Precious Little Birdy

Building A New Nest

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 17:39:00 +0000

I am in the process of a building a new nest, a new home on the internet :-)

http://angelacallanan.com/

It is still in the embryonic stages and there is not much content on there. I have migrated the Blogger content from here and it can be found under the (surprise, surprise!) Blog link. The formatting is a bit all over the place but the import came out better than I thought. I will eventually re-direct from here to my main website and Precious Little Birdy will be no more :-(

I started this blog in December 2008 - I am a little bit sad. I've enjoyed it on here, but in the last few years Blogger seems to have gone a bit dead. So it makes me wonder how much longer it will last? I've decided to jump before I am pushed :-)

I've found a tutorial showing how to do all the re-direction from here so hopefully (if there's anyone still out there) you won't lose me :-)

So long and thanks for all the fish :-)

angelacallanan.com Rubber Stamp

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 17:34:00 +0000

I mentioned in this post that at the time I made it - this was the most difficult stamp I ever carved, but then I did this one!

I wanted text to go with my little blackbird stamp. My usual method is to type the text on the typewriter (Silver-Reed Silverette) - enlarge it to twice the size and then trace this on to the rubber block. However this looked too big next to the blackbird - so I had to go smaller. I really wasn't sure if I could do it but I just went for it and it came out OK.

Below is a photo of the text on the rubber block - I have carved the first few letters. The text is about 3mm high x 2mm wide.

So I have decided to use it for my business card along with the little blackbird stamp - this is it stamped on to Canford Gunmetal Grey Card - cut and then rounded the corners. There are a few more photos on here of the carving process - I didn't take a lot of photos because it was one of those times that when I started carving I had to keep going otherwise I would have lost the plot with it :-)

Blackbird Silhouette Rubber Stamp Print

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Jul 2016 15:53:00 +0000

This print has been almost 10 years in the making - if I look at it in terms of the original image used to make it. The original photograph was taken in 2006. It was languishing on my hard drive and partially written off because it was underexposed.

It all started when my brother visited from Ireland and I was looking on my Mac to find a photo I wanted to show him. We stumbled a across a picture of a blackbird in the trees. I had written it off as too dark and had totally forgotten about it. I was previewing images and skipped past it quickly. My brother said - hang on a second what's that picture? He thought it was really lovely and said it would make a great bookmark.

This set me thinking so I began to work with the image. The first thing I liked about it was the lovely silhouette and thought it would make a nice banner for my blog. I liked the idea of a grey silhouette on white so produced this image and started to use it as a banner.

I also really liked the blackbird itself so extracted that part of the photo and simplified the branch to make another image. I had signed up for a Home Made Rubber stamp course at UWE and wanted some images to take with me. This was the first stamp I ever made. Looking at the dates this must have been a few years after I had taken the photo because I did the rubber stamp course in 2010.

Then a year later I made a book Nest Building Perils & Pleasures (2011). I used the Blackbird silhouette image again for the cover, endpapers and bookband. This was also my first experience of printing onto book cloth using an inkjet printer. There were lots of screechy moments :-)

I also used the image to make a flexo plate print when I attended a Letterpress Course at UWE - also in 2011. (Which I had almost forgotten until I came to write this blog post).

But, it was in the back of my head for a long time - that I wanted to make a rubber stamp of the image but I always thought this was impossible - and idle thought. I often write down ideas for work I would like to make or try to make - this was on the list for a long time - "one day?" I thought. Or maybe never, because it's way too difficult?

Then at the end of 2015 I decided to give it a go. Something just clicked. Sometimes I start to work stuff out in my head and run over ideas a lot, but don't actually do anything. It feels like my brain is silently processing this in the background and when it clicks that is due to the completion of this processing :-)

First I started to simplify the image and then re-draw over it. I then drew over the final simplified image in pencil and put this on the rubber (EasyCarve). At the time I did it, this was the most difficult stamp I had carved. Mainly in terms of getting my head around how all the branches were interlinked - what I should be cutting away and what I should leave behind. Once or twice I felt I was loosing the plot with this and was afraid I would cut off the wrong bit and totally mess it up.

Once it was completed and printed I decided to use it as my banner. This had not been my original intention - I just wanted to try to make a rubber stamp from the image with no idea what I would do with it. Then finally one day when testing it out on different papers I found an off-cut of grey card I had used for my 'No Such Thing As Seagulls' Book. I printed it on this and thought - this makes a perfect bookmark :-)

This one image was the start of something - little birds in my artwork - and soon they were everywhere :-) Giving me joy every day in my garden, on the way to work as I cycle, in the park when I feed the crows, and finally in my artwork. It was also the beginning of my addiction to making rubber stamps.

