Peace emerges...

I mentioned here and here and here about some work from a few years ago that had begun to fall apart in a gentle way. The tape just wouldn't hold. Yet some tape did. So I was struggling with what to do with the ones that had come adrift.

I began to design what I chose to call book-ets. They are more substantial than a booklet; not quite as solid as a book I felt, so book-ets they became.

I made a prototype, because I wasn't really sure if my ideas would work.

Here I was testing where the holes would be and in which direction the thread loop should go - vertical or horizontal.

Testing some fabulous tape to see if it would hold the threads down.

And thinking - there could be something in this, it feels like it might work out.

And so, the final book-ets. The light wasn't great when I photographed them, but here goes.

Closed and held.

First side cover open.

Second opening.

Third opening.

The first page turned.

The next,

And the next,

and the next.

The final page with my mark.

Fully open.

A lovely stack.

And here they are.

The words are different in each.

1. Let peace be a daily conversation
2. We dream of peace and peace dreams of us
3. Peace is fragile, tend it gently and daily
4. Dwell with peace in your spirit and your mind
5. Every new breath allows peace to be born anew

In some of them you can see the marks that show their previous life - where tape had been and had fallen away; or where I removed it to create the set of five. I am OK with that; it is part of their story and part of the story of peace needing to be born anew...

I feel a sense of deep satisfaction in their coming into being; and the way in which they now inhabit the world.  I worked hard to find an elegant solution and I think I achieved it.

Into my shop soon I hope...

Thursday Thoughts...

“I want to think dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable, beautiful and afraid of nothing; as though I had wings.” 

 Mary Oliver

Ahhh Mary Oliver.

I find this series of words encouraging and uplifting; put together as they are, I think they are ever so wonderful.

Having moved from a career world where there were performance indicators; goals, targets, reviews, strategies and the like time as an artist and as a person means I rarely have to come up with words to describe my goals or my strategies.

Sometimes art will lead me to think about goals and what I hope to do and achieve; but rarely do I set life goals or strategies.

If I stopped to think about how I would like to be in the world - my goal of being a person and the way I live my life; these couple of sentences would definitely come close and would at the very least initiate a fine ramble of ideas that's for sure!

Thinking dangerous and noble thoughts; being light and frolicsome, improbable, and afraid of nothing...

A fabulous pairing in one of our trees - a magpie and a pure white goshawk... perhaps not frolicsome!

I dream of a world...

Mo is creating a circle of stitchers and sewers and makers and peace lovers across the world; bringing together people to contribute to her installation art work "I dream of a world where Love is the answer..."

Late last year she sent out pennants, cut from an old wedding dress and each of us is responding in our own way.

My pennant was creamy white, with little bits of foxing on it - a bit like rust marks.

I wondered about lots of approaches but ended up going with what seemed me - white on white stitching and lettering.

I have simply included the word love in the centre of the pennant (quite tricky to find a place called centre given its shape and how it might hang...).  A bit like saying here's the answer; or love is all you need.

I transferred my own heartbeat script then filled it in with lots and lots of lines of backstitching.

I then used blanket stitch around the edge, and created a wee border of three rows of running stitches. Here it is on the ironing board!

Here, hanging in my sewing room, keeping company with a couple of birds' nests.

The pennant is now winging its way south to join the flock of love landing in Sydney...

The process can be pretty

I have all but finished my five book-ets where I have upcycled/re-used single pages from a previous work.

It has been slow and steady, but deeply satisfying as I resolved issues and created solutions that work, are clean and elegant, and support the words.

But... along the way, there was so much loveliness that I took quite a few 'pretty' photos and here are some of them.

Working out where to poke the holes, and in which direction!

Just because...

Five also look lovely together.

Translucency.

Tying off a knot on the inside.

Coming together...

It has been a delight spending time with this work. I shall post the finish items soon!

Thursday Thoughts...

“An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.” 

 Charles Dickens

This felt quirkily accurate to me. While tit may appear tangential to the notion of art which I am pondering today, I think it is really at the heart of art and art making.

I find it absolutely joyous to spend time creatively, and am forever grateful that I get to spend time this way.  One of the things I enjoy most is the ongoing observation, and gradual understanding, of how we make and create. The process we undertake and how the magic happens.

Not just the technical aspects (which also fascinate and possess at times) but more that obscure, ephemeral, fleeting notion of the creative process.

The idea of an artistic idea as a ghost-like apparition works for me. Sometimes the idea or thought is just out of reach; or it has been and gone so quickly I couldn't grab it but the sense of it remains. There is something lurking that I can 't recall without having the chance to focus and find it.

The second part where the idea sometimes needs a little bit of a conversation before it fully revels itself I find also accurate and true.  I often find myself having jotted a notion down, then writing in response; asking questions of it; wondering aloud what I really mean...and then it can begin to make sense.

Quite the ramble in response to a few words.

What am I really trying say, I wonder???

Trying this and that

I am still working away re-working some pages form a while ago...trying to design a binding and a cover to give them new life, and which looks elegant.

