand has been good.

Every night for a few weeks I cut a little bit, sewed a little bit and it was quite relaxing. I miss it now I'm working lates again (although summer is nearly hear, 6 more weeks I think). I made my third attempt at a tree quit, and this time I think I've cracked it. Cream linen background instead of white cotton, more limited colour pallet (perhaps this is my downfall; colours look nice in a rainbow so I try to use them all...) and slightly more ordered layout. More space between the trees.

A quilt for Samuel, my newest cousin, with lots of love ♥

saturday

2011-05-07T22:31:00.012+01:00

Gardening today after the rain, surrounded by trees and earth and promise...

Peonies and peas and forget-me-nots, and a soon-to-be lawn (if it grows...)

And the cats are out, free! They love it too :)

carousels...

2011-05-06T19:23:00.008+01:00

As part of the Meadowsweet exhibition I've been doing book binding workshops in some of the primary schools which are local to the venues the tour will visit; making carousel books and flutter books and generally having a fun time. The children so far have all been a pleasure to work with, enthusiastic and friendly and inquisitive, and so creative. Makes me want to become a primary school teacher (until I realise what an exhausting job it must be really... all those questions!) Anyway, some details of the lovely books from Pegswood today:

A selection of pages from Dent School, and their work on display at the exhibition last weekend...

Looked very good indeed, I was so proud of them :)

monday

2011-05-02T18:52:00.005+01:00

Back from a windy weekend in Dent, and the opening of the Meadowsweet Contemporary Craft Tour...

I wish I had some better pictures but I was so busy talking to all the visitors and demonstrating work I didn't really get chance, and I'm still processing it all so don't have many words to say about it, sorry! But if you're up north in the next couple of months you might get chance to see it all for yourself, a list of upcoming dates and venues here...

The venue in Dent was the lovely Meditation Center, and my dodgy phone camera photos don't really do the space justice. The light in there was beautiful, a lovely space to spend two days. And the views from Dent station aren't bad either!

along shackleton hill

2011-03-25T14:27:00.006Z

A windy walk on the verge of spring. Lines of trees.

Sunday

2011-03-06T19:27:00.005Z

I was tidying my studio this week, maybe even Spring cleaning, and I found some paper cuts I made a while ago. I liked them at the time but wasn't sure where to go with them so put them away to work on something else. And them forgot about them (that's the beauty of working full time, renovating the kitchen and practicing art at the same time. Oh, for hours of uninterrupted time to focus... unrealistic I know.)

I'm starting to pull everything together for my upcoming exhibition now; getting everything out on the table, seeing how it works together, how it could be displayed, if anything is missing, what needs to go. And isn't it always the way that after a period of working hard and working consistently and regularly that ideas really start to flow, I know this, but am always surprised by it, and especially as a deadline looms!

It feels like the things I've been working on are starting to come together, but now there are lots of other things I want to make too. And these paper cuts have got me thinking. I know it's this pressure that makes good things happen; it's the reason that I make that hard decision about how something should be instead of putting it away in the cupboard for later (see above.)

I like how a little bit of what's below is revealed, framed, the springy book held still for a minute. I like how sitting an object on top makes the placement look intentional, and it gives it a different meaning (more potential for a story perhaps?) But maybe its too fussy, too decorative, too obvious, detracts from the object. I don't know, too many choices. Maybe they should just stand by themselves...

Sunday

2011-02-27T16:38:00.003Z

More cutting and gluing and folding and thinking.

Folding pop-up houses, smaller and smaller...

Slightly panicking about up coming deadlines, clearly more hours need to be added to the day somehow. A pleat fold in the space time continuum perhaps...

containing...

2011-02-18T11:33:00.005Z

I've been thinking about boxes for my grass book; the practicalities of containing and protecting it, how to reveal it, present it, take it from the box, suggest its possibilities...

It's hard to decide when there are so many options. Circular looks good but its hard to remove from the box; squashed up will full height walls is sturdy and safe but doesn't look exciting, curves and turns are interesting but the box making is complex (too complex, and fiddly looking too.) Maybe simple is best after all.

monday

2011-02-14T18:16:00.001Z

Inside...

Outside...

thursday

2011-02-10T19:31:00.003Z

I've been thinking a lot about grass recently; about the bare patch of earth prepared in my garden, waiting for spring and for grass seed, but already green with wild grass; its resilience and persistence.

I've been looking out for green shoots whilst wrapped up in my coat and scarf and boots, and thinking about laying back in my overgrown lawn, seed heads tickling...

Rustling is not quite the word to describe the feeling of laying back amongst the grass, and whisper is too soft for the sound it makes in my ears. It's been a while since I've had sunshine on my skin.

And I've been thinking about these pictures taken last summer, how it felt to lay there, and I've been cutting blade after blade of grass with my scalpel.

hopeful

2011-01-17T15:08:00.006Z

The light today has been beautiful, happy light. And on what seems like my first walk outside in the daylight for months I noticed the trees have buds on.

cutting

2011-01-06T17:19:00.003Z

Thank you for your thoughts and wishes yesterday, it means a lot.

Next month is this blog's fourth birthday, and I've realised, its such a good thing to have, to look back through a window into my thoughts, to see how much has changed but also how much has stayed the same. I randomly stumbled across this post again, and it's a good reminder to me of the kind of person I want to be heading into term time again next week. It's easy to be complacent isn't it.

And I've realised I miss posting regularly here, miss the chance to order my thoughts and ideas and see what spills out. The internet can suck away my creativity, if I let it, and this blog counteracts that I think, it's a positive thing. Instead of mindlessly clicking, there's a purpose. And I miss having the record of when I made what, in my head everything was a month ago, or two perhaps... so its good to look back at how ideas have developed (or not) and spot them emerging (or not!) And I miss the connection with people, the thoughts your comments provoke, the motivation to push myself further and the confidence it gives me to carry on making. I suppose I'm saying that I'm not sure where I would be today if I hadn't started up this process those four years ago. No where bad I'm sure, but certainly somewhere different... So...

