Spring has sprung

Finally!!!

Identifying fonts

I have been collecting wooden type blocks for as long as I can remember. Not with any specific project in mind, I just liked the look and feel, and the history of them. Now it might sound like I have gathered up a huge stash of them over the years, which is very far from the truth. Norway is a small country with a limited printing history, and there has never been a lot of them around. So I have bought the odd block whenever I have happened upon one, and as a result have a small, very mixed bag of type of different fonts and sizes.

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Lately I have been thinking about maybe getting a table-top press, so that I can finally get to use them for what they were intended. And then things like size and font suddenly matters.

There are some great resources online for helping you identify fonts, for instance Identifont and  Linotype, which work in very similar ways. There you can choose what letters to use for identification, and they make you look at typical identifying features, which can be a great way to learn about fonts.  Another online resource is WhatTheFont, where you can upload examples or pictures of your mystery font and it will help you identify it. In general I find that wood type can be a bit tricky to identify. It might be because sites like these are mainly aimed at digital and more modern fonts. And a lot of these old wooden ones might not be completely accurate, or part of what is an 'official' font.

So these might be Franklin Gothic, or Helvetica  ..?

..and these look like they could be Century Schoolbook ..?

Latin Wide?

 ..?

Alphabet rubber stamps

I often use these to write words and sentences in clay, but I like them used just as patterns too.

Some of these espresso cups might find their way into my Epla shop

A fine winters day in my local park.

Not so fine for car owners, maybe....

Nerikomi

I have been making a few nerikomi bowls, using red iron oxide to stain porcelain which was then inlaid into white porcelain. Quite a labor intensive process, but hugely satisfying. I also like the fact that you don’t have to worry about decoration; once you have made the shape they are already fully ‘dressed’.

Great site for all things yarn related

It is winter, and as a Norwegian it is in my genes to start knitting as soon as the temperature drops below 10 deg C. We have a long tradition for producing yarns and patterns, and today I thought I'd give a shout-out to a Norwegian company who has a lovely, and very democratic, webpage: Drops Design. They have thousands of free patterns online, translated into a total of 12 languages, which are frequently updated with new models. The pictures below are from this winters collection. They cover a range of techniques, like knitting, crocheting and felting, from the very simple to the impossibly difficult. In addition to patterns you can also find great tutorials, advice on how to mount and care for your work, pattern help etc. etc. So if you love working with fibre, go check this out!

Printing in clay

One of the things I really really love about clay is how well it takes imprints. It will show off every thread and perfect little stitch when pressing fabric into it.

Sure, sometimes it can drive you absolutely bonkers if you are tryingt to keep things 'clean' and untouched, but most of the time I find it adds character to a piece, rather than ruining it.

Sometimes I discover small surprices. Here I didn't notice my own fingerprints in the fired piece until I looked at the close-up pictures. Something to keep in mind if I ever plan on committing a clay-related crime.... :)

I am on Epla

I now have my very own Epla shop! Epla is a Norwegian version of Etsy, which opened just under a month ago. Not wanting to fill up my already cramped apartment with the ceramics that did not sell at the market, I thought this might be a fun thing to try out. It is also nice to support the brave and obviously talented women who started it. And since I would never be able to compete with shipping prices on ceramics out of Norway on Etsy anyway, I don't feel like I am cheating on an old friend toooo badly.....

My shop name is Plan Bea. Not overly creative, but it has always been a standing joke that if I ever decided to do anything other than geology, it would be my 'Plan Bea'.

Me, a daredevil

Big things have happened here lately. After a few months of careful deliberation and planning I have now quit my job!! Not that I was desperately unhappy in my old one, on the contrary, I enjoyed most aspects of it. But it did seem to take over more and more of my time and my life, and I have been craving a change of pace for some time now. So, I have now taken the plunge and am going back to a line of work that I have done before: offshore geology. Only this time I am starting my own consultancy, to make it a bit more of a challenge to myself. Going independent was never anything I thought would be possible for me, but once the idea was planted I realized it could be both possible and fun! Now that it is a reality, I am feeling both exhilarated and a bit sick to my stomach. But mostly exited. So here goes, fingers crossed!

