2000 posts, plus pegs and type

 When I was trawling through Blogger trying to work out how my ability to comment and reply had been randomly removed from me, I noticed I was about to make my 2000th post. Wow. 

In the days of FB and Insta and TikTok and all, people often wonder why folk continue to blog.

Fortunately I have moved on from any angst I may have once had about lots of people reading what I write, of wondering how many comments I get, how many posts get read and so on. I have come to the belief that primarily, I seem to blog for myself, and that is fine.

Whenever I am wondering when I made something, or did I do something a particular way - I turn to my blog and go searching. It is actually the most reliable memory of my artwork that I have and I am grateful for its existence more often than seems reasonable.

I also blog because I know that some folk are interested in what I do; that some folk like to see how I do things; and because I like to share thoughts about making, and processes, and highs and lows; and also because it that it is just lovely to still be part of an online community that is generous and kind.

So a HUGE thank you to all the folk who read, who comment, who email  and message me.; and who keep me motivated to make a record of my work, and the odd other event here and there - including flowers and travels. Thank you.

Yesterday I taught a one person workshop and we had a grand time. So much wonderful experimentation, testing this, trying that.  As part of my Introduction, I pulled out some type for comparison.

The tool on the left is a pica ruler - picas down the left hand side and inches down the right. I love the ingenious little hook at the top which makes it possible to hook it on a piece of furniture and measure how long it is.

With this type I was showing type at 8pt and type at 72pt. BIG difference. I was also showing how 72pt is generally as large as they make metal type, because after that it gets too heavy, and too expensive to make. Beyond that point size, they usually head for timber. Some timber, like the A here, is 72pt as well. 72pt is about 2.5cm (or an inch); whilst 8pt is approximately 2.8mm.

I have only ever worked with 8pt once. You can see why really...

And in this shot I am comparing the smallest type in the studio to the tallest/largest type in the studio.

The M here is Italian, and is measured as 30 ciceros (no points used with Italian type). A cicero measures about 4.5mm and therefore, 30 ciceros makes this block of wood type around 13.5cm long. Italian type is also a tad higher than the type we generally use.

In between times when the weather was cold and time inside was the best kind of time; I re-rolled some of my natural-dyed threads from round pegs onto square/flat pegs.  I like flat pegs and they are hard to get hold of; so when I come across a stash of vintage ones I nab them and then sit quietly rolling from one type to the other.

Before.

After.

There is a way to go, but I am getting there with the transfer.

The current stash from Maleny.

And the current stash from Scotland.

Still plenty of round pegs to be replaced!

Commenting and Replying

 I have just spent time trying to work out why Google and Blogger have not allowed me to reply to comments on my own blog post for a while.

I think I've cracked it and have just now gone back a fair way with replies - so apologies if you have felt neglected. I have been reading but not replying and now I can again!

I hope to get all the way back but am a bit weary from my investigations.

Fingers are crossed the fix holds.

Nothing specially connected to comments or technological frustrations, but the beautiful surface of our electrician's ladder the other day.

Thursday Thoughts...

"What keeps my heart awake is colourful silence". 

Claude Monet

There are lots of possibilities around how to think about these words. Depending on which word or combination of words you focus on, you can head down a few burrows.

The two parts that intrigued me most were about keeping your heart awake; and making silence colourful.

I thought about why colourful? And does a colourful silence sound like something? or look like something? Which way in, through the noun or the adjective?

A colourful silence feels to me like a vibrant and active silence; rather a silence in repose. It hums, even tho it is silent. Maybe it bubbles along. I am not sure; but I think the words suggest a sense of going within, or being in quietness; and then this space allowing your imagination to run riot; to be activated and to explore.

As I think about keeping your heart awake, I think what a marvellous and beautiful framing of an idea.  Right now I feel like I really need to keep my heart awake, my heart open, my heart willing, my heart seeking.  Just generally in terms of life.

In terms of creativity I think it means that an open and awake heart is ready and prepared for making and creating, for depicting life and beauty and hope, for telling stories and for bearing witness. 

When our hearts are awake; we are awake to beauty; however small...

All sorts

 It is indeed a funny old studio time - it seems like a time of slow momentum. Of things happening slowly, on a small scale, and not in quick bursts. So many bits and pieces taking small steps - some barely getting any momentum, just the odd nudge.

The commission is the main game at the moment; but it is having its moments.  And funnily enough, every time I think I have a chunk of time to have a really good run at it, life happens and I end up only getting a small window to make small things happen. As an observer of my own making, I am finding this an odd project in the manner in which it is evolving. 

That aside,  I am beginning to try and work out the additions to the lettering. The marks and images and things that will personalise it as a gift.

