An Adana 3x5!

It will still be a while before I get the Adana 5x8 I ordered a few weeks back. Refurbishing takes time. And while impatiently waiting for it, I did something I promised myself that I wouldn’t: I impulse bought one on Ebay! And a 3x5 to boot!! I had already decided that it would be too small to be very useful, and that I was going to spend my hard earned cash wisely on essentials only! Right. Redeeming factors are that it was very reasonable, and the very nice seller was kind enough to include a full starter kit for me.

Today it arrived, and I have to say it is lovely to finally have a press, even if it is a Mini! It looks to be in good condition, and it came with all kinds of great extras.

I had to give it a quick test run, just to see if I still remembered anything from the workshop. And I remember some, but certainly not all of it. Hopefully it will all come back to me as I continue working with it. It generally seems to be very similar to the 5x8 Adana, with a few minor differences. For instance there is no typeman padding bale, and the chase is held in place inside the bearer chase by screws.

The rollers moved very awkwardly over the chase, roller bearers and bearer chase, and it took me a while to realize that I am missing roller runners. In the mean time I had covered everything in ink, but luckily I did not ruin the rollers, and all the ink can be cleaned off. I have now ordered roller runners, and don’t think I will risk using the rollers any more until I get them. And then I guess there will be a lot of tinkering and tweaking until I, hopefully,  get a good, even impression. But at least I’m on my way! Hurra!!

Summer market

It is time for another market at the pottery studio this weekend. As usual I have not had time to make much, but my fellow 'workshoppers' have been producing non-stop for the last cople of months, so there should be a lot of ceramics up for grabs. And of course there will be cake! So if you are in the area, you are hereby invited to stop by and say hello.

Update: The weather was not the best, but we still had a fun weekend. Lots of people stopped by. And I sold most of my nerikomi pieces, hurra!.

Porcelain jewlery

Some of the finished jewlery. The clouds became brooches, the rest became  rings.

Volcanic glaze?

I have made some more porcelain clouds, which I thought I might try and make into brooches for the up-coming market. I gave them a coating of one of my favourite glazes, which gives a lot of colour variation depending on glaze thickness, ranging from acidic yellow to turquoise. This time they came out of the oven with more variations than I had bargained for though – they were all bubbly! Have not figured out why yet… I have used the same porcelain clay and temperature before, without this happening. Quite the conundrum. Anyway, this is one of the joys of working with ceramics; you never can tell exactly what you are going to end up with. They remind me a little of the Islandic volcanic ash plumes we have seen lately. So maybe that is what they are: Volcanic ash clouds?

Paper goods love

The current theme at poppytalkhandmade is "A paper goods and stationary market". They have picked some really lovely examples of quality handmade goods from small vendors, and it runs until June 4th. Well worth a browse if you love all things paper and print related.

A small sneak peak

Woha... I have finally ordered my first press, an Adana 5x8! It will be at least a month before I get it, as it has to be refurbished first. And right now that feels like a veeery long time. But while I wait I can always feed some of my letterpress craving by watching this little video by Middle Path Productions.

Operating a Kelsey 5x8 Press from Middle Path Productions on Vimeo.

Porcelain gems

I have been wanting to do smaller pieces in porcelain, like jewelery, and this is the first batch of 'gems' fresh from the oven. Not sure what I think of them yet... will have to see if I can make something out of them. But an awful lot of fun to make!!

Tadpoles.....almost

I came across these little guys today, floating around, waiting to become tadpoles. I have always loved watching tadpoles evolve in spring, from clouds of round eggs clinging together, to finished frog leaping out of the pond. All in the span of a hectic few weeks.

New line

The days are getting longer and brighter, and it makes me want to make chrisper and cleaner things. I made a couple of these hand-pinched porcelain bowls last week, and now they have navy blue stripes on them. Might add them to my Epla shop, which has been slightly neglected lately.

Printers blocks: Something fishy

While still buzzing from the Letterpress workshop I thought I might show you some of the old letterpress printers blocks I have gathered over the years. This one is one of my absolute favorites. I do love fish, and who could resist this ugly mug? Actually, this is more what we in Norwegian would call 'styggpen', which I guess would translate to ugly-pretty. Which basically means that it is ugly enough to be charming and unique.. underdog pretty. But I also love all the intricate detail and the fact that it seems to have been used a lot. At the moment this is just sitting in a drawer, and it would feel very satisfying to use it for printing again.

I also have a small sole, which would also be great to get out of retirement.

Letterpress Workshop

Yesterday I had the best day! I took a one-day letterpress workshop at Harrington & Squires - a printshop in North London run by two fabulous ladies, Chrissie and Vicky. The fact that they were in London, using Adanas, sold me on the workshop initially. The fact that they were super sweet, fun, generous and knowledgeable,  making stuff that I love, in the most charming premises ever was a lovely bonus! Even lunch was outstanding! I am still kicking myself for forgetting to bring my camera!! We spent the day going through all the basics - presses, general equipment, design, setting type, paper. Basically everything you need to know to get started. 

I made my own very first letterpress cards, wich came out pretty good....for a first attempt. Now, on my way home, my head it just throbbing with ideas and possibilities. So much information that I'm hoping not to forget. Can't wait to get going on my own press! Thank you so much, ladies!!

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....