Christmas Market Invite

If you are in Oslo on the 28-29th of November, you are welcome to stop by and say hello! And if you don't care much for ceramics, there will be cake :)

Cristmas market frenzy

This year the pottery studio is having a stab at arranging a Christmas market in our back yard for the first time. The last couple of months has been a blur of activity, as everyone is trying to have enough christmas related stuff ready in time... at this point I think we all would be quite happy if we never saw a heart, star or an angel ever again. But it has also been great fun to have the same common goal to work towards.

I have been super busy at my day-job too, so have only managed to get a few things ready. But the important thing is to be participating, right?

Lazy Sunday

Today the weather was quite nice, and I spent the day pottering away in my workshop, and strolling around the local markets. They usually have quite a good selection of Norwegian mid-century enamel and crockery, and although usually quite pricy, lovely to look at!

I bought a berry picker (is that what it is called in English?) made from a tin can during the war, and a pillow case with beautiful hand stitching. I have now used this as a print pattern on some stoneware hearts I am making as decorations for my brother’s wedding later this month. Not sure how they will come out yet...will keep you posted.

Backyard trees

The apartment building that I live in was built in 1924, which means that it is 85 years old this year. It has a fairly large closed-in back yard, at least by inner city standards, and this is one of the real perks of living here.

When the building was new, 4 silver birches and 4 rowan trees were planted in the back yard. Over the last few years they have gotten old and frail, and we have had to cut down 6 of them, the last one this summer. This has left the back yard a bit sad and barren, and we have been looking for suitable trees to replace them with. We wanted a mix of larger and smaller ‘hard working’ trees, trees that would be interresting to look at throughout the seasons, that could cope with the Norwegian climate, that would not give too much shade or cause too many problems for hay fever sufferers… the list got longer and longer as we tried to decide. Last year we planted two beautiful ash trees, but were later told by the city that there is an ash ‘plague’ spreading in this area, so no new ash trees should be planted. This meant that we had to remove them again this year, which was sad for us and even sadder for the trees. But, a few weekends ago we got 16 itsy-bitsy apple trees and a Katsura tree (‘japansk hjertetre’ in Norwegian) planted in, and there is more good stuff to come next summer! Hopefully these first ones will survive the winter, prosper and grow fast!

The Katsura tree is a new one to me, and I’ve been checking the internet to find out more about it. The picture below is taken from Wikipedia. Oviously ours is a mere twig still, compared to this mature one.

And this is what the Kew Gardens site said:

"Its flowers are small and subtle despite being closely related to the more obviously flamboyant magnolia and tulip tree. As if to make up for this oversight the leaves of the tree are, if rather small, spectacular throughout the season. Starting out pink in the spring, the heart-shaped leaves turn to bright green in summer before various shades of yellow, orange and red take over for the autumn, often with several colours overlapping. Interestingly the autumn foliage can smell of burnt brown sugar, or candy floss, which adds to its appeal."

This tree sounds great! Can’t wait for the smell of burnt brown sugar to fill the air!

Tour de Belle Ile

Some holiday snaps from beautiful, relaxing Belle Ile. A gem of an island off the coast of Bretagne, France, where I have been bicycling around for a week now in my own low-key version of Tour de France.

Video art

My mate Rune is opening his latest exibhition of video art this Sunday, at Sound of Mu.

The blurb reads: Rune Helgesen is showing video of a tap running a subway some hard-drives an oven fan two football matches a laundrette an aquarium a scool a living room two lamps a battery charger a radio an almost broken washing machine an alarm clock a computer screen a heating pump a halogen lamp a forest and a few clouds a stereo playing jaz someone shopping at a mall an autumn day a football match on tv some rain a highway a brass band practicing for 17th of may and a few other things.


Summs it up perfectly.