...today I have scalpel hand; red coloured finger bent back,with a dint in the end; from cutting...

28

2011-01-05T18:53:00.003Z

Today I am 28 years old. 28 summers, 28 winters, 28 turns round the sun.

There are things I want to do this year

I'm part of a touring exhibition in Summer; Meadowsweet; books to be made, paper to be cut, new things. There's a kitchen to install and a garden to make. Vegetables and flowers and trees to grow. Maybe a pizza oven. Kittens to snuggle, to release into the outside world and trust in their return (and that's going to be a hard one I think...) Spend time with friends and family, appreciate what I have.

I've been a bit lost, in one way and another. Dark nights and time and no time and things to do. It's like time stopped but also ran away with me. I don't know. But now something slotted into place, perhaps, and today I've had a happy day :)

monday

2010-11-29T16:58:00.004Z

Cold dark nights. But the kittens are loving the real fire, laying out belly up on the cushion, no work for them in the morning. They like climbing in the log basket too, picking out tiny bits of stick to chase around the room and kill.

Today I went for a walk through the snow across the park to Headingley and the wool shop... so many lovely colours and textures and I wish I had more money. But Christmas making is a good excuse to spend half an hour choosing 3 balls of wool and now I just need to find a way to knit without cats thinking its play time (what am I saying, it's always play time!)

Some winter trees, with sun as big as it gets. I walked home through the woods at dusk, orange sun shining across snow.

bit of a catch up

2010-11-23T14:28:00.007Z

I've been making lots of books recently, and even taking photos of them, but I've been really rubbish about actually posting them on here. So...

Lots of herringbone books and custom concertina albums...

Custom guest books and albums for weddings (I like doing these, but it makes me wish I was doing it for mine. Must get organized on that one!)

And fancy books and forest books (among other things) for the Presence exhibition at The Manor House in Ilkley. The Manor House is a really beautiful venue, I'm really excited to have my work there. The exhibition is on until the beginning of January next year and if you're near Ilkley its worth look.

I'm also running a workshop at the opening on Saturday. Its one of lots of drop in workshops and I'm going to be making these pop up trees. The perfect alternative to a real tree if your house has kittens that like to climb ;)

Maybe see you there? x

kittens!

2010-11-15T09:59:00.005Z

10 weeks old and they've been here a week. I'm amazed how fast they've made themselves at home, showing me that I'm crazy to worry about such hazards as the gaps behind furniture, the stairs, the shelves, the curtains... they are the best toys. Or the best race tracks at least. And how they love the fire!

I wanted cute close up face pictures, but turns out they don't stay still long enough for that, but I think these suit their personalities perfectly...

Coco on the left and as yet unamed 'stripey face' on the right. Both have sharp claws :)

And I wonder if they're trying to tell me something when they walk calmly over to where I'm sat typing and put a paw down firmly on the delete button...

tuesday

2010-11-02T15:52:00.003Z

One side and the other. Thinking about leaves falling, covering the earth in my garden. Covering my desk.

monday

2010-11-01T18:41:00.003Z

Wind outside. Its been dark for hours already. Coal tits on the feeder out the window in the sunshine today, great tits, a robin, a nut hatch.

And I know I'm putting off sitting down and making a start. Knowing it's the hardest part doesn't make it any easier.

weeds

2010-08-23T17:50:00.004+01:00

The making frenzy continues but I've been really trying to focus and not let myself get distracted. I currently at this moment only have three things on the go at once so I'm getting better... And I'm pushing myself to finish things when I start them. Not always successful (!) but I'm trying. Small steps.

So, I've had a few things waiting patiently to be listed in my shop for a month or so now, photos taken and everything (which is normally the stumbling block for me, getting the photos to look good and not blurry and washed out etc. Perhaps I need a new camera, the one I have is 10 years old... ) Anyway, these note books have drawings of weeds screen printed on the covers, weeds I dug up and then felt sorry for as they sat drying in the sun, so I drew them. I like these drawings. And I'm hoping this listing isn't just procrastination for the things I should be doing. I'm telling myself it's just finishing a job...

deadheading

2010-08-16T18:33:00.003+01:00

Thank you for your kind words yesterday, it means lot to me to know I'm not just going crazy on my own. I've tried to slow down, or at least slow my brain down, and finish one thing at a time. And make sure I finish it too. Because jumping off on tangents is what gets me wound up I think, trying to hold too many things in my head at once (I think that's why I don't like chess either, or mental arithmetic, I think my brain works best in linear...)

Anyway, I've been out in the garden digging today. Turning over the soil. Trying not to slice worms. Teasing out roots. It's been sunny.

2010-08-14T11:58:00.003+01:00

Sometimes I wish I didn't make things. I think about just coming in and sitting down on the sofa and not feeling like I should be doing something with my hands. Not thinking about if the shade of red on the box is wrong and perhaps it should be grey. Or if the dimensions are right at all. Right. And I should've cut that paper because now I'll have to fold it tomorrow and I won't have time to sew it. In fact now I've seen all the folded up bits in a pile on the floor I'd like to sew them all together into to maybe a big circle, look how the fold lines line up. But then I'd have to cut and sew them all again because I need them for something else too. And I have 10 of the same books to make (the covers half prepared) but theres a sewing pattern growing in my head and I try to experiment but mess it up and I should've been sewing the books. I try to do too many things at once and none of them turn out right because of it. Or they might be right but I don't feel its the best they could be. I wonder whats the point.

I know you're right to tell me to just get on with it. I hate the sound of myself.

Tell me you feel like this sometimes too?

friday

2010-08-13T20:26:00.004+01:00

Words don't seem to come easy these days. Have some birds instead (they're better anyway)

sunday

2010-08-08T17:26:00.002+01:00

Back to work tomorrow after two weeks away. A bit of sunday folding...