Here I am playing with travel lines - journeys and places. I am using a heavy tracing paper to make the imagery and then lay it over the page and determine how it would sit; how it interacts with the lettering - does it interfere or does it support? How will I make the marks - solid? light? and so on.

And now playing with some symbols and imagery that are part of the person's life. Figuring out potential placement, and sizes.

I do like tracing paper! Such a usual bit of kit.

And here is a piece I used to sit on top of a book cover I was gluing to protect the book from any transfer marks from the weights upon it overnight.  I couldn't create these magical wave-lines if I tried.

In amongst everything I was considering my sewing set-up at home.  It was poorly organised and did not reflect that I no longer packed up my sewing on a weekly basis and travelled to my sewing class. I had previously had everything arranged for transit; and there was not  a lot of practicality in my set-up for sewing at home.  In a bit of  rush and a roar, I purchased a secondhand Horn sewing table - most excited - and then started sorting my fabrics and 'things' that were stored alongside my former table.

Now everything has a home and is packed away neatly (except I have to go through my dressmaking fabric boxes - two of them, with oodles of lovely fabrics, waiting to be made up).

And this is what I had to sort through at the end of my first tidy - dyed threads waiting to be wound on their pegs and labelled, scraps of material  and old cotton scarves. They all needed ironing before I could tell if they were of any value.  I quite liked the look of the stash.

And out of some of the scrap linen fabrics, I hand stitched this purse-pouch. On our last trip my very old jewellery pouch gave up the ghost so to speak, so I thought rather than go looking to buy one I would make one from scraps, and I did.

The sense of contentment and happiness I found by sorting out my sewing world has enthused me for more hand stitching and making. But I just need to be patient...

Nudging things along

It has been nice to put a full tick against one body of work - the three Validation boxed works (no ticks yet against the two Validation books, sigh).

Once more I have been nudging other things along.

Having decided on the walnut ink for the calligraphy commission; I spent quite a bit of time drawing up the pencil lines to work with. I had originally worked the letter height at 4mm; but for the sake of my brain, I decided to change it to 5mm, keeping the 10mm inter-linear space. So much easier to mark things off along a ruler if they are 5mm, 10mm, 5mm, 10mm etc.

Having done that however, as every calligrapher knows, it immediately extended the length of all my lines, and when I wrote the first stanza out I learned that that extra 1mm height had added 40mm to the length of the lines.

So my trial piece was adjusted along the way, and by the end of it I knew I just needed to start the final stanza 50mm to the left to maintain a pleasing balance. So far, I can find only one error in the writing!

I also went back to the original to check for correct punctuation, and I think I now have it right.

So that is the first full draft of the poem done. Now to get on with drawing up lines for what is hopefully going to be the final piece; one that remains error-free along the way! Love my positivity.

I have also been pondering work for the Vessel exhibition September, and started playing around with the idea of envelopes as vessels that can contain thoughts and feelings.  

As part of the playing around and getting ideas moving, I found these lovely bits and pieces.

Then I set up this lovely bundle.

From which I then made this smaller bundle. Which feels just right.

I like it very much, but have no idea how it might really apply to making a work for Vessel!

So then I went and played with these - also fun but not really related in any way to things that could be exhibition works yet...

The pursuit of works for the exhibition continues.

Thursday Thoughts...

"People who love literature have at least part of their minds immune from indoctrination. If you read, you can learn to think for yourself". 

Doris Lessing

As I thought about this one, I checked back to see that Ms Lessing was speaking of literature. Without that word it is simply about reading and I have to say it is possible to read a lot of rubbish and trash and conspiracy and not learn to think for yourself at all.

I guess she is also careful to refer to keeping at least a part of yourself immune to indoctrination and she doesn't say that you will, but that you can, learn to think for yourself.

So with all of that in mind, as ever, I became caught up pondering who or what defines literature. I feel at times it is a social and class divider - if you have to ask, then clearly you don't understand literature. Could just be a chip on my shoulder.

I think fiction can encourage empathy and understanding. I think non-fiction can give brilliant insights in to lived events and existences. I think literature can teach moral lessons and behaviour.  

In the end it does come down to not simply that you read, but what you read, and one should try to read the best writing that one can.

Some of the worst of indoctrination - documents from Auschwitz.

Little bits of peace

So in amongst the heart-sickness of Roe v Wade, I was printing about peace. 

I finished the work and then decided to use up some ink and print white on white, overlaying the beautiful reminder:

We dream of peace, and peace dreams of us.

We are not alone in seeking peace; in fact peace is waiting for us to reach out to meet it. It wants to be with us as well.

This thought makes me feel less lonely about the continuing need to find peaceful resolutions, to join together in peace, to be able to live in harmony. (all sounds a little bit hippy dippy I know...).