I hope I can translate my love for birds and the joy that they bring into my work. I love the whole stamp making process and when I see the bird appear as I carve (when making a stamp) it always makes me smile. This reminds me of another thing I love about rubber stamps - it is a very forgiving process - the original photograph does not have to be amazing quality. My crow stamp was made from a photo which was very out of focus but I loved his stance and was determined to use my own image for the drawing.

So finally after many years, my brother's suggestion of using the image to make a bookmark was complete. Not only that it has become part of my logo and banner. I am not a very religious person but it does remind me of "the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone".

Kodak No. 1a Pocket Junior

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 21:18:00 +0000

This was an early birtthday present from my father. He has had the camera for many years - inherited from a family friend. I have coveted it for a long time. When I was back in Ireland earlier this year my father very generously gave it to me.

I love it. When he gave it to me I remember thinking I would love to get some photos from this but even if it doesn't work it is such beautiful object in itself - so exqusitely made and designed.

The bellows are not in the best condition with lots of holes. However, considerding the age of this camera (nearly 100 years old!) its not bad.

However, I managed to get around this with a very simple solution. I covered it with 2 cloths which I use for cleaning my glasses and tied it with a ribbon on the end.

The camera takes 116 film which is not made any more. You can modify a 120 reel using a rawl plug (UK) - wall anchor (US) - picture below. I couldn't have done any of this without Mike Connealy's excellent blog. Mike has some great detailed posts on there and he has taken beautiful photos with a range of gorgeous vintage cameras. His help and advice was invaluable.

To test how much I needed to wind the film on I made a dummy roll of film with light card and wound it through the spools (120 to 116). The advice on Mike's blog corresponded exactly to what I found with my dummy film roll - 2 1/2 rotations. I put a small piece of masking tape on the winder to make sure I wouldn't get mixed up. Below is the first photo I took. I got 4 photos in total - I couldn't believe it.

The camera came with a 116 spool and I had to wind the film back on to the 120 spool when I was finished (I really didn't want to hand over an old 116 spool for processing). I did this in a darkened room using a rucksack. I was really unsure of what I was doing and had no idea if this would work or not but at the point I really didn't care. I remember thinking to myself - I haven't a clue what I am doing but no matter what happens I have really enjoyed the whole process - I can't fully explain it - I just loved it. Something about it felt very right - no idea why. Luckily I did get some photos and this made the whole experience even more joyful. You can see the full set of photos of Flickr.

The rawl plug worked fine but if I am to use this camera again I don't want to have to wind the film from the 116 spool to the 120 - so I finally got round to making a modification for the 120 spool using some old wooden 116 spools I bought on e-bay. I will post photos of this modification soon and hopefully have another go with this lovely old camera.

Rubber Stamp - Twinkle, twinkle Little Bat! - Long-Eared Grey Bat

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 May 2016 18:23:00 +0000

In this post I showed how I made a copper plate etching and mentioned that I had also made a rubber stamp print of the same image and text - well here it is. This was one of the most difficult stamps I had carved (until I carved one this weekend! More about that soon :-)

I mainly wanted to talk about the difference in the 2 processes - Copper plate etching and Rubber Stamp. I really like that copper plate etching and the course at Cardiff Print Workshop but enjoyed cutting the rubber stamp more. I think this is because I don't like being out of control and at the whim of chemicals and presses. Because I hand carve the stamp if there is a mistake it's mine - I am not at the mercy of something going wrong with the plate, chemicals and lots of other permutations. Maybe this is because I can be very impatient? But then there are those that tell me they wouldn't have the patience to carve a stamp :-)

I find rubber samp carving a much more forgiving process and if something is less than perfect it doesn't look awful - sometimes it even makes it look better and adds to the charm. I wanted to make sure I got the wings right so made a small test wing first. I've never done this before with a stamp I usually go straight for it.

The picture below shows the drawing transferred on to the rubber (SpeedyCarve). You can see that I had the image stuck on with a bit of masking tape and I've just flipped it back.

I then cut the SpeedyCarve away from the main block. You can also see my practice wings stamped on the bit of paper on the top.

In this picture you can see that I have just cut part of the outline of the bat.

I always stamp as I got to make sure the image is coming along as it should. The ink on the rubber also acts as a good guide for cutting. Also I love to see the image emerge as I go along.

I found the bat face quite difficult - I looked at a lot of bat images and to me the always looked like they were smiling and I couldn't get over how cute they were (maybe not everyone will agree). You can see the face gradually emerge in the images below.

