Handpress Update

Once I had my studio in a decent state again I was quick to try out my new handpress.

I experimented with different papers, both soaked and not.
I printed some lino cuts I've been working on. I played around with different amounts of pressure.

I discovered that it works well, even creating some embossing and that I actually don't need to exert all my force on it at all. A simple press down on the lever (thanks to the glory of physics) creates equal pressure as pressing as hard as I can and hurting my hand, arm and shoulder (or no visible difference anyway).

I think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

EDITED 27th June
For those interested in my handpress - it has no brand on the press itself. It came with a single photocopied instruction sheet which also doesn't have a brand on it. The sheet does have an owl logo and 'ABIG' (I'm not sure, it might be 'A BIG') on the bottom but it is not clear if this is the manufacturer or the distributor. When I purchased it from Parkers I was told it was imported from Germany.

Celebrating

Last weekend we celebrated my youngest daughters 21st birthday. Actually we are in the early stages of her birthday season - she is having 5 parties over about 5 weeks! She doesn't live nearby, so for her back home party she wanted to revisit a favourite weekend destination - Tom's Cabin in New England National Park between Ebor and Armidale.

The national park is now a World Heritage area and is absolutely beautiful with several different ecosystems including an arctic beech forest, heath and of course eucalyptus forests which are all the more beautiful for growing over the granite cliffs and down into the deep valleys. This drawing is of the area just a few minutes walk from the cabin which we have very affectionately always called Fairyland. It is truly magical with a creek, waterfall, and lichens and mosses everywhere, hanging like beards from the trees and forming cushions of vivid green on the ground, rocks and trees.
It was very cold and windy when we arrived. The cabin itself is VERY basic, but we soon had it warming with a fire that we lit (we all think we are fire experts and there was a bit of discussion as to the best method). I have to finish this drawing - it was too cold to sit still drawing for very long.
I am going to add a key for the plan of the cabin. I have actually numbered EVERYTHING in the place and around it. It doesn't have a lot going for it, but the shower is generally agreed to be the best shower of your life. There is plenty of hot water and the window is in the shower, so you look out on the bush as you enjoy the warmth.
Gas hot water, solar electricity, wood fire inside and bbq outside. We cook in a camp oven at night and on the bbq for lunch.
Not only are we all fire experts, but we also have a touch of pyromania. How mesmerising are fires!! Yes, that's the birthday girl poking the fire. We had a fabulous time.

Finishing, clearing, starting

Last week I completed a project that I've been working on for 6 years.

It was finished when the second book of the two I was making was given as a gift. After I gave the first one as a gift 4 years ago and hadn't kept a scan or a photo, I intended to document the latest one. I forgot again.

It has been a process I have loved but was huge and involved countless hours of work. In spite of loving it passionately, I found it also haunted me... "I probably should be working on [that] book"...

After so long working on a project it takes a little time to fully realise that it is finished. I have so many current projects that are no where near finished. I need SPACE! The space of time as well as the space in my brain.

I'm reorganising my studio. [Those that know me are used to hearing that sentance!!!] I have a very small studio space in my home. I feel lucky to have the space. But I still find it in me to complain about the lack of SPACE in my space. I reorganise perpetually. Juggling furniture, items, stock, etc etc etc etc to try to create a little more space.

And I'm messy.
Which doesn't help.

I'll be uploading these photos to Flickr sometime today [I've also got to finish tidying the studio!!!] so I can annotate them. There are a couple more images too. I love looking into others studio spaces, so if you are at all like me, embrace your inner voyeure and click on over to check it out.

Printsy Treasury

I just got my first Etsy Treasury! I names it 'indelibly stamped'. It was actually easy to do and I must say quite a lot of fun to fill. What is a Treasury? Etsy members can make up a page of items they love, and theming them is pretty standard. There are few rules with the only real one being that you cannot self-promote. I have always thought it was a nice and friendly idea to have in a shop environment and it is one of the things that originally started me thinking "...actually Etsy is pretty cool".

And who are these talented Printsy team members? Printsy is one of the Etsy 'Street Teams', another Etsy idea that brings its shopkeepers together in a communal and beneficial way. Printsy team is for artists who create original fine art prints using linocut, woodcut, silkscreen etc techniques and who have an Etsy shop to sell them in. I feel privileged to be included in the team. See more of them here on Etsy, on Flickr and the blog.