2010-07-25T16:49:00.003+01:00

Note to self: Hand woven Indian cotton may look and feel beautiful, and bring back happy memories of that trip to London, but even after a pre-wash in the washing machine it will still bleed purple dye all over your quilt. Don't use it in a quilt back again! (Unless trees with blotchy pink backgrounds are what you are after...)

A baby chick picture to remind me there are more important things in life. Anyone got any good tips for fixing it when the colours run in the wash?!

more folding

2010-07-20T15:54:00.007+01:00

folding...

2010-07-14T18:18:00.005+01:00

and thinking...

Hmmmm.

(There's a big thunder storm outside, water running in sheets down the window. I opened the door just to peek and it was like someone chucking a bucket of water at me. Its good to be snuggled up inside though. Hope you're safe and warm.)

more trees

2010-07-06T19:28:00.003+01:00

I've been working on this quilt for a while now, a tree here, a tree there. And today the top is finished!

And I've been thinking about what the back should be like... perhaps solid white, with the quilting in colour so the stitching makes a pattern on its own, or patchwork in different shades of white, or maybe random patchwork of all the colours of the trees (a bit like this). It's hard to decide.

As for the quilting... follow the patterns of the tree outlines like last time? Or maybe an all over pattern. I like the idea of something more compact, maybe just straight lines, straight across. Or a grid. Would that spoil the trees, or would they speak for themselves anyway. And green quilting thread? White? What about red?? I saw some really beautiful quilts at the V&A exhibition, just lines of varying thickness of stitches on a flat background. Perhaps I'm getting mixed up, trying to put too many ideas into one thing, perhaps that's quilt number three instead...

And. I've decided to try and hand quilt it. I don't think it will fit through my old machine and I don't have a quilting foot, and I think I quite like the idea of sitting with it on my knee in the evenings. We'll see how I feel a few thousand stitches later...

drum roll...

2010-07-05T17:39:00.005+01:00

As much as I would like to send everybody a book... (I always forget when I do give aways that having to pick a winner is hard indeed!) I left it to atmospheric noise and came out with comment number 15, which is... Beata! Congratulations Beata, I hope you like the book.

And to everyone who commented, thank you for all your reading recommendations, so many! I love hearing about what people like to read. Someone I knew once asked that for his birthday, instead of any old present, that people buy him their favourite book. Lots of interesting new books and perhaps a little insight into friends and family too. I thought that was a great idea. So I've written down all your recommendations and I'm off to the library tomorrow :) You all made my day.

want a book?

2010-06-29T18:05:00.005+01:00

To thank you all for supporting my shop and my artistic explorations and my occasional ramblings here and there I would like to give away a book. This book...

It's similar to one that's for sale in my shop, but a little bit smaller. Its still lovely and soft and bendy with lots of room for scribbles...

If you would like to receive it then all you need to do is leave a comment below and I'll randomly pick a winner on Monday! If you're stuck for something to say then you could recommend a book for me to read; fiction, non-fiction, whatever; just something you have enjoyed recently :)

Thanks again, couldn't have done it without you :)

monday

2010-06-28T20:19:00.002+01:00

A warm weekend in London, visiting the quilt exhibition at the V&A and an exhibition about Chinese print at the British Museum. Both worth a look, and there are so many other things to see in both places that we only touched the surface. I think I could spend a long while wandering and looking and reading and wondering, who were these people who made these things, so many things...

Good food, good walks, sunshine, trees, book binding shops, and most importantly good company. And I've slowly bit by bit started making a quilt of my own.

happy thursday

2010-06-17T18:59:00.006+01:00

Lately I've been noticing how my body seems to get heavier and heavier as the end of the working week approaches, it gets harder and harder to drag myself along. Then suddenly the clock ticks 37 and its all gone, and everythings light as a feather as soon as I step through the door, home at last, I remember to breathe out... Does that happen to you?

With all the hours done this week, I've been rediscovering the joys of small books (8cm square to be precise)...

...looking forward to a fun packed weekend of Todmorden Agricultural Show, a trip to the dentist, Swing into Summer and some tasty food at Salvos...

...eating my first 4 home grown strawberries (not a slug-hollowed one in sight, touch wood...) and bringing in some peonies from the garden...

...and reaching the 100th sale in my shop, so stay tuned next week for a celebratory give away!!

spine book

2010-06-15T21:05:00.003+01:00

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the book in my last post. I love the challenge of a commission, pushing myself to come up with something that I wouldn't normally think to do, and making the effort to produce the best possible thing I can. It's sometimes hard wondering what expectations might be attached to the finished item, but I just keep telling myself to make something I am happy with, something I'm proud of and hope that is enough...

Anyway, I'm hoping to make some more books in this style (but with tree cut outs I think, or perhaps thin little concertina circles??) soon, when the working of evenings finishes in a few weeks for the summer. A whole 4 hours of day light every evening, luxury!

This is a book I made for the artists book fair a few months ago, and one of them has been sitting on my coffee table for weeks now. I keep picking it up and twiddling it about, curving it round, watching it spring back. I think it's inspiring me to get folding again...

You can get one of your own here if you like that kind of thing ;)

A book...

2010-06-10T21:13:00.005+01:00

With a secret...

Commissioned by a lovely man for his wife to collect together and keep her family recipes... I hope she likes it :)

spring

2010-06-09T19:02:00.003+01:00

I found an abandoned birds nest in my garden, on the garden wall behind a massive overgrown bush...

5 tiny blue speckled eggs...

I discovered they are blackbird's eggs, I feel sad to think they'll never hatch. Hopefully the blackbirds have another more successful brood somewhere else...

Have you been watching Springwatch? Give me those bird nest webcams over big brother any day...

I've been...

2010-06-08T19:19:00.005+01:00

Laying in the sunshine, under the trees, pretending I'm on holiday.

Walking in the rain.

Scrambling up Gordale Scar (and sliding back down again). Admiring the fields and walls and trees and stone from way above. Greens and yellows and greys. Wanting to make a patchwork quilt...