This picture shows the rest of the wings gradually being carved.

This is my attempt at a Long-Eared Grey Bat - sadly one of the rarest mammals in UK. I am not sure if I have done this lovely creature justice - the fur was quite difficult too. You can see my notes on using the inkpads in different ways.

Also here is a photo of cutting the text for Twinkle, twinkle Little Bat! As always I type the text on my lovely Silver-Reed Silverette - scan it in and increase it to approximately twice the size and use this to carve.

Finally (if I haven't bored you to death and you've got this far ;-) why a bat? Because since 2005 I have been lucky enough to have lovely bats visit my garden at dusk in the summer months. I can't explain why but I get really excited when I see them, it does my heart good and just makes me really happy - they bring me great joy. I feel privilged they have chosen my garden.

RSPB, Puffin Badge - 10 Year Long Service Award - for Volunteering

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 Apr 2016 17:43:00 +0000

I was volunteering for the RSPB last Saturday and was presented with my special Puffin Badge because I have been a volunteer for 10 years. It sounds like a long time I suppose and I can't believe it has gone so quickly. Because I work full-time I always volunteer at weekends and it can be quite sporadic - especially if I have book project on or am busy with my artwork - weekends are the only free time I have. I also got a badge after 5 years - a swift - below.

I will now be very proud to wear my 2 badges the next time I volunteer - which I hope is soon - I enjoy it very much and am glad to be able to make a contribution in this way for lovely birds & wildlife :-)

Blackbird Rubber Stamp

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 18:51:00 +0000

I originally made a Blackbird Rubber Stamp in 2010. It was the first stamp I ever made. It was carved in very soft rubber and is getting a bit 'tired' so I decided to redo it. I was a little apprehensive - it was very small - about 2cm wide - and I wasn't sure if I had beginners luck in getting right first time. I used Speedball Speedy-Carve this time - the original stamp was made with a Molin eraser which as I said was quite soft.

I got so engrossed in carving it I forgot to take photos as I went along but I always stamp as I go and number the stamps so you can see in the above image - (1) was where I had just cut the outline. In the other images you can see where I have gradually cut away the stamp. Below is the final stamp numbered 60! I also make notes of the adjustments I have made e.g. refining the beak (noted below) and also cleaning the stamp. I can't remember where I found the tip but you don't need expensive cleaners (for sale in places like Hobbycraft) - baby wipes work really well and you can get them for £1 in guess where? Poundland :-)

Bellow is the original stamp and the new stamp. You might also notice that I stamp the date in my notebook also. I finished the stamp in January but decided on a few more tweaks before I was 100% happy with it.

I liked it so much I decided to use it as my logo with typewriter text (of course) for angelacallanan.com. You may also notice that I have it as my Favicon on Blogger too.

Offering - Artists Book, In Remembrance of Bombing - Al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 20:06:00 +0000

Offering - Front of Book

Another post I have wanted to do for a long time. Coming up to the anniversary of this event I've finally got round to doing it. Below is the description of the project taken from UWE Website.

"Twenty six people from the USA and the UK were asked to make personal contributions to this artist's book, organised by Angie Butler and Natalie McGrorty. Each artist involved in the collaboration was supplied with the name of an individual who was killed in the 2007 car bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street, Baghdad, to whom their work would be dedicated. These names were provided by an Iraqi refugee, Mousa Al-Naseri, who was working at the time of the bombing as a sales representative for a large stationery company in Baghdad. Mousa walked Al-Mutanabbi Street several times a week taking orders from bookstores and stationery shops. He came to know many of those on this list personally. His brother, who still has a stationery shop on Al-Mutanabbi Street, also helped to compile the list. The majority of those killed were married, with children. Others who were killed and wounded but not on the list, were most likely to have been there, picking up a book."

I was asked by the lovely Angie Butler to take part. Each artist had to make a print with image of a flower and then take a picture of them holding their print. I finally got round to buying the book last year from Blurb. It must have sold out because I can't see it for sale on there anymore. It is a beautiful book but very hard to photograph! I tried to photograph the whole book but because of the glossiness of the paper only managed to get a few decent photos which I have shown here.

There is not much more I can say about this - I hope the images below speak for themselves.