New Best Friend (I hope!)

I don't have the room (or the money) for a 'proper' printing press. That, however, did not stop me from wanting wanting wanting. I found this little beauty in Parkers art shop in The Rocks, Sydney a few months ago. It took me a few months to convince myself to actually go ahead and get it. No amount of Googling could reveal anyone else who has used a press like this. (I guess that is pretty obvious when you look at the low-tech beauty of it!)

So, last Friday I was having a particularly good day - my eldest daughters graduation from Sydney Uni (the mother in me means I must mention 'with 1st class honours'!) followed by a champagne and oyster celebration on the harbour next to the Opera House, then the lovely little walk up into The Rocks to find Parkers (always a sense of satisfaction when you get there, because sometimes I just plain don't find it and miss out on the experience!) OK, I was just a little merry, and I was planning to buy my little press, so I was happy. I guess it showed. I think the guys in Parkers quite enjoyed selling it to me. I know they are certainly looking forward to my other daughter's graduation next year with hope (and dollar signs) in their eyes!

I haven't had the chance to use it yet, but I will report how it goes. It uses the good old fashioned lever action to create the press suitable for relief printing. I plan to use it for linoprints, but will probably try a few collagraphs too. It prints up to A4 and with no moving parts etc. I plan to have it for a long time. And it fits perfectly in my little studio!

The Moly has Landed

Actually I had never heard Moleskines called 'Moly's' up until very recently when I joined a Moleskine Exchange. I recently blogged about my own Moly (here and here) for the exchange and my first entries in it.  I posted it off to Alison earlier in the week after a dodgy beginning. Then I just waited for Clare's to arrive for me to draw in.
Well here it is!  While I've  heard others say (well read really) that they look so different in the flesh, well... IT DOES!  It looked good to me in the online shots Clare put up on the Moly_x_25 blog and her Flickr site, but in the flesh! it just looks... well... (I hate to use those often overused words again, but...) absolutely fabulous!!!  It comes in its own little cosy cover and is accompanied with gifts!  What more could a girl ask for? (I won't say anything about the gifts for fear of spoiling the surprise for the next recipients in the exchange.)  

So, here I am.  With it.  Feeling all VERY precious about it.  And wondering what to do.  

It made me think about my own Moly, out there, travelling the world without me for the next 6 months.  I thought about how good it had turned out that I messed it up and had to get completely unprecious about it.  I put sticky notes in it to tell its future artists to write this here, that there etc etc.  I found myself thinking I wish I had put more notes in it, saying in particular, don't follow my rules, don't follow the rules of anything, just plain get into my book. Interact.  Replace. Obliterate. Transform. Get  down and dirty!!! (Maybe not 'obliterate'.)

Once again art brings about surprise.  I do expect art's nice surprises.  But I never expect the elements that end up surprising me.

Suppertime!

I always loved Snoopy's suppertime dance! Roly does a spectacular suppertime dance. So does every dog.

Meet Buster. He really has some suppertime moves!

Buster is my new Gocco print, my first one using so many screens (4). I loved making this print so much I've decided to do a series of dogs dancing for their supper!
Above is a shot of Buster in progress. And below is the painting I originally did of Buster, acrylic on two canvas panels.

Both are available. 'Suppertime' Gocco print is in my Etsy shop now. Contact me if you are interested in the painting.

My Moleskine Exchange page completed

Well I'm ready to send off my moleskine to it's first exchange member.  

I had a spot of bother doing this.  I had planned a completely different picture and added found book pages as a border (see above right).  I sketched the whole drawing and then... eeek! discovered I'd done it on the wrong pages.  I needed to remove as much as I could and go back a page to do my drawing. Lucky a part of moly_x_25 is to allow the drawing to extend onto the next half a page... so mine extends onto the next 3 pages... not much difference there...
So back to a new page I found new ideas were needed.  But I had none.  So I just started working and this is what came out.  It ended up being a tribute to William Morris.  My moleskines theme is Red/Read.  I have lots of books on William Morris which I love to read and look at, so it tied in there.  My man had taken a photo of our new hibiscus and I just love the shape... one thing led to another as they say.  I had a bit of difficulty with the area in the fold peeling back all the time so I solved that with a piece of duct tape.  The silver matches the silver coloured pencil I used.  A bit of white line over the top and I was happy.  I think I will be able to post it off tomorrow.

