Thursday Thoughts...

Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” 

J. R. R. Tolkien

It feels timely to be pondering Life today, and to have happened upon this quote. I have read that this may not be an actual Tolkien quote, but that rather, the words appeared as a line spoken in The Hobbit movie; rather than in the book itself. Nevertheless, and no matter who wrote the words, I appreciate the sentiment.

I think it is really hard, when power can and does so much, to believe that it is also from among the small folk, and the small actions, that change can be wrought.

I have no doubt that small acts of kindness and love have an impact. They make a difference. 

It's not necessarily that together the small acts add up and rise up and take control. It feels more like what is suggested here, that they help keep the darkness at bay. They help us not feel alone; overwhelmed; or blinded by the darkness. Perhaps the collective force of them can shift the balance of power, can nudge the curtains open and work to keep the darkness at bay.

Lots of stamping and letters

 The red book continues along. I have made a cover and am happy with the way it worked out; although piercing all the holes for the hand stitching took a while and a lot of control to stop the covers slipping. I tried some tape but it didn't hold, so I just had to be very careful.

I like the contrast between the single red line of machine stitching and more rugged hand stitched black running stitch.

The inside cover looks good with its overstepping.

And how the cover looks standing alone.

More stamping on the pages inside.

Working through Letraset options for the red cards that go in the pouches.

I changed my mind and rather than do the titles with Traditional Letterpress and metal type; I am going to continue with the Letraset. I thought it would seem odd to introduce a different style of lettering so went for a consistent feel rather than the jolt of contrast that added nothing, and may have distracted.

I think this will be the title Letraset.

My work table is a complete mess; but that is the good thing about a studio space you can lock and leave. It doesn't have to bother anybody else; and I can return the next day and just dive back in.

I am aiming to make an edition of three books, but you never know how things will work out. Fingers are crossed as the finish line gets closer.

Componentry

 I have been able to go back and forth a little bit to the jewellery making workshop and put into play a few ideas I have had. So far, I have made lots of components, and not necessarily turned any of them into jewellery; but you can't do the latter, without the former!

I am still keen on oxidising and am also keen on getting surface texture onto the silver. So I set about making pebbles forms: cutting the wire; forming it; soldering it and rolling it.

Barry reminded me he had a lovely set of metal punches that might help me get the marks and textures I was interested in trying to get.

And so I paired up the pieces and made some marks. Some of the small dots were clearly a bit close to the edge!

And then to oxidising. Still loving the darkness you can get with this process. I left a couple of them out of the solution; and hte light make sit look as if I haven't done them all, but I did.

And then to the polishing. This is the non-oxidised pair with the one on the right before polishing; and the one of the left after polishing. Shiny!

But this is one of the things that I like with some of the oxidising - the leaving of dark marks on silver metal. On the left before polishing, on the right afterwards. And so on.

And the stash of components I now have. I plan to make many more pebbles, leave them unmarked/untextured, but possibly oxidising some of them, and then pairing the plain ones with the textured ones. Plan A.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.” 

Donatella Versace

I quite like pondering quotes that I don't really understand!  I have sat with this one for a bit, and still not really come up with any sort of understanding or explanation that holds firm.

I tried to think of it in the context of a fashion designer, and wondered did creativity stem from a conflict like how to make clothes that look ethereal, also fit and stay attached to the body? Is it like how to think about the military and uniforms and yet appear feminine? I'm not really sure. In the first instance, that seems like solving an engineering problem, and I guess that can be creative.

For me I wondered if my creativity was a conflict of ideas? Perhaps it can be in the sense that I want to say something tough, but do it in a way that folk can engage with it. I want to create beautiful and quiet work; that when you look deeply can be really confronting. 

Oftentimes tho I feel my work  and creativity comes about because of a harmony of things; of a kind of symbiosis between materials, technique and message. Occasionally I will set up a sharp contrast - and perhaps that is conflict; but I am not sure my creativity is born of conflicting ideas.

Still, there is a lot to ponder in it and I daresay I will continue to do so...

Time For Change 2015. (Photography by Penny Riddoch). This piece is so calm and gentle looking. The grid is peaceful, the colours are muted, yet it tells the story that at least 1 woman is killed in Australia every week by a partner or former partner. When displayed at Noosa Regional Gallery in 2015, I was told of folk who came to visit and looked at the work, then read the didactic and burst into tears. They weren't expecting it to be such a beautiful memorial. 

Circles of Concern...

 In between times I have been doing the small tasks in the production line of these Circles of Concern, Circle of Control cards.

The steps involve printing the words, drawing the square, drawing the circles, laying on the gilding medium, waiting, then applying the gold leaf, waiting, and then brushing off the gold leaf.

And now they are done.

I managed to grab a few photos along the way - here are a couple where the gold leaf has been applied and is waiting to adhere, then be brushed off. You can see by how the gold is kind of all over the shop how flighty a sheet of gold can be!

Despite the weird angle, I think these two show the 3D nature of the leaf application.

I was quite pleased that I managed to get 20 good ones.

And then there are 5 wobblier ones. In the end, I kind of don't mind these ones as they suggest to me that even when we try to operate in our circle of control, we might be clumsy and/or imperfect!

This one definitely has the wobbles.

As does this one.

Once again, these are giveaways, so if you would like to receive one, please don't hesitate to send me a message or a comment and I shall pop one in the mail to you as soon as I can. If you would prefer a wobbly one, please let me know.

As things get tough and feel even tougher, it helps me to remember to come away from my circles of concern (so many!!!) and return to my circle of control.