Offering - Back of Book

Engineer 28 Years Old

Printing Designer 36 Years Old

Worked at Al Nahdha Bookstore

Worked at Al Ribat Bookstore, 43 Years Old

Worked at Al Arabi Printing House, 49 Years Old

Printer Higher Institute, 23 Years Old

Copper Plate Etching, Twinkle, twinkle Little Bat!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 23:11:00 +0000

I have wanted to do a bat image for some time now. I have always loved bats and finally got round to joining the Bat Conservation Trust in 2014. I did in an evening class in Cardiff Print Workshop in September 2015 so decided to make a copper plate etching of a bat. I wanted to use some text to go with it and for a while could not think of anything. Then I remembered one of my favourite bits from Alice In Wonderland when the Mad Hatter sings "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!".

I didn't have the confidence to draw directly on to the plate so put the image on tracing paper and then transfered to the plate by going over the lines with pencil - similar to the process I use with rubber stamps.

Bat Drawing on Tracing Paper

Image Transferred to Plate


Stop-out scratched off Plate - ready for etching

As with the rubber stamps I typed the text on a typewriter and then scanned it and enlarged it. It was easier than I thought to draw it/scratch out the stop-out on the plate.The plate is then etched with ferric chloride and you can see the result below.

Plate Etched

First Print from plate

Final Print

The final print is not as I imagined and unfortuantley the text was lost in the process. I messed up the plate a bit but, it wasn't a total loss, thanks to the guidance of Bill Chambers the tutor who helped me 'rescue' it :-) I still like it though, the bat coming out of the darkness.

After completing the image I wanted to try it on a rubber stamp to see the results - and I did. I will post pictures and the process soon :-)

Also if you want to try your hand at printing either as a total beginner or you want to try a new process like I did there are several courses at Cardiff Print Workshop I thoroughly enjoyed mine :-)

Cardiff Gulls, Night Roost

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 Jan 2016 20:25:00 +0000

Every evening I see the gulls flying down the Taff. I've been wondering for years where they go to sleep at night - I have heard it is usually a large body of water - well I finally found out. They have a large roost in Cardiff Bay. It was lovely to see them all here grouped together. As expected there were plenty petty squabbles and jostling for the best place :-) I have seen gulls at this location before, but this was the largest gathering. It was a particularly cold January evening but they never seem bothered by the cold or the rain. Hard as nails :-)

Making Friends With Your Adana Press, UWE Bristol, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 13:38:00 +0000

Jeremy Dixon, Hazard Press - First Print from Adana Press

I have been meaning to do this follow up post for a while. I just wanted to show a few photos of some of the work that was made on the Making Friends With Your Adana Press course at CFPR, UWE Bristol. Just waiting for them to post the courses that they will be running next year so I can choose which one to do :-)

Above and below is the work of Jeremy Dixon and also below is Lucy Guenot and Mavina Baker. I have included links to ther lovely websites/blogs so you can check out all their beautiful work :-) Just click on their names above.

Jeremy Dixon, Hazard Press

Lucy Guenot

Mavina Baker

Making Friends With Your Adana Press, UWE Bristol

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 22:25:00 +0000

I attended Making Friends With Your Adana Press at the CFPR, UWE Bristol on the 2nd & 3rd of July. I do not own an Adana Press but have been toying with the idea. All of the other participants brought their lovely Adana's with them. I suppose even if I did have one I couldn't have brought it because I came on the train! The course was led by the Lovely Angie Butler and her husband Si - and there was a lovely Adana there ready for me to use (above).

We covered:

Day One: Parts, Maintenance, Lock-Up and Printing: Angie & Si Butler
Press Anatomy
Set Up and Press Care
Locking up
Printing with Type and Blocks
Day Two: Printing, Techniques and Trouble-shooting : Angie Butler
Printing with plates and Lino
Substrates
Inking
Registration

I've put the full set of photos here on Flickr. We started off looking at different parts of the press and had a run through of general maintenance. I'm sure Angie and Si found it very gratifying with all the ooohs! and aaahs! as those who owned Adana presses found out names of parts and oiling points that they didn't even realise existed. I was fascinated and I don't even own one!

I am not sure why but I was particularly fascinated with the counter mechanism that some of the presses had. It was just such a simple design but obviously a really handy addition to the press.

Hearing about the history of the Adana press was also really enjoyable. I didn't realise how widely the were used by organisations like Schools, Church Halls and small businesses. I suppose it makes perfect sense - a cheap way for them to print leaflets, business cards, stationery etc. rather than pay a print company.

We were shown a selection of work produced on the Adana.

It wasn't until I came to print myself that I really appreciated the skill and patience it took to make this print on the box of matches!

On Day 2 we got to print and I chose a line from an E.E. Cummings poem. Before I even started composing the text Angie guessed right "something about birds" :-) I chose grey card and a lovely grey ink. I thought I'd written the colour of the ink down somewhere but I can't find it now. The typeface is Univers Medium 24.

