Small beginnings

After all of that effort moving things from the public studio space, there is a sense of lightness. There is still a clean to be done; an inspection to happen; and then hopefully all shall be well and we can hand back the keys.

It is a nice feeling getting used to the notion that all my art stuff is here - almost at my fingertips (if I had particularly long arms!).

I need to do some more rainbow daily words, or is that daily rainbow words???

I thought I would start small and just get two sets done, testing out the new desk and space at home. I have begun, but have not quite finished.

I found two completely different sets of paper word cards already cut - so am doing one set of each. One is a brighter white than the other.

Red.

The view from above.

Red, orange, yellow and green are done, but I clearly got distracted writing gentleness. It's an easy trap to fall into as a calligrapher. You look up at the word you are copying and in this instance I clearly looked at the second 'e' and completed the word without having written 'n' and the 'e' that are missing.

Still, after all that work and effort in the past wee while if that's the biggest mistake I make this week I am doing OK!

After green comes blue, indigo and purple. I looked at my notes and my palette and I did the blue no worries, but the indigo I think I tricked myself. Purple worked out OK mixing a couple of primaries; but the indigo does look rather a bit too dark and more like the purple that I would like. I dabbled in a dried up colour in the palette and I think in reality, it had nothing to do with the rainbow! All the other remnant colours did - but I really have my doubts about my indigo choice.

This is where I was at the end of that, with a couple of blanks ready as well for the two sets. I can already tell I'm going to have to be so much more disciplined than I have been of recent years.  Things will have to be tidied and put away after use when one only has one desk instead of five!! 

And things will not be able to be simply dumped on the table for me to do something with later...like polishing cloths, embossing tools, gold leaf and gold size and post it flags (as evidenced below).

So my executive decision was to re-do the indigo words. I set about chopping up some extra paper to do the two sets and am ready to go when I next get a minute.

It felt good to begin to put the new places and items and work jobs together and see how it all flows. I will have to do some printing soon - I was asked for nine grief cards and only had five, so there is job to be done. It will be good to test out that side of things as well.

But the first steps have been taken.

Daily Words refresh

Barry and I have had a daily word practice since 2004 when I made our first set of words whilst we were living in Hobart for a year. I have written several more sets over time for folk - in particular rainbow daily words. In these sets I had written 70 words (10 for each colour of the rainbow).

It has come to pass that after 21 years of use, our cards set needs replacing. One morning recently, mindfulness simply separated in two. We thought that several others could go the same way, so we sat down to work out which words of this set, the verb set of 70 and the noun set of 70 we would like to take with us into the future.

It was an interesting task. We did it separately, then came together, to discuss. There were lots of overlaps and the occasional different ones but we landed very happily on a set of 50 cards.

This allows for 7 words for each rainbow colour (49) and leaves a blank as well. We kind of like the blank; although we never really know what to expect on the days we draw it...

We love the number 7 so 7 x 7 seems like a good way to go!

The first step is always cutting up the cards. They measure 5cm x 1.5cm so a lot of it needs to be done by hand.

The next step was seeing if I could still write with a dipping pen!  I couldn't remember the last time I did proper pen calligraphy by hand so this was a real test. (I am now thinking it was maybe 2022 - a commission I did??). I had to track down my nib and find my watercolours, then mix the colour. I liked the colour but in these first few attempts I didn't have it loose enough and the pen was really scratchy on the surface. Nothing flowed, including my hand! It was wobbly and wild.

So I loosened the watercolour, cleaned out the pen and rinsed it, and then sat down and wrote and wrote and wrote for a while and gradually got back into my groove.

I also gave myself a bit of ground because working on such a small piece of card (5cm x 1.5cm) is incredibly awkward. You are working so hard to not have it slip or move that you can rarely relax and simply let it flow. The tension is real!

Here are the first seven words - in red. 

Orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo violet remain to be done!

Getting there...red, orange, yellow, green and blue done.

And indigo and purple/violet for the win!

I started out with plans for 5 sets, but settled for 4 because I used so many extras for the ones where I wrote badly. Still four sets will be great - one for us, one for a  friend and two to sell. 

Barry has begun making the bowls that will hold them. Here is the first one. 

It is such a lovely practice. It helps set the mood for the day, and gives a quiet moment of reflection before we get into things.  The bowls plus words will be available for sale we hope at the Closing Down Sale next weekend. They will form part of the new work sale - where new things re 10% off (everything else is at least 50% off!!!).

Daily Words

Each morning Barry and I start the day with a fresh orange juice, selecting a word from our Daily Word bowl as we look out our window on the world.

We have had this practice for many years and the set of words within this bowl were written way back in 2004 when we were living in Hobart. As we have moved and had different lives and different vistas, we have replaced the bowl with one Barry made; but other than that these words have been our daily companions.

I just liked the look of them this morning and I liked the words. Beauty and thankfulness.

I am a bit stumped as to how I selected this set of words way back when. They are a muddled mix of nouns and verbs, some inspirational, some less so. I will sometimes say I think we should take all the tough words out - like responsibility and humility - and then I am reminded of the balance in life and how to try and make the best of some things.

The cards started out with crisp, sharp, knife-cut edges, but daily use has softened and rounded their corners; and a number of them have become foxed since we live in a high humidity and often rain-filled environment.

I remember making the marks on the back of the large sheet of paper by dribbling quite bright blue ink onto it and then blowing the ink around through a drinking straw! 

The bowl sits on this humble wooden curtain ring; elevating it slightly.

I have since made several sets of Daily Words for folk and they have morphed  into Rainbows. I have settled on sets of either 70 verbs or 70 nouns. 

I will often make sets with calligraphy words written in rainbow colours - ten words in each of the seven rainbow colours. For smaller orders I will do 5 words each in each rainbow colour.

Some of the sets and their making can be found here and here .

It is a delightful practice which we carry with us.  We randomly select a word, and then we think an it a bit, how might we bring it forth in the day? what might the universe be telling us? oftentimes thinking oh that sounds like a great day! when the words are lovely...

Rainbow Words...

 I have been undertaking the loveliest of commissions.

Someone has asked for 5 sets of daily words; each in rainbow colours with four sets of verbs and one set of nouns.

Each set has 70 words in it (10 of each colour of the rainbow) so that means 70 x 5 = 350 words.

Plus I decided to make an extra set of verbs just in case...so really 70 x 6 = 420 words.

And 420 slips of 300gsm watercolour paper,  cut down to size at 1.5cm x 5cm.  Lots of cuts and quite small to work with! 

I use my trusty Windsor and Newton watercolours. With the mixing palette at the top, my mixing and loading brush; and my nib.

And my trusty water jar.

I started with all the red words and worked my way through the colours from there.

Gradually making it through orange, yellow, green and blue.

Pushing through to indigo and violet.

Until they were all done.

My arms ached.  It took a couple of solid runs to get through the writing of 420 words.  My right hand gets a bit cramped holding the pen ; but my left elbow gets the sorest as I use my left hand to hold the tiny bit of paper down and steady as I write.

The point of my left index finger is still a bit numb from the sustained pressure!

My test sheets, my mistakes and my paper towel for cleaning my nib.

And after the few weeks we have had in Australian politics and the lives of all women who have been silenced, assaulted and not believed, there I was, late Friday afternoon, writing this word, in purple.

I decided to cut quite a few of the slips just in case I want or need to do a few sets more in the future.

I popped them in a cellophane bag for protection and looked inside and thought - magic!

Now for them to dry and for me to make a pocket for them and then send them on their way into the world...