Spider bite*Cellulitis*Shingles - An Update

I'm still getting hits everyday from people searching either spider bite, cellulitis, shingles, fatigue and even all of them together!  I did suffer from all of these together last year.  I blogged about my experience and what I was doing to assist my recovery.  I'm still amazed at how this is not a rare occurrence!  

So how am I doing?  Very well thank you!  I have learned so much in this 6 months so here is a brief rundown for those who are interested.  The most important thing I learned is that if I had a strong immune system at the time the spider bit me, I would not have ended up with cellulitis or shingles.  I have a mild condition that I live with that has nothing to do with my immune function at all - well that is what I thought!  It seems this condition which comes and goes (I won't go into details, but it really does surprise me that it can have this effect), any chronic condition really, just keeps taxing the immune system.  Throw in a few immune hurdles, it is taxed more, then whammo, get bitten by a spider and there is nothing left to fight it all off.  

I'm told that it will be at least a year of strong supplements and self care before my immune system recovers from that whammo.  Then it will be a further year of the same before I will have built some reserves.  I now feel lucky that I got bitten by that spider and all I got was shingles and cellulitis!  I am pleased I found out before the story got worse.  I am now happy to take medication for my condition.  I've always thought that I 'should' be able to deal with it without resorting to medication, because really, it is not that bad.  I am also happy to take a handful of supplements a couple of times a day too!

So what's working?  I take 2000 - 3000 mg vitamin C, a mega-B, a good quality multi, a liquid mineral supplement, olive leaf extract, fish oil, B5 and a womens herbal blend.  I'm told it's all necessary.  My information has come from my GP, a medical specialist and my Kinesiologist.  I have Kinesiology treatments at least once every month and I find it is invaluable.  It is difficult to describe how, but I am certain it has helped me become physically stronger, and to consolidate and stabilise my improvements.  

So if you found this post by doing a search for those medical problems, let me suggest you ask lots of questions about your immune system and take vitamin C and olive leaf extract as a minimum.  And all the best to you!

I know these pictures don't go with the post, but it would have seemed awfully boring without some images.  So I've included pictures of my latest rebound book.  I LOVE this book.  I know I say that each time - but this one I'm especially proud of.  It IS gorgeous! It would make the perfect European holiday journal with it's title 'Our Hundred Days in Europe' elegantly printed in gold on the spine.  It has a whopping 216 pages - 64 of them original pages from Oliver Wendell Holmes book.  And it is available in my Etsy shop.

moly_x_25

I'm participating in a Moleskine exchange with five other artists. I haven't done anything like this before.  How it works is we each get a Japanese fold Moleskine and draw on the first 2 1/2 pages then send it on to the next artist.  They complete the 1/2 page and add their own spread with just a little extending onto the next page for the next artist to complete and so on and so forth.  The inside cover pages of mine have the 'sign-in' page, where each artist writes her details, and the title of my book.  
My theme is Red/Read [both pronounced the same].  I think this will be loose enough to be fun but also still enough of a theme to create a bit of interest.  In keeping with the 'read' part of the theme I made my 'sign-in' page a library card.  It sits it's envelope with the 'Due Date' slip attached.  As we each have a month to work on the book before it is sent on to the next artist, I thought it would be nice to record these dates - library style!

All I have to do now is think of something to draw on my 2 1/2 pages!!!

Check out the moly_x_25 blog!

Goodbye Mr Wells

I always feel a little bit dodgy about self promotion.  But this wonderful book I made has just sold from my Etsy shop, so now I feel OK about saying why I think it is so great!

It's over 80 years old, a copy of HG Wells "A Short History of the World".  Because it has so much character (what 80 year old doesn't!?) I left the endpapers intact when I rebound it. The original owners name and address still appears. For a bit of fun I added a small envelope made from a discarded page and added a Little Shop of Horus card library-card style.

I put some of the original pages, including some maps, back into the book when I rebound it with a mix of watercolour papers.  I added a ribbon page marker.  They are so useful, and it looks so nice matching the cover.

