Orchard signs

 We have recently seen the planting of a lovely small orchard in the village where we live. It sits alongside a new walking path and further around the corner are some raised garden beds for vegetables and herbs. A number of the fruit trees were saved from where they were previously growing, as the development started down below.  It was wonderful to be able to save them, move them and give them new life. Others were donated by folk who live here; and one was planted by the operators.

People who walked past however, weren't too sure what was growing, so we undertook to place some signs nearby so that folk could see what was what.

Over the weekend, Barry did the cutting and painting of the stakes/signs, and I did the writing. Together we hammered them in.

Barry's first steps.

Over to me to write on them. I thought they looked a bit like pencils at this point!

I remembered we had done a similar thing many years ago for the Neighbourhood Centre, and went back to check if there were any tips or tricks for me. And there was an excellent one!

Given the variation in word length, I re-created this template as a guide for me to work between/within.

I had written the names out in pencil to get a sense of the size of lettering I could use.

And got myself a permanent marker and started writing.

As per the previous signs from 2017, I simply wrote Orange - and then across the top the type. We might be getting a Navel orange as well, so this is one way to know which is which.

After hammering in place.

Once again, it was a case of the blog to the rescue.  I love being able to search the blog 'vegetables' and have a few posts pop up, including the one I needed to remind myself what I had done in the past!

Completion - all stitched up!

In many ways, it is so hard to think that all of the work that has been happening around these wee books has finished and this couple of small piles is all I kind of have to show for it!

In the edition of 21 (such a nice number), I have 16 that will go to the people who shared their silences with me. Then there will be 5 extra. Across the back here are the 16 and to the bottom left are the5.

Half way through stitching the stash, the late afternoon sunlight appeared.

After stitching came the trimming. I had known from the beginning that by using quite a number of folios which would need to be nestled within each other in order to do the simple pamphlet stitch, that I would need to trim the centre folios quite a bit. And that proved to be the case.

You can see how much the internal folios protruded in this before and after shot.

I had to fold the covers back on each book, line up the ruler along the first page and then slowly slice through the remaining layers. Several slices per book!

The widest slices in the centre of the book were about 5mm (0.5cm) wide. This has rather an impact on where I had placed the type on the page and I was glad I had left extra room in anticipation. Although I have thoughts for the next one!

Before trimming, you can see how much white space there is on that left hand page along the foredge. After trimming, the words sit far more comfortably on the page. Although as I said, I have thoughts about the next one!

Inside my rubbish bin was a lovely layering of strips.

After stitching and trimming it was time to sign, and edition. From 1 - 21.

And now to send them out into the world to the wonderful folk who shared their silences...

Just how I will handle the other five remains open - please get in touch if you might be interested!

Thursday Thoughts...

“To be an artist, you need to exist in a world of silence”. 

Louise Bourgeois

How timely that my eyes fell upon this quote in my many pages of quotes about art today!

Silence and I are having a moment. I find myself thinking about it, exploring it, delving deeper into trying to understand it. Wondering is it even possible for silence to prevail?

So for Ms Bourgeois to say that we need to live within silence in order to create and make art, makes me wonder what that looked like for her. I wonder if it means that she worked in solitude (which isn't of itself silence); if she closed the door to the studio and kept the outer world at bay.

The essences of her words seem to me to be about the need for quiet moments. The quietude of mind and silence from which thoughts and feelings can come forward and into expression. It suggests to me that noise and frenzy are not at all conducive to her life as an artist. And I know it is so for me.  

I need quiet places and quiet spaces to let my thoughts slow, my mind unwind and enable me to focus on the work.

I am not so sure I need to exist fully in a world of silence, but I am pretty sure that silence is a prerequisite for my times of making.

Sentinel, 2010.

Next 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...