Folding concertina books

Waiting for summer...

dandelions

2010-05-16T19:27:00.005+01:00

I've finally got round to taking some pictures of some of the books I made for the artist's book fair back in when was it, March. Thought you might like to see them. The book I am most pleased with is the one about dandelions...

The drawings were done on a lovely sunny day, whilst weeding and dreaming in my garden. At the moment it's an overgrown mess, but one day it will be a little paradise I hope.

Its screen printed in dark brown and white, I made the background by painting indian ink on tracing paper over the drawings. This can then be exposed directly to the screen which I think gives it a directness often lost on computer generated images (or perhaps its that I'm no good at computers, who knows) I think its the first screen print I have made that I'm actually pleased with...

After looking through the book the back cover opens to reveal behind the weeds a little plan of my garden, how it is now not how it will be when its done... and then the plan lifts up to show a careful drawing of the dirt that was left in the fold of my sketch book when I finally put the dandelions on the compost heap. You can see more pics here

The whole this can be opened completely to look at all the weeds at once. I've got one framed on my desk to remind me. Go out and do the weeding.

Wednesday

2010-05-12T18:27:00.002+01:00

I can't wait for summer. Specifically some free time in summer to work on new prints and books. I think the light evenings are finally getting through to my brain, and I'm starting to try and spend time in my studio after work, starting to have free time at lunch times to make prints...

I seem to have spent the last few months starting things and never finishing them, not being able to motivate myself, not feeling like anything is worth it. I know this is just how it goes, but at the time that doesn't seem to help. But in the last few days I've looked at the piles of cover-less books and screen printing positives and notes scrawled on scraps on my shelves and felt not overwhelmed but perhaps a little bit inspired to make a start on them again...

Today I sewed a book, the finished thing feels good in my hands.

And I wonder what I could do if I felt motivated all the time?!

in on my own on wednesday evening

2010-04-28T21:49:00.005+01:00

I was looking back through old blog posts this evening, not something I do often really, unless I'm looking for something specific that I've written or made or seen, which I wasn't. Just feeling nostalgic I suppose.

From the age of 14 to around 19 I kept a diary. On and off, nothing serious, a few lines to a page every night, what I was thinking that night, before I went to sleep. And it's funny to read back through it now, interesting, to see with hindsight, to reflect. To try and look at the things I think now through the eyes of myself in the future, try and see life with wisdom, the bigger picture, something like that. And the other day I had the thought that I wished I still kept a diary. How could I forget my blog?!

So this must have been on my mind. And I looked back to three years ago this month. Found this, about my hopes for the future, or perhaps I was just complaining... But something hit me in the face when I realised. I've got pretty much exactly what I thought I wanted, right down to the paper stored flat, the wooden floor. The funny thing strange thing sad thing is I don't have the energy to use it.

How about that.

tuesday

2010-04-27T22:33:00.000+01:00

I could do with a new fence.

And some time. (and some inclination).

adventures

2010-04-26T19:22:00.007+01:00

Over Easter we travelled to Ireland for the wedding of one of my best friends. To the south west coast, through the green hills that reminded me of home, on to the mountains...

This is the view from our bedroom window, sunshine every day. And the view up (and down) Knockatee mountain...

You can see the harbour where we stayed and the wedding took place, in the distance, and the Atlantic... it was beautiful...

(shhh. that's me on the rear left :) ) The reception was in this amazing old barn, the walls hung with multi coloured scarves and hangings, candles and rose petals and weeds creeping in at the windows...

Reminded me a little of my latest screen prints... Perhaps it's all the weeding I've been doing recently...

Happy days

thing is the garden

2010-04-25T17:32:00.005+01:00

some of them moved from other places, other gardens, some bought, and some sprouted up from what seems like nowhere...

Rain and sunshine and bird song. Plans for fences, lawns, sheds, paths, an apple tree or two... Dirt under my finger nails.

box...

2010-04-15T17:19:00.006+01:00

phew

2010-03-17T11:15:00.004Z

Where to start. I got lost in a book making swamp for a while there. Every night going up to my studio instead of sitting about downstairs... it's not a pace I could keep up I don't think, not at the same time as a full time job at least (and I have a cold and vague feeling of brain loss to show for it) but it's good to know it's there, waiting for me.

I suppose its a while since I've really concentrated on making work. On developing an idea and sustaining it to a finished thing, a finished thing I'm happy with at least. It took a few weeks to stop feeling stressed out; to stop jumping from one idea to another and to feel comfortable with what I'm working on. I sometimes forget that it takes time to quiet that voice in my ear... its not worth it... its rubbish...it'll never work... Sometimes that feeling is right, but if instead of stopping working I can just keep going, keep folding and cutting and drawing and making, then sometimes the answer comes in a flash. Things occasionally fit together. And that's when I can be happy with something I've made. When every element is in it's place and right.

It doesn't happen very often :)

There are some pictures of our stall at the book fair on Caroline's blog (and whilst you're there you can admire some of her beautiful prints patterns). When I'm at home in the day light (not long now surely, Spring) I'll take some pictures of the books I made :)

a bit of digging

2010-03-07T16:39:00.004Z

This weekend me and my dad made a start on the tangled mess that is my garden. An overgrown hedge ran down the side of the house and it seemed like a bit of a waste of space. It surrounded a patio (another patio! There's a theme emerging here. hmmm) Anyway, we clipped back the hedge, dug it out, dug up the patio, tuned over the soil. I have plans for vegetables...

before

and during (my dad is ace)...

and 5 hours later, after!

Now I just need to go seed shopping...

skull problem

2010-02-24T18:31:00.004Z

I've been having a bit of trouble with my skull prints... They're etchings, and to print etchings the paper must be soaked. But paper, when soaked tends to stretch and shrink, which, to my dismay, doesn't go well at all with the precise measurements associated with concertina books...

So after spending the morning printing 5 strips of eight plates I found the next day they were about 2cm shorter and the pages wouldn't line up at all. That's the way to learn I suppose, it seems to be the way I'm learning at the moment at least... So. Onto plan B.

Individual sewn pages?
On a concertina spine?
French folded?