I was pleased with my prints and really enjoyed using the Adana. Am I going to buy one? I'd love to but at the moment I don't have the room. Yes they are small but I have 6 typewriters (!) and it is not just the press its all the paraphernalia that goes with it - type trays etc.

At the end of the course along with our certificates we were presented with a Printcraft Magazine each. Mine is from March 1955. I just love reading these old magazines. In this one I particularly enjoyed the letters page - the story of the shy printer from Birmingham who proposed by composing a card on his Adana.

Angie and Si were great tutors and perfectly complimented each other in their individual areas of knowledge about the press and letterpress printing. Also - a really lovely bunch of people on the course and a presentation of lovely letterpress work from the very talented Mog Fry I think I've already droned on long enough and I hate long rambling blog posts - so I am going to have to leave it here and do a separate blog post about Mog and the work produced by other people on the course :-)

But! Before I go - if you haven't tried one yet I would throroughly recommend the CPD Courses at the CFPR Bristol. I should know I've been doing them since 2006 :-) and there's the running joke that they are running out of courses for me to do. Apart from learning a new skill its lovely to meet other artists, share ideas and tips and find new ways of working. Then there's the really great facilites at UWE and of course the very knowledgeable and helfpful tutors. Its also great, if like me your day job is not connected to art (I work in IT Support) - its a really good way to keep connected and keep me sane :-)

There's No Such Thing As Seagulls, Work In Progress & Finished Book - Personal Histories Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 19:15:00 +0000

This book was made for the Personal Histories Exhibition. It was not the book I first intended to make - I was going to use the Twinkle Story - however, I just could not make this book work. I wanted it to have a glossy cover but could not get any paper that satisfied all my requirements i.e. the look and the feel, printed well, and could withstand a bit of man handling (!) when gluing and using the bone folder. I was disappointed, I thought I wouldn't be able to take part, but one morning (lying in bed!) the idea for a new book came to me - it came from this blog post about one of my typewriter ramblings.

Initially I didn't think the book would be suitable for the Personal Histories project, but then when I started to think about (really hard 'til it hurt!) I realised it was actually perfect. As I made the book and started to type up the Read Me that goes into the back pocket I realised how much it was a part of my personal history, much more than I had ever realised before.

Another thing that happened, was that everything seemed to come together really quickly. I already had all the paper and card (for the cover) - left overs from other projects. The 2 stamps for the images I used were from 2 other books I had made. That is not to say it was a really easy to make - there were the usual hiccups along the way, failed experiments and my printer breaking down.

All Covers & Signatures Cut

This is probably the simplest book I have ever made in terms of construction - not a hardcover, no gluing or cutting book board. The most difficult thing was all the typing. The typed text in the book pages was easy. I've come up with my own technique for alignment and measurement on the typewriter and there wasn't a lot of text. However! I decided to be put a short 'Read Me' at the back in pocket - it was half an A4's worth of typing. My original intention was to type it once get a good copy - scan this in and then print 10 copies (the book is an edition of 10). My printer had other ideas....so I ended up typing all 10.

When I started I thought there is no way I can type this 10 times - I'd done a few practice runs - but in the end I managed it. I made mistakes but I learned ways to amend them. My RSA I typing training started to come back to me. I learned to touch type in South Bristol College in the early 90's on an electronic IBM and got a distinction in my exam! I remember buying my little typing kit from WH Smith with the special pencil eraser and brush etc. Its weird to think now that stationery shops sold stuff like that. I remember part of the training was correcting your mistakes and the tricks and techniques came back to me, I had totally forgotten about this even though I still have my certificate! Unfortunately the only photo I have of all 10 copies typed up is this awful one below. My hands were probably trembling after all the typing!

So not only did the book tell the story of part of my personal history - the making of it resurrected another part that I had forgotten about. I began to think about my long relationship with typewriters. The first typewriter I used was a very old Underwood (looking at photos it was probably a 1930s one). My mother found some of my old typewriter ramblings when she was doing a clear-out at home and posted them to me. Looking back on it I was about 12 when I started playing with the typewriter. I also forgot how much concentration it takes when you are using a manual typewriter - it was quite exhausting!

You may also notice my lovely grey felt typewriter pad in the photo above. Very good for muffling some of the loud tapetty tap tap that drives my boyfriend nuts! I got it from My Typewriter It was expensive but I looked all over and this seemed the thickest and best quality. It fits all my manual typewriters (5 in total now!).