It is quite a mental challenge and I get highly amused by the ah-ha moments I get and where and when they arrive; at the oddest times and in the oddest places.

Still, each one nudges me closer to completion.

I have covered the spine.

And glued the pages.

Placed a nice little pause page in; such a lovely lovely edge.

The first opening.

More of those nice holes!

And the beginnings of a cover; folding and yet more holes.

And a bit of debossed letterpress as a test.

Loving the architectural folds as I play.

As I said, edging closer to a resolution.  I will try a prototype soon and then hopefully five small
book-ets will emerge!

Testing printing

I have spent the odd hour here and there working on a new idea for a book.

I have this idea of a grey background with stark black imagery, and words - on each page.

I was bringing an idea, written on a scrap of paper on my studio desk - "ink and print aluminium plates".  That was all - the idea of simply inking up different shaped plates and making the background from that.

I lined up a bunch of leftover aluminium on the bed of the etching press, and inked them up using my Vanson rubber inks (which I use mostly for letterpress).

Some nice marks transferred to the paper, but it was a pretty messy and time consuming process, rolling on lots of ink and cleaning up each time.

So I headed for a quicker idea and simply used two different sized brayers to roll grey ink onto the pages. Layering them and allowing the occasional wonkiness to appear.

And then left the pages to dry - it seemed to take days given the amount of moisture we still have about here.

My plans for the imagery had originally involved etching into aluminium - leaving the image raised and the background etched away.  As I thought about that, I realised I was after a relief print image rather than an intaglio one, and that I really didn't want to see much of the plate background at all.  But I wondered if I simply rolled over the top of the etched plate, if that would print the image and leave the background pretty blank.

I could pretty much tell after a light roll that this was not going to be the solution!  The soft brayer had transferred ink onto the base plate (sure, it wasn't a very deep etch, and sure the brayer was soft not hard, but I wasn't convinced it would be the answer)

And for someone going for a stark image and no background or plate texture showing it really wasn't the answer.

 My thoughts then turned to collagraphh or lino. Again I used existing plates for testing, rather than creating new ones. My inked up collagraph plate, and an old lino plate inked.

 Both gave good results, (you can see I was proofing onto any old paper I had lying about) but I was really not too interested in preparing about two collagraph plates that would take forever to dry (again the moisture was messing with me), so I opted for lino.

So now I have backgrounds sorted and printing style sorted.  The imagery is ready for transferring to lino and some cutting has begun...

Thursday Thoughts...

"A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it". 

Samuel Johnson

This seems to me to be a bit like a work of art - where the conversation begins with the artist; and the viewer responds.

From what Samuel Johnson suggests, it as if there is a book, and then it branches out each time a reader reads it, because they bring themselves and their experiences to it. And so, in a way the book has a slightly different ending, or a slightly different middle or few chapters for each person as they will read it slightly differently.

Perhaps, in doing so, they enable a more fulsome telling of the book.

I quite like the notion of the writer beginning, and the reader completing.

A huge tree in NZ's North Island, branching to the sky...

The proof is...

A little moment through the week proved to me just why we proof.

I have been preparing sets of four postcards with the idea of selling them.  The postcards are based on the little idea I had back here - postcards with a quick message to touch base with folk; the handwritten note.

In parallel to the postcard idea, a friend gave me a huge stash of carbon paper - such a nice blue - but it just sat in the studio waiting for me to work out what I could use it for.

And then I saw where somebody was using carbon paper to proof their texts.  Amazing.

I love it because it saves time, it saves ink, it saves cleaning up and it saves mistakes.  It is so quick and easy to do. So simple, I have metaphorically kick myself a few times that I didn't make the connection between my pile of carbon paper and proofing opportunities myself!

I am nonetheless grateful that I have now.

I quickly pull together my wooden type in the phrase I am after, then I place the carbon paper on top of the type - but with the carbon facing upwards (not touching the type).  Then I put a scrap piece of paper over the top and rub the paper with my hand or a baren, or roll over it with a brayer.  But mostly I just rub my thumb over it vigorously.

Here I was working out if/how to use the three dots (ellipsis) I often use when I write.  Because my type collection is a bit random and you take what you can when you can with wooden type, I don't actually have three full stops the same size.  So I was working from small to large or large to small.

Barry and I decided in the end that I should leave the dots out as they were too distracting, so I rearranged the type into a simpler presentation. Proofing really helped the decision.

I really like the marks left on the carbon paper and the tale they tell.

A lot of folk who have received emails from me will know that I often title it "just checking" or "just checkin' ", so I decided that would be one of my postcards.

And this my friends, is the real reason why you proof!

Cute huh?

The lovely carbon paper remainder.

 And the fix.

Hopefully I will get to print the sets later this week and all things being equal will manage to get them onto the shop sometime soon.

Just playing with these simple cards has also given me ideas about bigger and deeper works I could do along these lines. It is always nice when one thing opens the door to another thing...