I wish there were more hours in the day!

saturday

2010-02-20T19:15:00.002Z

2 magpies, 2 wood pigeons, 2 robins, a sparrow, a great tit, a squirel. And no pictures because I was too busy digging. Too busy digging up a couple of years worth of accumulated leaves, weeds, grassy tufts, worms, stones, roots, and tiny (and not so tiny) sycamore trees. And underneath it all I found a patio...

Beautiful sunny day. Cold but sunny. Makes me remember I'm alive.

2010-02-18T15:52:00.003Z

Wedding albums in time for valentines day...

I hope their happy memories will be safe inside!

work in progress

2010-02-16T17:21:00.005Z

It's half term this week which means I finished work at half four instead of half eight, and for the first time this year I left work in the day light, a thing to be celebrated! It's still light as I type this and it feels like such a liberation, the birds are singing, I survived winter again...

And I've been working on some etchings; skulls I drew after my visit to the Natural History Museum. There's something about them all lined up in cases; categorised, classified. What is it that appeals to me? Diagrammed and named, no flesh.

Below is a proof of the etched plates, pieces of copper 6cm square, just the lines...

And with the aquatint solution sprayed across the surface, stopped out with acrylic paint, ready to etch...

Another proof, this time after the aquatint. So far so good.

I'm planning to make a little concertina book with these prints, with a slip case to contain it. Tomorrow.

on my desk

2010-02-06T18:30:00.003Z

trees.

.

2010-02-04T19:55:00.003Z

I'm very good at procrastinating. I'm very good at thinking about baking a clementine cake when I should be making books.

Lit the fire. Washed up. Recognised the merits of learning to crochet. Felt sorry for myself, picked bits of ash off the rug. Got out pencil, paper, rubber, 3 different thicknesses of pen. And number of books made? none.

Right.

a moon book

2010-02-02T18:21:00.003Z

Whilst I was playing around with my moon screen print I printed some of the final layer in white onto some recycled card that I had been saving for who knows what (like you do). It's a lovely soft brown colour with little flecks of colour through out; reminders of its colourful past I suppose.

Anyway, I decided to make the prints into book covers with the moon wrapping right around the book and across the spine...

I'm really pleased with this little book, the subtlety of the white on speckled brown is hard the photograph (these are the third attempt!) but it works well. The folded edges make it sturdy and durable. The moon appears in the light. It feels nice in my hand.

You can see more here...

friday

2010-01-29T11:49:00.004Z

When it was snowing I made a sock anteater. Long squishy stripey legs and arms and nose. He was for a friend but I secretly wanted to keep him...

I'm off to Manchester this weekend to catch up with some friends, eat lots of cake and hopefully squeeze in a visit to the massive paperchase to ogle the paper. Have a good weekend!

on boxes

2010-01-23T14:41:00.007Z

I've been making more boxes; to go along with the wedding albums I've been making to store the extra photos, and with students at work. I really like the challenges box making poses; getting the measurements just right, the edges all square, all lined up and glued. I like the puzzle of wrapping the box with cloth; where to hide the raw edges and where to cut to get the fit exactly right. I like choosing the lining paper, cutting it to fit and gluing it down, smoothing, avoiding glue finger prints... And the satisfaction when the finished box closes, not too tight not too loose, just right.

Of course it doesn't always go smoothly. Angles not quite ninety degrees, half a millimeter here half a millimeter there. torn paper, forgotten steps, glue splodge. But I think what I like is trying to keep on top of all that, keep it under my control, like juggling lots of balls. At first it seems impossible and you drop one and then another but suddenly one day your brain clicks and your hands just do it (and it took me a good year of practice to learn to juggle so I know what I'm talking about!)

I guess what I'm trying to remind myself is practice makes perfect, or at least better. Practice makes improvement at least, practice leads to that marvelous state where you do something and one day without thinking one thing follows another and its a pleasure...

Anyway. All this box making leaves me with spare boxes. So this ones in my shop.

Rainy Friday

2010-01-22T13:15:00.003Z

Out the window everything is a different shade of grey, a brownish grey. Its raining.

And I'm practicing my handwriting

another sampler

2010-01-16T19:01:00.004Z

I never seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I procrastinate too much I know. Today started off well but petered out after dinner when the dishwasher flooded half the kitchen, and the book binding didn't seem to go so well after that, gluey finger prints all over... I have all these ideas in my head but I seem to take so long to start. And the list keeps growing...

Anyway, this sampler, a gift for a friend, took me nearly 2 years to make (with lots of procrastination breaks of course) but I got there in the end...

If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
he learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
he learns to find love in the world

Dorothy Law Nolte

It's harder than it looks designing a sampler; the last two I've done I've spent ages on the computer colouring in pixels on photoshop, moving about the design elements in their separate layers until the whole thing looks right, and then started to sew, having to check back at the computer and count pixels on the screen to follow the pattern.

This time I thought I'd take a more organic approach and just started sewing in the middle of the cloth... I really admire old samplers, done by women and girls to practice their embroidery, learn stitches and sayings and record their family history. I love to visit Bankfield Museum near my parents house and look at the samplers they have on display. I found an old one in an antique shop but it was too much money (I'll just have to make my own...) I think sometimes the design of then looks quite random. Sometimes they don't look like they've followed a pattern but rather just copied elements from other samplers or made shapes up to fit the space they had. So that's what I tried to do...

It was quite liberating when I managed to stop worrying about what should go where. Just picking a motif I liked and making a start. Looking back I wish I had planned it slightly more as it was very hard to find a frame that fit the proportions, and I think maybe I should've centered the text to make it more symmetrical, but all in all I'm happy with how it turned out. And Abbie liked it which is the main thing after all!

sunshine please

2010-01-15T17:22:00.007Z

The day light goes so quickly at the moment. I've had some books I've wanted to list in my shop for ages now and even my usual south-facing-white-walled-fairly-large-windowed hall way only does the trick lighting wise for a short time each day, usually whilst I'm at work... The last few books I tried to photograph today came out very poorly, all washed out. My camera tries it's best, but without the sunshine its so hard to get that detail. Anyway. I think these ones came out ok, good enough for now anyway...