It wasn't until I got right to the end of the book and had nearly finished that I realised that if it was not for the events described in the story I might not even be making books today. Then I felt a bit stupid in totally overlooking this and not realising it was such a big part of my personal history. The 'Read Me' explanation is similar to the blog post but slightly amended, with some other thoughts. If you've got good eyesight you may be able to read it from the photo below.

I can't fully remember how I first started to use typewriter text for my rubber stamps but I seem to remember it has a lot to with font snobbery! Why else would I torture myself with choosing a really difficult serif font to carve instead of nice plain Verdana or Tahoma. I carved the text for the cover using the same method I had used for Nest Building Perils & Pleasures - all the text in that book was carved by hand (I must have been mad).

I am really happy with the way the cover text looks and it printed beautifully with a Memento Grey Flannel ink pad.

I used a 5-hole pamphlet stitch to sew it and decided to round the corners. I used an X-Cut 5mm corner punch for this. It did a good job on the thick 250gsm Somerset paper for the signatures and the Daler Rowney Canford Card (Dreadnought Grey) for the cover.

I am quite happy with the end result and it has been posted to the lovely Robyn Foster who is coordinating this exhibition. I would like to take this opportunity to also say thanks to Robyn for all her hard work and patience organising this. Sounds like a nightmare of a task!

You can see all the Work In Progress and Completed Book here.

Robin, Rubber Stamp Print

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 16:59:00 +0000

I've been thinking about making a Robin print for a long time and had a few requests for one. After a visit to the Eden Project in Cornwall I was inspired again to make one and more importantly finally got round to doing it.

The first time I visited the Eden Project I thought the bird song was a recording, but then found out that the cheeky little Robins had taken up residence in the bio-domes.

Again strange things started happening when I was photographing the print outside - there was a robin in a tree above me. Something similar happened when I photographed my Goldfinch print. I wonder how they know? ;-)

Here are some photos of the stamp in progress. I did a drawing from a photograph I took at my parents house in Ireland. I did some tests with my inkpads to make sure I had the right colours. I ordered 3 different inkpads trying to get the rust/orange colour right and finally ended up using one I already had - Memento Tangelo - but stamping it twice to get the depth of colour.

Original Drawing and Photograh

First Cut - outline

Almost finished - Experimenting with colouring pencils

Nearly there - testing inkpad colours

Pressure Printing, UWE, Bristol

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 19:01:00 +0000

This post is long overdue! I did this course in July of this year, I posted the photos on Flickr and never got round to writing about it.

Here is a description from the UWE Website:

"Stratography or Pressure Printing is an innovative and experimental technique that uses a flexible plate attached to the cylinder of the press underneath the printing paper and is run through the press over an inked block. The pressure from the low-relief collage displaces the ink and produces beautiful, delicate, soft-edged qualities, not usually associated with relief printing techniques."

The course was led by the Lovely Angie Butler seen in the above photo poised at the wonderful Vandercook Press. On the press is MDF with a piece of clear acrylic on top - this will be inked up.

1. So first we inked the rollers.

2. Rollers inked up.

3. Then turn the handle to ink the block underneath.

4. Block inked up - the block is Type High.

5. Sheet of Acetate placed over the rollers of the press and inked up for registration.

6. Acetate Inked up

7. Registration

8. Registration marks on plate.

In this case the plate is a piece of paper with some paper cut up to make a pattern. It looks really basic but the result is beautiful.

9. Putting the plate directly on to the rollers - using acetate for registration.

So the plate is placed directly on the rollers. The paper is then placed on top of this - rolled over the ink block - picks up the ink from the block underneath and takes the impression from the plate.

If you look at picture 5 where the acetate is put on - the paper is placed in the same position - under the metal clips - and then you roll the press.

Finished Print

So here is my plate - surprise, surprise its a feather :-)

We weren't too sure how this would turn out because it had not been tried before. I attached it to the acetate with PVA which was little tricky.

Very pleased with the result. Angie was very surprised at the fine detail picked up by the feather. As always it was a really enjoyable course at UWE, great tutor with a lot of patience, extremely knowledgeable and excellent facilities. I would thoroughly recommend it.

One thing I really like about the process is - for every print you take the ink gets more and more faded. At the end you are left with an impression on the block of your image.

You can then remove the plate and take a print from the block alone which gives a lovely subtle affect - below.

2015 courses have not been all published yet but I suppose I will be back again like a bad penny. I've been going there since 2006 and have managed to do a course almost every year. There is a running joke that they've run out of courses for me to do ;-)

Goldfinch, Rubber Stamp Print

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 17:22:00 +0000

I've been making a new print. This one was in my head for a while. It was quite difficult to do, starting with an original drawing and trying to figure out how it will be cut and how I will print it.

