Nest steps in silences

 And onwards we go.  I took the covers for the book of silences home to work on because there were going to be storms and it would be good to have indoor activities planned whilst at home, where the car could be under cover and safe from hail. We were fortunate that we missed the hail; but it was 9-10cm in diameter in places and absolutely destroyed car windows, and windows and roofs.

There is something lovely about working with decked edges that always delights me, and slows me down. I keep looking at them, arranging them, checking them out from different angles, gathering them all together. There is no doubt I am smitten by them! As evidenced. 

And then it was back to the studio to start putting the books together, and thinking about the stitching. I decided at this point to add in another folio, so I had to cut them down and fold them as well.

And then all the folios were gathered into a book! Of course I reached the end and found I was one folio short. I checked the spares rack and the one folio for which I had no spare, was the one missing. Sod's Law as they say. So it was back to checking each and every single book again and I found (as I had hoped) that I had popped two of that folio into a single book and so I was bang on with the numbers printed. I'll take the win.

And here they are ready to be stitched. I have taken them all home again as more storms are predicted.

In between times as another whilst-waiting-at-home chore; I finally sorted the type sampler books for the type we have retained. What an effort that was for no good reason; it just took me ages and a few detours but I got there. We now have a couple of books that hold our exisiting type alphabetically and by size and by style. Well done me.

And just because they were wonderful to look at - these blossoms on the footpath plus shadows. Stunning!

I always want to call these flowers coral tree flowers; but am pretty sure they are from an Illawarra Flame Tree.

Folding lots plus flowers

After our week away, I returned and spent time at the studio, reminding myself where I was up to, and refreshing my sense of where to next. It is a slow business this production of booklets, and I am happy to simply be taking my time. And feeling grateful I have no deadline other than my own.

So I realised that I didn't have the right pen at the studio to make the marks I wanted to make, so rather than working on the covers, I decided I would fold all the pages. 8 folios (x 21 in each) plus the covers (x 21) and the end papers (x 21).

I chose to use the bone folder I had been gifted as part of my presentation time at the Bind25 conference in Auckland, and off I went.

And here is the note to self; the reminder to not try and take shortcuts; the evidence that doing it properly actually works. Above, each set had only been creased with the bondefolder once, along the front.

Below, I turned each page and creased it from behind as well. Look how much better the folios with 'a book' are sitting. Definite note to self!

The eight folios folded, along with the end papers.

And the first glimpse of how it might work - all the folios tucked inside each other, and the title peeking out. You can see how much of the fore edge of the folios will need to be trimmed. But that is all some time away yet.  It was good just to see that it kind of, might actually work...

We have had warm days, but overcast mornings a few times since we came back; and the walk into town is now showered with jacarandas and their petals.  Such a pretty sight. 

I like them dusting the steps like this as well.

Inspired by our friends' garden in Inverloch, we bought these blooms. Would love to see if we can strike them after they are finished, and grow some of our own! Our climates are rather different, but surely it would be worth a try?

Thursday Thoughts...

“Readers are lucky—they will never be bored or lonely.”

Natalie Babbitt

Isn't that the truth?  There is always something lurking in my to be read pile; or jotted on a scrap of paper or fervently written into my app that tracks books.  And that's all before I step into a book shop!

I imagine that as a children's book author and illustrator Ms Babbitt felt these were words for children to hang onto - to try and build their sense of books as refuge and companion. Which if you are lucky enough to have happen to you as a child, stays with you forever.

ABC Radio National recently ran a project called The Top 100 Books. The presenters had selected 1000 book titles and asked their audience to vote for their top 10. All books had to have been published this century - so we had 25 years' worth of books to choose from which proved interesting.

About 280,000 people voted.

What I loved most was seeing what other people chose; and sitting down trying to capture my top 10 books of the 21st century. I will post about that another day - but the link to this Thursday Thought is that the list of top 100 books; followed by 101-200, has left me with so many more books to choose to read that I have a lifetime of reading ahead and that makes me happy. I don't think I will ever be bored or lonely.

A world of books... a lifetime of books.

Art birds and beachside beauty

 Whilst we were away recently, I noticed a number of beautiful artistic birds - here they are in all their loveliness...

This one was just sitting in a random tree in Olinda in the Dandenongs

At the bottom of a garden in Melbourne. This bird is BIG!

Upon a wall in Melbourne

Above the mirror in a room that we stayed in...

A piece of mine in our friends' house. Memorial to Birds Having Flown...

It is always lovely see your work in its new home and I really do like this piece.

It sits alongside some very funky and contemporary art!

We visited friends who live along the Bass Coast and had a wonderful time - with so many moody memories of these windswept places.

And so much loveliness in their garden...

Tarra Warra and Rose Nolan

 We recently spent the week away - on the road in Victoria. We visited friends in Inverloch; travelled through The Dandenong Ranges and on to Healesville; and then back to Melbourne for an event and another stay with friends.

A fabulous time was had, and it was great opportunity to see country we hadn't seen before; and to re-visit some beautiful places.

A real highlight was visiting Tara Warra Museum of Art, and the exhibition Breathing Helps by Rose Nolan.

The location was stunning and the exhibition breathtaking. Plus it was a brilliant blue sky day.

The work by Rose Nolan was immense in scale, and showed so many hours of work. I also loved how she worked with words throughout.

You might just be able to discern B hiding here...

The backs of the thousands of circles were equally delightful.

I love how she makes you work for the reading.

This says awkward... 

What a joy to have been able to attend this exhibition in this gallery. We were there during the week with only a handful of people (except for a group of school children who were utterly engaged by it all). A real delight, and a reminder of the wonderful things that are out there in the world for us to see...

Thursday Thoughts...

“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is.” 

Alan Watts

Well this is an unexpectedly complex deviation in my path! Pondering Life, I came across this and it made me think; which is akin to pondering; so here we are.

I wondered where he was headed after the introductory words "We are living in a culture entirely hypnotised by ..." there were so many things I could end that sentence with! But he really focussed on our almost cultural unwillingness to acknowledge that the here and the now is all that we have.

The past is feted as having set us on this path, that everything that has happened to us has meant we are here with all these worries and issues; and the future is so important and holds all the answers; or is also the place to be most feared and concerned about.

It's a really interesting balance for us to get right - and in the end it's all about balance. It seems he is suggesting that the past is important; and definitely sets the course a bit. We must surely also pay attention to the future. But perhaps he believes we shouldn't give overwhelming weight to these. Memory and expectation should not be all that we have.

I love his description of us living on, or in, this infinitesimal hairline - that is so small! And also that last sentence that differentiates between how the world is described v how we experience the world - one present moment at a time. His word images really sparkled in my mind.

Daily Word bowl, Barry Smith.

Almost done printing!

 I think I might have finished printing my silences for the Book of Silences! This is an exciting moment as the many pages, printed back and front and on left and right sides, sit around the studio space drying and waiting.

If all goes as planned, I have printed title pages, 16 silences, an acknowledgements page and a colophon. I have a low level hum of minor anxiety/concern/worry that when I go to  fold the pages and put the book together that I may have calculated incorrectly or planned wrongly and things don't matchup, line up or go in the right sequence.

I will however cross that bridge when I come to it. For now there is a real sense of satisfaction at having made it this far.

Here are some of the printings...

And hear are some of the many, many tests, trials and proofing...

A wee break for a bit, then I shall return to prepare the covers, and fold the pages and the end papers and the covers.

Then I will pierce the stitching holes for them all; then I will stitch them all; then I will trim them all.

All being well, and with no detours to printing again in the meantime!