This one is called 'lost property'. Screen prints from drawings from feathers I collected on a new years day walk. Picking them up and putting them in my pocket I wondered who they belonged to... you can see more here

And another tree one. This ones been around a while. But I still really like it, and I feel its a shame for it to be wrapped in tissue in a storage box. So out it comes... have a look

I've not listed artists books in my shop before, I'm not sure how well they will do, I think its quite a small market... but you've got to be in it to win it I suppose, and they're something I like to make so I thought I'd give it a try. And if the sun shows its face tomorrow then there will be more to come :)

moon

2010-01-13T18:08:00.006Z

It's still snowing. Half melted and turned to ice and then snowing again.

And I've been doing some more moon prints. I printed the colours on the first print from dark to light and technically this is the wrong way round. The inks I'm using are water based and not opaque so lighter colours fade when printed over darker ones, which isn't great, it can make the colours look really weak. I actually like the way this looks in the moon print, nice and subtle, but decided I wanted to push myself to work it out the correct way too...

I wanted to use the white of the paper for the white in the moon, then print progressively darker shades of grey over the top. Because a darker shades covers the lighter one before it completely it makes it slightly easier to register the layers (or at least it covers up small registration mistakes!) and I think the colours definitely look more vibrant and true.

I'm not sure if I like it though... it looks flatter, the areas of tone look more separated out. Almost cartoony. I know that screen prints are flat; that that's kind of the point of them, but still. I think it's partly my colour choices too though, not subtle enough, the tones need to be closer together...

Better, but now I feel like I want to print about five shades of grey to get the detail right. I wish I had more time for experimentation. Perhaps an aquatint moon?? Oo yes.

27.

2010-01-05T14:38:00.005Z

College closed at lunch time because of all the snow. What a good birthday present; an afternoon to myself, snow falling past the window whilst I'm cozy inside. Black and white and shades of grey.

new

2010-01-04T19:01:00.002Z

First day back at work after a peaceful week away. I think I needed that. Time to think and to do all the little things I never seem to have time to do. I still don't find it easy working long days, especially in winter, there's only time to take my shoes off and cook tea before it's bed time it seems. Anyway.

Time away is good isn't it, a fresh start of sorts. And a new year. This year new years eve was the best I've ever had I think, home made pizza and watching far off fire works stood outside in the snow. Back inside to a roaring stove. And it's my birthday tomorrow, I'm 27. I think its the first year I've felt older. Not in a bad way, just in a life won't last forever kind of way, a what should I do with the rest of it kind of way. The first year I've felt I no longer have time to do everything. I should start making some choices.

And I've been working on some screen prints today. A bird one and the moon one again. Printing white onto a darker background is not really technically correct, and although I like the way this one looks, I wanted to see if I could wrap my head round doing it the other way round...

Lots of ideas floating round my head, I hope I can stop procrastinating long enough to see them through. I want to.

art in unusual spaces

2009-12-20T22:27:00.004Z

I found it's pretty difficult to take photos of an art instalation that's supposed to be viewed by looking through a peephole. The glass is shiny and full of reflections, the light inside is dim (and my camera phone is probably not the best tool for the job) but anyway I had a go...

Perhaps you can get an idea? A glimps. And I quite like the legs walking past in some of the reflections... I wonder how many people stop to peep...

The exhibition is in the Georgian Arcade in the Merrion Center, Leeds (ie. round the back of Morrisions :) ) until the middle of January.

sunday.

2009-12-20T22:09:00.004Z

Oh I'm sure this poor blog is feeling very neglected. It's not that I haven't been making things, it's just there seems to be no day light for taking pictures, no time to find the cable for unloading, no words in my head.

Most of the christmas making is done; chutneys and shortbread and crudge (like fudge but gone wrong, kind of hard and sugary...) fabric baskets to pack it all in, snowflake cards, needle cases and pencil cases. Christmas decorations consist of 6 tissue paper snowflakes threaded onto cotton and half heartedly tangled at the window. Some clementines on a plate. Perhaps next year when the curtains are up and the pictures are up and the kitchen is done (and we haven't both got colds) perhaps then we'll have a christmas tree. A real one, to plant in the garden afterwards and bring in year after year.

It's snowing and it's beautiful. Crunchy.

house

2009-12-04T18:06:00.001Z

Still no curtains. But there are curtain poles now, and a carpet too. Getting there...

album

2009-12-02T17:51:00.003Z

A photo album made for a friend; 50 pages of soft but sturdy paper, sewn concertina spine (to create extra swell so the photos won't force the covers open), grey and black bookcloth covered hard covers, rounded spine.

I wanted to keep it really :)

experiments...

2009-11-29T15:53:00.004Z

instalation practice (or as I call it, playing with books...)

done.

2009-11-28T11:37:00.004Z

I finished the boxes I was working on last week...

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. I supose the pressure of having to please someone else raises my standards, and although it takes longer and is more stressful, its worth it when it turns out better. I should try harder more often...

I've been so quiet here because I've been spending every spare minute getting work prepared for an exhibition, which I helped to install yesterday. The exhibition is part of 'Art in Unusual Spaces' and my work will be visable through little peep holes in the windows of an empty shop... I made some new boxes, with hidden draws. And after the opening on Thursday (I'll be at work :( but all are welcome) I'll show you some pictures...

boxes in progress

2009-11-04T20:02:00.005Z

The first tray, made from grey board and mount board, is a bit of a tricky covering job, but I do like a challenge (most of the time)...

The other side is a bit more straight forward, just a bit taller than usual to accomodate some extra sheets...

And next the covers are sent away to be foil blocked (I can't do that myself. Maybe one day...)

.

2009-10-25T13:28:00.002Z

Procrastinating. And eating apple crumble for dinner.

.

