Tidying up and using up

 We are well underway with the studio downsizing. Our lease runs out in February and we won't be renewing it. This means we have a major task on our hands to get rid of things we don't need or use anymore; get organised to move the things we will be keeping; and generally speaking tidy up and sort a lot of things out!

As part of this we have re-imagined our home office and created more storage there for things like books, work for sale and so on. As we did this I came across some leftover images from my exhibition with my friend Sheila back in 2024 - Exposed. They were the small proofs, most of which didn't make the final cut; some of which did make the cut, but only in a larger size; and some that made the cut but with minor tweaks.

Did they go in the bin? Or could they be re-worked somehow?

I went with the notion of rescuing some and re-working them. I thought about making cards; but then decide to make postcard-sized works. I wondered about putting them on another colour before placing on the card. And then I thought I would blind-emboss a square to frame them.

I first used this technique back in 2010 for a series of books based on glyphs - marks made either in urban setting or bush settings. More recently, I have come across it in the work of my friend and co-collaborator Annwyn Dean, who uses it beautifully to set off her prints in many of her books- for example here. 

My challenge was however, that as part of the downsizing we had sold our etching press. How to make a deep enough emboss without a press? I recalled we had a timber bed we could slot into the proofing press we use to print letterpress posters, and popped it in. But the rough timber worried me, so I cut some acetate and placed it on the bed. I put the registration template underneath that and thought I was onto it.

I cut a 7cm square from a desk mat, and then I needed to build up the pressure. So I put in several sheets of grey board to give it some oomph as the roller passed over it.

The only trouble was it needed so much oomph I was in danger of crushing my fingers; or having the whole press fall off the bench due to the uncontrollable movement as I pushed and pushed. I recalled there was a handle? But where? Luckily I found it and could fit it. I did have to turn the press around by myself which was fun given its weight, but I managed that safely, then used the handle to really pressure roll and it worked.

And then it was gluing and signing.

And bundled up, waiting for some of them to head off and out.

It felt good to rescue these images. I ended up with 26 workable images on postcards.