Here is the rubber stamp ready to be cut.

And then finally cut and test print.

I've also printed it on to a Moleskine.

When I was photographing the print in the tree I could hear a Goldfinch singing away behind me. I haven't seen them on my feeder yet, but I hope the come soon.

Roni Gross, I See You Everywhere, Arnolfini, Bristol

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Feb 2014 20:06:00 +0000

Went to see this exhibition (curated by Nancy Campbell) today at the Arnolfini in Bristol with the Lovely Angie Butler

"I See You Everywhere showcases 25 years of Valentines published by the Artist Roni Gross under the imprint of Zitouna Press. These limited editions consider love and human relationships as they are articulated across society, from song lyrics to sign language, from hunting to horticulture........Gross made her first printied multiple celebrating Valentine's Day in 1989 and since then has used the annual festival to challenge the predicatble graphics and social constructs surrounding romance...."

Myself and Ms Butler had not met up for almost a year so it was nice to have a catch up and combine it with this exhibition. Beautiful letterpress work and gorgeous books. Angie (being the expert!) was able to explain some of the techniques used.

The exhibition runs until Sunday 2nd March. If you don't manage to catch it there will be a companion exhibition with works created for Halloween They Cast No Shadows (love the title) at the Centre for Fine Print Research (Bristol) in October. If you're a letterpress geek don't miss it!

Crow Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 17:14:00 +0000

These are the crows I feed in the park. This pair are usually waiting for me and they make a racket in the trees when they see me walk past! I know its the same pair because the one on the right has 2 white tail feathers. Ocasionally another crow tries to muscle in but they chase it off. I feed them meal worm which is nice and light to carry in my handbag :-) They fly down immediately after I put the food down and are getting cheekier all the time. One day after I fed them they flew after me and made a racket so I gave them a second helping.

I remember reading an article in the RSPB Membership magazine and it said that if you see two crows together they are usually a lifelong pair, if you see three its probably parents and their offspring (you usually notice that one of the crows is smaller and scruffier looking), more than three - are the crows who have not found a mate yet, non-breeding crows. So these two must be a lifelong pair. I've noticed that they also take turns in acting as a look-out while one feeds.

Hope is the thing with feathers...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 10:17:00 +0000

Just when I think I've read all the most beautiful Emily Dickinson poems I discover a new one. A nice wish for the New Year. This is also makes me think about living life simply. Technology provides us with great tools and ever increasing ways of communicating but it doesn't always simplify things. Maybe its my age (!) but I am increasingly finding joy in the most basic things. Walking to work taking photos of the clouds or feeding the crows in the park. It makes me so happy and sets me up for the day. I feel like I want to slow down and not feel like I'm running around chasing my own tail - sounds like its definitely my age!

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

When I Am An Old Lady - Work In Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:26:00 +0000

I suppose I have posted in the wrong order. I have shown the completed book before the Work In Progress. I just wanted to a little of my stamping process.

All the signatures for the book were done on my typwriter first. Lots of fun - typying 15 books by hand :-) I then did the stamping. The top image is the typed signature ready to stamp.

For the old lady stamp the main image outline is done in grey - below. I had a separate stamp to do her jumper and I stamped this in grey also.

Then I had another separate stamp to do the blue rinse for her hair.

The blue ink I was using was too strong. So I inked the stamp first and stamped on a scrap piece of paper and then stamped the image. This gave the more faded blue I was looking for. If you look at the top image you can see where I have stamped the hair (right hand side of the image).

As you can see it is all very low tech. Just 2 rulers to line up the paper, but I like the simplicity of this print process.

With some stamps I thought it might be easier to do the main stamp and hand colour the other bits, but although its a bit fiddly to cut a separate stamp e.g. for the hair - it is much quicker just to stamp the hair than to faff around with a brush :-)

When I Am An Old Lady

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:54:00 +0000

Here are some photos of latest book When I Am An Old Lady made for Book Art Object. All the text was done on my Typewriter - not easy - there were plenty of screechy bits! All images are hand stamped.

The idea for this book came from things I said I was going to do when I am an old lady - starting with - When I am an old lady I will have a blue rinse and a 1950's Hairdo like the Queen...and the rest just followed from there.

I hand stamped the cover also. The first time I've managed to do this sucessfully. I made a slip cover and matching endpapers with a feather image. The feather image was created by putting a pile of found feathers on my scanner and scanning them at a high resolution.