2009-10-19T22:55:00.003+01:00

This time last year. Orange trees from my old living room window.

outside

2009-10-18T20:43:00.003+01:00

Sometimes I forget summer ever existed. But being safe and warm inside, with a log on the fire and saag paneer bubbling away on the stove for tea... its not too bad at all.

press

2009-10-17T13:57:00.003+01:00

My friend gave me a book press today. Someone gave it to him and although he makes books too he gave it to me. He is very kind indeed.

I can't wait to put it into action (I just need someone to help me carry it up the stairs...)

.

2009-10-16T13:14:00.003+01:00

Do you ever feel like theres too many things going on at once, too many things to do and you don't want to do any of them?

I've got too many things on my mind. I don't know where to start. I just want to hide really (maybe I'll go for a walk instead)

2009-10-05T19:05:00.004+01:00

Those little ladybird larvae from yesterday are making me feel all itchy. Turns out they're harlequin ladybirds, an invasive species that eats native ladybirds and other bugs. They also bite! If you see any in your house or garden you should tell the harlequin ladybird survey people as they're monitoring the spread across the UK...

Anyway, I made a new book. It's square and grey with a paper lable. Can you tell what my favourite bookcloth and paper combo is at the moment?! This book is one of my biggest rounded spines yet and making it was a challenge, it took a couple of remakes to get the spine fitting just right, but I'm pretty happy with it. There was a point where I nearly gave up, just couldn't work it out, but pushing myself to have one more go was definitely worth it. It opens like a dream. I think if no one buys it I might keep it for myself... do some sketching :)

sunday

2009-10-04T16:39:00.003+01:00

After crazy winds yesterday blowing away my washing (and the foam underlay we accidentally left outside and then had to recover from the park down the street...) today all is calm. I wonder if it was the wind that brought these strange little creatures to my garden...

I never knew ladybird babies could look so scary!

2009-10-03T20:34:00.004+01:00

Brighton was lovely and sunny, a happy few days...

The wedding was also lovely (but now I'm nervous!)

The poem across the top is by Robert Burns...

O my Love is like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Love is like the melodie
That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

secret book

2009-09-23T17:54:00.004+01:00

A book for my friend for her birthday...

With grey book cloth and multiple endpapers (one graph paper and two grey). I could try and pretend this was me being fancy, but in reality I kept sticking the book together wrong which meant cutting it out and adding new endpapers each time. Oh well, it looks nice anyway!

All the pages fold out from the center. Useful for hidden drawings, for making people think your sketch book is empty when secretly its full...

I'm back to long days at work now. I fell asleep whilst eating my tea after a twelve hour shift yesterday, I just need to get used to it again. But I least I get Fridays off to compensate! I'm trying to make the most of that, and this weekend we're off to Brighton for a family wedding. Should be lovely :) (and I'll show you the present I made them when I get back)

saturday

2009-09-19T10:54:00.004+01:00

Today I got up and started cleaning. That's a turn up for the books (and long may it continue!)

Anyway. I've been playing around with some new soft ground etching medium at work this week. We can't use the traditional method of soft wax as the hot plate needed to melt and apply the wax is deemed too dangerous, and the turps needed to remove it is pretty bad too. I've written before about the safe methods we use to produce etchings, but there doesn't seem to be a satisfactory way to reproduce the soft ground effect that happens to be my favourite (I sometimes use my cooker at home to melt the wax, but this isn't really ideal either!)

This new medium is painted on with a brush (or can be screen printed on to the plate for an extra smooth finish) then left to dry for the correct amount of time, a sheet of paper can then be layed over it and used to make a drawing, just like the soft wax. The tricky thing is knowing how long to leave it for... I tried it every 5 minutes and at first the paper just absorbed the medium (no good) and then it didn't work at all. 5 minute windows are obviously too long... next time.

So then I tried drawing directly onto the plate with a sharp pencil, which displaces the medium and exposes the copper below to be etched. This seemed more successful, but still, as the surface dried the pencil began to rip off larger bits of medium (you can see the on the picture below. Click if you want to see it really close :) ) There were a couple of minutes where drawing was smooth. I suppose it's not totally a bad thing; speedy drawing can free me up :)

I let the medium dry completely, then backed the plates with parcel tape (so the backs didn't etch). Then into the ferric chloride for 20 minutes...

The flowers I've been drawing are crocosmia, from my garden. I'm planning on aquatinting the plates next week, with some orange chine colle (that's tissue paper to you and me) for the flowers. Got to have the orange :)

stuff

2009-09-18T19:20:00.003+01:00

Ahh Friday, its been a long week.

This weekend will hopefully include finishing off the last of the wall papering upstairs, and some cleaning of dust and some sorting out of things. I've been trying to do a box a night this week, and opening up and looking through the boxes of stuff that have been closed up these last 6 months is asking me feel like I don't want a lot of it anymore. I don't want to take it out and put it on a nice clean shelf in a freshly clean, decorated and empty room.

I'm questioning why I have a lot of the things I do. A lot of it is stuff that really I shouldn't have packed and moved here in the first place, things I have just because they're there, bits and bobs, junk, sentimental things and potentially useful things, bits of paper, elastic bands. I know I have a problem with hoarding stuff, but recognising that doesn't seem to make it any easier to get rid of! Its not easy to throw it in the bin; I can't stand the guilt, the waste, that's often why I keep things... (and the bin men are on strike and the rubbish is piling up in the street and I can't add another bag to taunt me every time I walk out of the door). Most things are ending up in the charity shop box, which is good I think. I'm trying to put things in there when I'm feeling strict and then not look in it again (more than once I've had to stop myself looking through it and getting things back out... I'm now sliding things in through the top flap without opening the box!) I really don't want so much stuff in my life anymore. It can drag you down can't it.

Sometimes I wonder if I can face the many boxes in the attic... but it's good to go through this I think. I hope it will make me think twice before keeping things in the future; before acquiring things, buying things, making things and any other way that I find myself with things. I've got enough for now.