A nice mix of new and old, interesting lists of Mr Wells' other titles were printed.  And someone had carefully hidden a newspaper cutting inside the back cover.  I was careful to make sure it is still kept there - as I'm sure the new owner will too.  

By the way, the new owner agrees with me that these are the perfect journals - this is the second one she's bought from my Etsy shop!

A stack of oldies but goodies

A small stack of rebound books waiting to burst into life as travel journals, sketchbooks, ideas books, writers notebooks or... whatever!  I just listed these for sale in The Little Shop of Horus.

The Bonefolder - volume 4, No 2, Spring 2008

Interested in bookbinding?  This excellent publication is available now here.

Absolutely Fabulous!

Well, I feel like I've been away for about 3 weeks, not the 5 days of my actual trip! This is Peppers Convent at Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley wine district of NSW. We spent three days and two nights here. It is an old Brididine convent that was built in Coonamble and transported the 600+ Kms to it's present location in 1991. The nuns kept the stained glass, the cedar doors, the beautiful mirror and lots of other goodies when they sold it. Once its rebuild was completed the nuns were invited to visit. They were so impressed with the job that had been done that they gave back all of the goodies they had kept so that it could be truly complete again. It is absolutely gorgeous and now has a tasteful yet comfortable French flavor to its interior decoration. We loved it! Maybe the bottle of french champagne on arrival helped, as did the spectacular service and food perfection, or was it the wine and canapes in the evening... It has been many years since I was last in the Hunter Valley and it was virtually unrecognisable. There are now 130 vineyards and the ones we saw were both beautiful and tasty! We only visited 4 (or was it 5? all a blur by the end of the day) vineyards. And this is how we got around! Frank was our driver and Fred was our Clydesdale horse power.There is not much nicer than a slow day of food, wine and great company. Frank is a true character. I told him that if he had bookings where people asked to have him as the driver and state that they MUST visit Tyrrells, then he would know I had recommended them!!!
These vines were back at Peppers Convent, although we saw this in many places. They are beautiful but have had the grapes left to rot on the vine due to a glut of red wine (a glut!?!?! What have we all been doing with out time???) They will be pruned off with the rest of the vine within the next month when they cut it all back to within 18" of the stem.

Ah, the memories. I drink a few more of them in every night.

A couple more rebound books

I've done some more bookbinding - or rebinding really.
"African Notebook" by Norman E Hickman was published in 1969.  I removed the text block from the covers and chose to keep some of the pages with illustrations on them.  I included these when I sewed the newly cut acid free cartridge paper pages into a new text block.I also included the original title pages with copyright details and the original endpapers which still have the stamp of the RSL club that owned the book and held it in their library before I found it in at a book sale.
When I rebound it I strengthened the spine, added decorative black and white headbands and a ribbon page marker.  I also made a couple of envelopes which are now near the front and back of the book.  Really there are lots of journal, sketchbook or notebook uses for this lovely book, but I think it would make a fantastic travel journal for a trip to Africa.  It's for sale here in my Etsy shop.
But no, I didn't stop there!  I was having so much fun that I thought I'd finally get brave and see what I could do with this gorgeous 'Little Golden Book' I had found.  It isn't vintage, but I found it in a surprising way and place, so it seemed to me to be screaming to be rebound.
I managed to keep it's golden spine and all it's original pages.  I added them back into the new text block when I sewed it all together using coptic binding technique.  I used the same paper again for this book, acid free cartridge paper.  The original pages couldn't go back in order, but I think it just adds to the books quirkiness!

The illustrations are fantastic!  Just as I remember them.  And the book came with 'plastic bandages' (bandaids) fixed to the title page.  I was careful to leave them intact.  This will make such a fun journal!  It's for sale in my Etsy shop too!

Only Good Things Happen to Me! (Part II)

It's true! 

My affirmation is paying off big time!  

But I'll have to keep 'how' a secret for a bit longer.

*dances*

*la*la*la*

*#*#*#*

Spending Spree

I've had a bit of an Amazon spending spree.  They arrived gloriously encased in brown cardboard and a white fiberglass sack yesterday.  I looooove getting books!  I've updated my Amazon widget to only show what I bought.  If you loooooove books, scroll down and check it out.