I would never have chosen these light colours (book cloth and endpapers) but I was on a bookbinding course at UWE last year and used a similar colour book cloth and really liked it. I also thought that this was good 'old lady' palette ;-)

Book in Slip Cover

Hand Stamped Cover

Herring Gull, Cardiff

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 11:54:00 +0000

Herring Gull, Cardiff, originally uploaded by whelkmagic.

There's No Such Thing As Seagulls

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 10:31:00 +0000

Herring Gull, Tenby

I wrote this in April (typed on my Silverette Silver-Reed Typewriter) and I suppose I should explain it and confess (!) I used to hate seagulls, the just seemed to be everywhere making a racket all the time. In my previous flat they used to wake me at 6am most mornings. When I used to go to the park there were loads of them everywhere. What are gulls doing in the park? Why aren't they by the sea?

Then I moved to another flat and for the last 8 years Lesser Black-Backed Gulls have nested on our roof. We have had various 'adventures' with chicks falling out of the nest, but the most memorable one was in 2005 when a chick fell down and the parents abandoned it. I rang a local bird rescue centre and the lady said she was inundated with gull chicks, she asked if I she gave me instructions was I willing to look after it? I did and we named the chick Jasper. It is hard to talk about Jasper without sounding over sentimental and over the top. Suffice it to say that the little gull chick had a profound effect on me and changed my life in many ways.

They say you have to be careful that you don't 'imprint' on wild animals when you care for them. Jasper did get very fond of me and used to follow me around the garden - the lady at the rescue centre advised me to shoo him away but I could never bring myself to do it. I am not sure if I imprinted on Jasper, I think it is more likely that he imprinted on me and left traces of his little webbed feet all over my heart (warned you about the sentimentality!)

I started to read about gulls and discovered why they seemed to be everywhere in Cardiff. The first thing I discovered was they are here because of us - meaning because of they we dispose of our rubbish. It all started in the UK with the Clean Air Act of 1956 and the use of landfill to dispose of waste. I also discovered that although they seem to be everywhere their numbers are actually in decline. The Herring Gull is Red on the RSPBs Conservation Importance List and the Lesser Black-Backed Gull is Amber. There is not much left for them out at sea but there is plenty landfill and rubbish on the streets inland. They are intelligent, opportunistic scavengers and they are trying to survive.

And finally I discovered that there is no such thing as seagulls. What is a seagull? There are 11 species of gull listed on the RSPB Website which one of these is a seagull? The answer is none of them. It is a pity that gulls are not as 'glamourous' as birds of prey or cute and fluffy. Maybe I am mistaken but there doesn't seem to be any real concern about their decline, at least there's no obvious campaign to make people aware that this UK Bird species has Red List conservation status. They say there is nothing worse than a reformed smoker I wonder if the same is true of a reformed gull hater? ;-)

Jasper Having A Bath

Brain Soap, Work In Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:39:00 +0000

I am currently working on about 4 books (!) One of them is called Brain Soap. This is the first image I have been working on. I experimented with stamping/embossing the text on to several bars of soap - not easy! And this is the final result. This book explores ideas that have been floating around my head about mental wounds/hurts expressed as the physical and also how you could 'heal' mental scars by physical means. This is expressed as a series of wishes - one of them being how I wished I had some brain soap to wash all the gunk off my brain. I was just thinking how wonderful it could be if you clean all the accumulated crud off your brain and clear your head. I am not sure how I feel about this image at the moment. I have spoken before about having an exact image in your head and getting it to come out exactly as you imagined - here. This image is not as I imagined. I think I've looked at so much I can't see it anymore.

Lovely Letterpress, UWE, Bristol

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 17:11:00 +0000

Clarendon 18pt

This post is a little overdue. I did this course last year, it got lost in my drafts somehow. This was a one week course at UWE Bristol led by Tom Sowden and the Lovely Angie Butler. Thoroughly enjoyable and I was able to make some work with ideas that had been floating around my head. Specifically a line from an Emily Dickinson poem "the absence of the witch does not invalidate the spell". Tom & Angie were excellent tutors and very knowledgable. For example when I had this weird grey line coming out on prints from the Vandercook press Tom was able to tell me this was from my Claddagh Ring! As I held the paper and rolled the press it was making the mark. Unfortunately I haven't been able to do any letterpress since, I am tempted to get an Adana but have absolutely no room in my teeny abode - one day :-)

Wooden Type

Wooden Type on the press

Finished print - spot the mistake!

Cheltenham Bold Metal Type, Vandercook Press

Finished Print

Flexoplate

Finished Print. Recognise the image?