And some pictures of empty corners in my house. Some more finished than others :)

mess

2009-09-17T19:01:00.002+01:00

Things have been on my mind recently, slow thoughts and I think I've been feeling sorry for myself. But today I have decided that there's no use in that. I don't want to be someone who complains and looks inwards and blames everyone and everything else. Who only sees the bad. I hope I'm not like that but I want to make sure. There are so many good things around me, I'm trying to pull myself up, wake myself up. And look, some things are out of boxes...

eeek

2009-09-09T14:47:00.005+01:00

There are some exciting things in the very early planning stages in my life at the moment... I can't say much because I don't know much yet, but hopefully (hopefully) it's going to involve a brand new space where I can set up tables and chairs and cutting mats and book presses and perhaps run some book binding classes! It's something I've been wanting to do for ages, but I sometimes lack the guts to stick my neck out, it's scary, but I know it would be worth it, and I've got so many ideas about what the workshops could involve. Concertinas and exploring folding and traditional techniques and box making...

Do you reckon you'd want to come? There would be cake.

P.s. I've added a new button on my side bar... its an option to sign up to a mailing list, and as soon as I have any more information about this exciting (to me at least!) venture you'll be the first to know. And I don't do spam, I promise.

moon

2009-09-07T20:03:00.003+01:00

We haven't had much chance to use the telescope recently. Evenings have been taken up with sanding and painting and gluing and sweeping. But now the nights are getting darker and the house is getting cleaner and tidier (and almost finished!) we're hoping to get back out there...

It's great looking at things that are so far away. A few stars become millions of stars, and some of them turn out to be planets. I saw Saturn's rings and a globular cluster and once a shooting star, but my favorite thing to look at is the moon. I think it's because looking at the moon this close makes me feel like I'm there, looking across mountain ranges, at craters in glowing 3D.

It's really up there.

This screen print is made from some of my drawings of the moon. You can get one here if you like...

chicks move out

2009-09-06T19:22:00.002+01:00

My mum sent me two pictures today, look how the chicks have grown...

I love them when they're all half fluffy half feathery, all scruffy. That one at the front has to be a silkie, check out his tuft! Today they moved outside into the chicken shed (in a special fenced off bit) with the other hens. I hope they all get along :)

And this is a picture of two new arrivals, bought last week at two weeks old from a lady up the road. They're lavender araucanas, and when they start to lay the eggs will be blue!

I like chickens

more books

2009-09-02T18:16:00.001+01:00

The last lot of stuff from the small making spree I had last week is up in the shop. I didn't like it looking so bare and empty for so long, it was sad, and I feel like putting some things back in is a step towards getting my life back into some kind of normality (a bit melodramatic I know. Oh well!)

I must admit though, that spending more time on etsy again has awoken that self doubt that I'm sure we all get when looking at lots and lots of beautiful things and reading about the clever people that make them and that seem to be able to successfully run their businesses and their lives. I know it's silly to think this. I know I just need to get on with what I'm doing... because there's a fine line between being inspired by other people's work and the feeling of 'I might as well just go home then, whats the point'. I know it's just because I'm not really satisfied with the amount of time I get to spend at the moment on developing my work, my ideas, on making things. I know I just need to be patient and stop complaining.

So I will.

2009-09-02T18:01:00.002+01:00

The light between these rain storms is lovely; grey and soft and changing as the clouds blow past... Yesterday on my way home it rained so suddenly and so heavily that all the drains filled up and the street was like a river and my feet got wet. Ten minutes later the streets were dry again.

And today I'm getting that every-so-often feeling of not being good enough again. But I'm trying to ignore it. There's nothing to be sad about after all (except the dead wasps on my windowsill from the nest in the roof, coming in through the attic. I should shut the trap door but I'm too lazy) Anyway.

The succulent by my bedroom window has flowered, perhaps it's all the rain outside :)

monday

2009-08-31T09:01:00.004+01:00

Well, so far so good with the floor laying... after hours of putting boards down, measuring, marking, taking boards back up, cutting, wiggling (hitting with a hammer) measuring a bit more and then cutting a bit more we finally got to the fun bit of gluing (like tomato sauce on a hot dog) and slotting it all together. And I managed not to lick the plaster before it dried (thanks Ali :) ) We have to wait until the glue dries before we can move all the furniture over on to it and finish the other side (oh the joys of diy in a room full of furniture!) but when it's done I'll have some pictures (and a living room, hurray!)

Anyway, I forgot it was a bank holiday today (luckily I remembered just in time not to go to work) so the announcement of the giveaway winner is a day late... but, better late than never, I hope! The random number generator (which happens to generate numbers from random atmospheric noise, I thought that was interesting, perhaps this number came from a cumulonimbus...) told me that the winner of the forest notebooks is Clara! So Clara, if you email me your address I'll get your books in the post asap :)

2009-08-28T19:41:00.001+01:00

Wet plaster looks like chocolate.

sigh

2009-08-27T18:34:00.004+01:00

Does anyone else feel guilty when they relax? At the moment I feel as if there's always something I should be doing, and sitting still makes me worry I've forgotten something...

I think it's partly because it's quiet at work, but I know that in a few weeks its going to be really really busy, and I'm nervously trying to get done everything I want to do before that happens. And I think it's partly because there's still so much to do on the house, but no jobs that I can really do on an evening after work, there's not enough time. All the jobs I could do can't be done until other jobs are done, and they in turn are waiting on something else... it's like a giant puzzle, one that involves putting your life on hold to complete... But, we're laying the floor in the living room this weekend (hopefully) so that means soon we will have sofas to sit on and a fire to burn stuff in, I'm excited about that!

I finished the feather print I was working on last week, and the grey definitely was the way to go. I ended up coming up with an alternative print too, on some lovely grey somerset paper. I've put them in the shop...

The more my feather collection grows (is it gross to have a feather collection?) the more I want to draw them, all of them on a big sheet of paper, they're all so slightly different, I'm fascinated. When I get my big table back out, it's the first thing I'm going to do.