The proof is in the proofing

 This will possibly be a pretty boring blog post about proofing, but I have begun to print the silences for my book of silences and am taking it all very seriously!  I really want this book to work and there is a lot of imposition and alignment to get right, so I can't be too casual about where things go on the page.

In part, because I am using other people's silences, I feel it is particularly important to honour them.

I have tried to think my way through lots of things and am hopeful I can progress smoothly. There will always be hiccups; but I would rather avoid pile ups!

My first proof print of my first silence. I wanted it to be 10mm from the folded gutter, and it was 12mm. Easy to sort. But I looked at the l on love and wondered - is that an l or is it a capital I? 

It would be an easy mistake to have made if I was dissing type so I went into detective mode and collected both an l, and an I, and the original piece of type in the chase. The photos are not too clear, but I was checking the width of each piece of type.

And sure enough, the piece from the chase was one of the wider pieces, which meant it was a capita I. I felt rather chuffed that I had noticed, and also solved the issue.

The top piece shows it with a correct l in place.

Every silence is being proofed, and a couple of them have definitely had moments!

This one's only real problem was layout, and was easily sorted.

This one had an upside down s! Which in other circumstances I might have rather enjoyed, but not here.

And with this one I had completely left out the word 'in'! Had I been writing a small poem, I could have left the word 'with' out as well and it might have worked, but I really need to reflect the words properly.

Sorted now.

It has been a good time. All the pages are cut plus many more for just in case...

The covers are cut and the end pages are cut. 

The imposition and layout have been decided and now I am printing. 

Because most folios need to be printed on all four pages, it will take time to ensure that the ink has dried in between printings. 

I am enjoying going slowly and letting it unfurl.

These brilliant, bold and bright images are close ups of waratahs. I love the varied wild and curly parts!