It's cold!

Very cold - but we haven't had any snow, unlike everywhere else it seems!

Not much printmaking or letterpress news today I'm afraid, we've both been busy working and writing and haven't had much spare time on our hands. Today Jon has been out and about in the cold in Coggeshall and I've been trying to think of something pithy to write about the state of garden history. Here is the view from our office window, which I have been gazing out for a large part of the afternoon -


And here is another place I've been doing lots of staring out of windows in recent weeks, mostly planning letterpressed Christmas cards and various prints - I am determined to work on one of our projects this weekend!

Finished cards

We have finally finished printing the linocut Christmas cards we started a couple of weeks ago. We printed each one in red, green and gold, and it made us feel very Christmassy...

Especially when I dug out the Christmas tree lights to take some photos! I managed to resist the temptation to dig out the Christmas mugs and tea towels - its a bit early for that yet...

We've decided to letterpress some more Christmas cards using some of our teeny tiny holly blocks - that will be this weeks project, as well as pressing on with my flying ducks (which have been sitting on a shelf feeling lonely for a couple of weeks - I'm determined to finish them this month though!). Sets of Christmas cards are available on Folksy, Etsy and Dawanda now!

This afternoon we're going to make Chelsea buns and plant some last minute bulbs in the garden - we'll have to sweep up all the leaves first though!

Note!

We love this little vintage block - it's got a few little chunks missing but I think that adds to its charm once printed. I especially like the 'E' (and her little hat).

A short post today because I'm busy printing Christmas cards. The green is almost dry, so I had better make a start on the red - photos to come!

New things!

Today has been a lovely, sunny autumnal day, so we have been busy making bread and kicking leaves around in the sunshine.

New exciting thing number one -

A gorgeous new resin and silver ring from Quercus Silver, which arrived this morning and is just perfect! You can see it being made here, and here.

New exciting thing number two -

A new press!! Made by the Model Printing Press Company, this is a Model 2... It hasn't arrived at Spoonergregory Acres yet - but we are looking forward to giving it a loving home! Hurrah!


Today we listed notebooks and flower brooches on Etsy and Folksy - new letterpressed notecards are going on tomorrow, and I shall be printing Christmas cards in earnest...

Joyeux Noel

Today has been wet, grey and cold - a good excuse to stay indoors and do some carving. We meant to start making Christmas cards much earlier this year, but as usual various things caught up with us and we've only just started!

This year we are having simple square cards with handcut lettering, done on lino. Here is a proof of the first one, 'Joyeux Noel' -

This one is done in gold ink - we've only ever printed tiny areas with it before, and I wanted to check how it looks over a bigger surface area, and it looks great (although better in person than on the computer screen...).

I've got two more blocks to carve before I start printing the cards - I would have like to finish the carving today but I managed to gouge my finger instead of the lino, so I shall be forced to spend the rest of the afternoon curled up with a book and a cup of tea instead. Never mind - remember, always cut away from you!

Our second ever blog post in December 2006 was about printing Christmas cards - at least we've got a bit further ahead this year!