The red book continues

 So I had sorted out the look and feel of the pocket, the title and the cards for this wee book; but the cover was making me think long and hard.

I knew it would be black. And then I could see segments of red machine sewing and threads dangling. That feels like me, and the jagged nature of the stitching felt a part of the story I was trying to tell. But when I tested it, it just didn't work for me. It was way too messy and disrupted, and did not feel nice at all.  

I then moved all the dangling threads inside and tidied up the front to see if the helped. It helped a lot, but still wasn't quite right.

So I think I have landed on a single continuous line of red stitching about a third of the way down. Yet to be tested!

The inside cover will be attached to the outside cover by  a frame of hand stitching. I needed to check if red was the way to go; or black. This is what it would look like on the outside cover. I chose the black.

Instead of doing a pamphlet stitch or variation of it I think I will machine sew the book to the cover, and

 here I was testing how that might look on the inside, with either red or black. At the moment I am going with the red.

So many choices! So many decisions!

So I sat down and wrote down everything that I think I have decided to do - from the paper size, to where to stamp; to what to mask off, to which typeface to use for the title; to whether or not I will use Letraset or letterpress on the cards....and I think I might just about be ready to get fully going!

In the meantime it has been nice to visit my Dad's orchid house and see some of his beauties on show. A couple of my current favourites...

Thursday Thoughts...

"A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation... A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on, you are enriched threefold." 

 Henry Miller

I agree with Mr Miller about keeping books circulating; but can't describe those books that remain in my shelves as wasted ammunition!

I love sharing books and having books shared with me. Barry, my Dad and a friend have an unofficial book club where if we come across a book we think the others might enjoy we share it amongst ourselves and then have dinner to chat about it.  The last person to read it, then passes it along to somebody else.

Most of our books end up being circulated around a few times before ending up with somebody else for good; or for them to do their own network of sharing. Some books however, I like to have returned so that I can continue to access them.

I recently spent a morning going back through my Biblio notebooks/journals, remembering all the great books I have dipped into and making notes to myself - MUST re-read this! There were some great books that I had kept, and that I have been reminded to return to for their insight and wisdom.

Not wasted ammunition; just resting until they are needed again.

I agree that when you share a good book with another you are enriched - knowing that somebody else has the chance to love it, enjoy it, be moved by it, learn from it; it does give a bit of a gentle glow to life.

Some of the books I MUST re-read!

Pondering a new book

I have had an itch to make another book about domestic abuse and the terrible tragedy that is the regular murder of women by partners or former partners. 

How or why our authorities and systems just can't seem to give the issue the priority it needs just leaves me shaking my head in disbelief. And so, in response, I feel the need to respond in some small way, to keep the story being told, to encourage to look at the issue, to consider it, to respond to it.

I tried an idea when we were in Scotland and it really never did come together. It intrigues me when I start with something firm in my head, but I just cannot realise it in a good or coherent manner. Somehow you know if you have to work that hard for it, it probably isn't a good idea...

I wrote some more notes to myself and then had one of those absolute Ah-ha moments and scribbled it down on a couple of post it notes and headed straight to the studio the next day to see if I could make something of it.

The thought involved some cards in a pocket. I wanted to use red and black and white. I don't have a lot of red paper or card, so I tried to dye some using acrylic ink. I absolutely adored this colour red (Derivan Acrylic Ink, Red)! It got a big tick and I then worked out which paper worked best and what size.

The design element that had been going around in my head for a few weeks of the multiple overlays of the word STOP. I have this self-inking stamp that you can put your own letters into and I have used it for other play work; but this time I thought it would be great for a piece of real work.

So I tested it on a scrap of paper.

And it took me  while to test out how dense I really wanted it to look.

And it turns out I want it REALLY dense!

Back on the trial fold and pocket I was exploring stitching lines and whether to put the title of the book on the pocket somehow?

At first I thought the title could go in a gap where I hadn't stamped; but it didn't seem to give enough definition or purpose; it just looked like it kind of happened, without much thought or intent.

I then thought about maybe making the title out of the same red card and putting it on top of the stamping. This seemed to have more authority somehow.

So far, so good.

And then I had a look at how it might look if I did the density of stamping I was hoping to do. And it still held. The words of the title are handwritten - just an indication of how large the printing might be, and testing out the idea of a border.

Good progress! Ideas tested and trialled, and even a fair few resolved! Next, trying to sort out the multitude of ideas I have for the cover...

New Year cards

 And so after faffing about as much as I did in trying to work out how to set some simple numbers, I managed to print the New Year cards.

I had also hoped to do a bit of a blended ink print and so that meant I inked and printed each card individually. It was no drama really, and good practice for me re inking.

I went with a gorgeous green and a deep blue - and they melded nicely. The colours were a bit hard to photograph, but in real life they worked.

The first proof showed that it wan't as simple as I had hoped using 36pt Empire and 72pt Empire. The smaller numbers on the outside were not lining up evenly and so I needed to adjust some spacing.

And then I needed to work out where to position the print on the card. I was using the proofing press which is much more about using your eye for placement that the Adana, where the card slips into a position held by a couple of bars. With the proofing press you line it up by hand and place it down - and there can be ever so many tiny movements...

In the end, they worked out well and have dried well in this heat we have had.

And as ever, before I cleaned up I just wanted to play around with some moving and over printing. I like how this approach makes them look like ripples in water...

They have begun to make their way out into the world, with all best wishes for 2025.