second alphabet - tick .....

I love that I can tick this project off my list.  I really enjoyed making both the alphabet and the box for this alphabet.  This is the first time I have tried making this wrap over box and I am quite pleased with the result.  Certainly will use the idea again for other projects and hopefully their making will improve with each new effort.    I like the elegant lines this box/binding affords .... clean, simple.

I actually think I preferred this cover before I wrote the alphabet all over it - but it is done now.  Loved the clean simple lines it had before I overworked it!  It is so easy just to take things one step too far.

I am leaving Steve at home alone for a week and  am off to Sydney to have some fun with my children and poke around some paper shops. Will be back on line next Friday no doubt.  Take care till then - hope the storm clean up is not proving too much for those of my blogging friends who were in Sandy's path.  

good fortune joss papers .....

I spent almost all my time yesterday working on the second alphabet for the ALAW project which Fiona instigated and coordinates.  I thought the letters may take me all week but I managed to get them done and now I have only the box to make today.  It is always so exciting to complete a project and be able to move onto the next one.

My next project is to come up with an idea for Fiona's and my collaborative piece.  Our thirteen envelopes ..... which when we were making gave me so much inspiration and now I don't know where I hid it.  Maybe once I start handling the envelopes again, getting a feel for them, the inspiration will come back.  Fiona and I managed to chat a little about our project when we were heading down the the Cover to Cover exhibition last week and not surprisingly, we are thinking along the same lines.  I must confess that I had only come up with one line of thought, and Fiona seemed to have had a number.  It will be such fun to see what we come up with.

I am about to post on my second alphabet to ALAW, but for those of you who do not follow that blog, I thought I would add a couple of photographs here.  They are not good shots for showing the alphabet, but I loved the way they photographed on my heating bed.  I didn't have any light on in the room so I think it must just be the outside light that gave the lovely glow.  My eye did not pick it up - only the camera. 

I do love how the camera can continue to surprise.....

                  

second alphabet beginning .....

I  was so inspired by Fiona's post yesterday that I just had to begin my second alphabet for ALAW.  I had it on my list of 'must dos' for this month, along with our collaborative envelope piece which I have yet to begin.  Fiona's letter catch up spurred me to get a move along ......

I had this idea in January and then decided on doing the dotty alphabet first.  I have prepared the cards - this time straying a little outside the parameters as I noticed a number of people did that last alphabet without getting their knuckles rapped!  One of my dimensions is 7 cm's .......

As yet I have to work out how I will letter each page - this timeI will try and keep my letters in the same vein, but each page will be worked as a separate design.  At this stage I am thinking of leaving the book unbound, and having a boxed set of letters.  This is not yet completely thought through though. (look at those last three words - I am sure I could not have made a sentence with those had I been asked!)

Tomorrow I will start my letters - need to let the glue dry anyway.  With any luck I will finish this project by the end of the week. 

door knobs for Diane .....

I am posting on these door knobs for Diane whose latest post has a photo of a door knob which I take to be on the beautiful house she and her husband are renovating in France. 

I had planned, back in 2002, to do a series of etchings on door knobs, having photographed hundreds whist travelling with my daughter in Europe.  I had drawings for 13 of them - only these three were ever done!!  I moved on to other things, and these three etchings still remain as artist's proofs.  One day I may print a few of them.  In the meantime, they hang on my studio wall, reminding me that I used to be far less abstract in my etchings than I am now.  

This etching above is a two plate etching - the patterned background being the first plate printed, then the second plate has all the detail of the knocker.  The plate below is a three plate etching and is of a rather beaten up old metal door.  I have used plenty of open bite in the main plate, and then the knob and the key are done on separate etching plates.  Really, this etching needs more work before I am happy with it.

The etching of the Lion door knob is done on a single plate, mostly with aquatint and then subsequently a few line markings done to tighten up the image just a little.  The colour is blended on the plate carefully, before the printing is done.  Often you need to warm the copper plate repeatedly to be able to blend the inks successfully.

as you can see - this was not photographed with the etching held very flat!