So I continued to print it on scraps of paper, and make them into bookmarks, some worked better than others.

Keep on dreaming... and keep the dream alive.

Fragile Gains - still very fragile

Over the weekend we learned that the Supreme Court of the US had overturned the Roe v Wade decision. I was despairing and enraged. The consequences of this decision for so many women, in so many ways - it is not just about abortion - are immense. The surveilling of women's bodies and lives and decisions and choices is unconscionable. I wept silent tears, and felt heart-sick once more, for women and this world.

For the past few months I have been re-working my Fragile Gains work from 2014-2015, this time exploring it with the fragility of eggshells.

I started out with colour, and pondered how they should stand. I had originally been playing with words about eggs; but then it became clear that the fragility was once again, about women's rights and gains. 

And how sad I was when I realised just how relevant this one still was.

 So today, I completed the set of seven fragile gains. I am yet to finalise how they will be fully presented, but they will be teetering. As are we all.

And by the end of today I was playing with the notion of individual ones, in a wee box...

It is so hard to work out what the next steps can possibly be; but solidarity, protest and persisting will surely be at the heart of it.

Thursday Thoughts...

“When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.” 

Thich Nhat Hanh 

I found this quote on page 42 of my quote-collecting document which is now sitting at 108 pages, so I must have had it there for a while.  Now seems as good a time as any to sit down with it and ponder life.

The first sentence is something that I feel many of us understand and try to do - we oftentimes find the patience, the emotional IQ, the community-mindedness, the family-focussedness to keep things calm and smooth and orderly in their way (except of course if the other person's proposition is abominable).

I must admit however I haven't often though of that process as being about bringing my mind of compassion to the situation; more I feel as if I bring my ability to put up with things, to the situation. So that is a much nicer way to think about it.

The second sentence was a bit more of a challenge as I really sat with it - that sense of understanding that like many religions suggest, we should love people despite their unpleasantness. Tricky, especially with people in politics for example or in power, whom I despise.  I clearly have a long way to go on this part.

I can relate to the second part with say children, where I am very happy to say I love the child, but I don't like the behaviour (same goes for some adults I guess). Love not being contingent on the other person being loveable is a big thing to try and do...

This is one of our rainbow of kindness posters and it is a reminder to me to act in a more positive way than I might feel; but the quotes seems to ask me to feel the way I should feel, not just act it...

Notions of home...

I have oftentimes mentioned I am investigating in my head, and in my heart, and through my hands, what the feeling of home is about; how is it possible to feel home in different places?

I wonder what was it about? this endeavour to find our Scottish cottage?

I have written some more words...

Just north of desire 

And to the east of questioning, 

At the intersection of delight and doubt, 

The contours of persistence beckon. 

From the terrain of good fortune 

And beyond the point of hesitancy, 

As the coordinates of practicality call, 

Way markers steer towards audacity. 

A nudge south of absurdity 

And a fraction to the west of daring, 

Lay lines of logic, 

Meet the highwater mark of happiness. 

The topography of the heart is reached. 

Alongside the quiet knowing, 

That softly says, 

This too is home, 

We have landed where we ought to be. 

X 

After Maya Stein

Like much of my poetic prose, this is what I have to say - for now. It may change again.

I have chosen to work with the final stanza, but it is not yet finding its own home in an elegant way, but  - like the poem suggests - delight, doubt and persistence are often the way I find my way through. 

More Validation

Well some things are actually getting completed in studio time - and others are getting nudged along nicely.

Today I pretty much completed my Validation boxed pieces.

Last week I worked out how to sew that pesky Polyester thread by sitting under a table, and this week I trimmed the thread and fastened it in place.

I started by removing the matte sticky tape I had used to hold the fabric in place as I stitched through that very open-weave fabric.

Getting the larger lengths off was pretty OK using small scissors and gently tugging, but I got rather tentative when I was around the stitching position, and left these little squares of tape there.

Here's the pile of tape appearing on my desk mat as I pulled it off all three.

And so I began to delicately, with surgeon-like precision, remove these tiny scraps of tape without pulling the thread out or accidentally cutting it off! It is pretty flexible and ends up in all the unexpected places.

Scissors and scalpels were both used, and I worked through a magnifying lamp as well. 

To be sure, to be sure, I then used a drop of Fray Stoppa (a product I have to stop things fraying when I sew, but which I have never used until now).  I figured I might as well try it here and applied a drop around the stitch to try and hold it in place. Toothpicks were the main applicator.

I left that to dry and harden, and then removed the white protective backing, to see if it really did work to have the piece just suspended in space like I had hoped.

I think it works.  I now have to clean the Perspex and think about pricing, but the main puzzles have been solved and I like where the work has landed.