Some of the etching details can be seen in the photographs below.  The lion knocker is my favourite and I have done a number of prints from it - finding that very often the second pull, when all the richness of the first layer of ink has gone, is often quite successful.  I find this rarely happens with an etching plate.  I know I have them somewhere in the studio ... can't lay my hands on them though.

one tree talks .....

I have just returned from a happy day exploring wonderful books with Fiona down on Bribie Island.  Cover to Cover was the name of the exhibition and I am still absorbing all that I saw and enjoyed, and will post on that over the next couple of days.

Outside, as we walked towards the car I stopped to photograph this huge gum ..... which without any words necessary, tells us a story of its own .....

Actually I am delighted, but completely surprised that these pictures are focussed as the wind was incredibly gusty and I was taking the photos one handed ...... lucky.  Think I owe the credit to my new little Panasonic Lumix TZ-30 which is so much easier to carry about than my large Canon camera.

finding the storyline .....

Although I felt a little like 'the doggy in the window' over the weekend at the Maleny Celebration of Books, I did find it worth while being there - especially on the Saturday when more people were out and about.  I sat outside Maleny Additions who were featuring my artist's books and journals.  The display was beautiful and I was delighted by many comments. Because most of my books in the shop were not opened up, only the covers were visible.  Even so, they still were of interest to a number of visitors which was pleasing.  It was good to be there speaking with passersby about the book as a vehicle for artists' work.  Most of the people with whom I spoke were not artists but were very interested in learning how to make journals, books, for their own purposes ... photography, design portfolios, poetry etc.  I had my new mini moo cards ready to hand out with my blog and email details so I hope to hear from some of those who professed interest.

Sheila and Diedre who own the shop were in and out, crossing over as they attended various talks and also the Big Book Club.  Many smaller book groups held discussions and then they all came together as one huge book group.  Apparently this and the talks were very, very interesting.  I am sorry I missed out and next year will be way more interested in being in attendance that sitting on the street talking about artist's books.  I do think the exposure was wonderful, not just for me but for sharing an understanding with the public about what makes an artist's book - and the potential one can reach when you are able to create a book from scratch.

In between people coming to chat, I sat there working on my latest little book and seeing if it could tell me what it wanted to say. I found a story line that suits me beautifully.  It is about the journey I have taken over the last six years, looking for and finding my home.  Somewhere to belong.  There are some images below, my favourite is the one of the hill with my 'home' on the top.  This is the last page of the story.  I am actually contemplating writing in this book seeing it is a book to keep.  I am not yet sure if I will write around the edges of the bordering white paper or if I will scratch my writing onto the transparent paper. Uncertain about being that brave - words seem so ...... revealing!  I usually like my work to be more enigmatic. 

black to white .....

Sometimes when in the studio, you just have to laugh out loud. Creative work can sometimes have a completely different result from the one you had in mind.  Over the last couple of days I have been preparing an artist's book - not complete it,  but have it there over the weekend in Maleny to show passersby the processes involved in putting together an artist's book.

I had in mind to do a black book as I had these yummy 'bits' of happenstance into which I thought I would work.  Keep it all black and white, black covers, black ink overlaying the images - dictating what they should be, or at least suggesting to the viewer a storyline.

The more I prepared this book, the more obvious it was to me that in fact it is a white book and that I would be using white ink, graphite and transparent paper into which I could scratch.  Quite a gentle book in fact.  It will be interesting to see if it stays that way!  Once again it is about my sense of place, or belonging.  I seem to have that in the forefront of many of my ideas of late and I think it is because I am now so happily settled in this new home and have been carving out of it a sense of belonging ........  

This will be familiar to those who saw my post on our land and our STEEP stairs and tracks!

Have not really decided on a direction for these images .... hope to be inspired tomorrow.