Chatsworth

It seems like ages ago that we had a fun day out at Chatsworth when we went on holiday to Derbyshire, and ever since Jon has been planning this wood engraving.

And now it's finished!

Here's the nearly finished block, with just the sky left to do -


And the finished block all ready to print -


Here it is all inked up and ready to go!


Prints are available in our Etsy and Folksy shops now.

We have had a busy few days of printing and an exciting London trip - I spent quite a lot of money in here (photos of purchases to follow....)

Wool

Its been so dark and wet here today that I've been tempted to dig some of our winter woollies out of storage! Whilst we wait for the weather to improve I've been cutting some lino blocks for a new business card commission.


The cards will have a grey and pink ball of wool wrapping itself around the text. I've carved the two blocks (one for a pink layer, and one for the grey outline), and hopefully we'll get a few proof prints done this evening before embarking on a mammoth printing spree this weekend...

British Patent Number 388934

This little gadget is screwed onto the corner of a bookshelf in our study - the Fermafix Paper Binder!

Sheets of paper are fed between two notched wheels, turned by a long handle, which crimp the sheets together. The interlocking notches on the wheels work a bit like a zip to hold the pages together. Very useful for binding my endless lists together.

The patent number was registered in 1933, but as yet we haven't been able to find much out about it.

Yesterday was Jon's graduation at UEA - here he is looking dandy in his robes and bonnet (designed by Cecil Beaton, no less).

Next week we'll be starting on some new prints - hooray!

Munro Cautley (and some other new things)

Many apologies for almost a month long blog absence! Where do the weeks go? Life at SpoonerGregory Acres has been extremely busy for the past few weeks, but hopefully we can start to relax again now and post more regularly!

Since we last posted we've acquired a big, cool new block to add to the collection (thanks again Alan!). This one is for the cover of a book (well known in these parts) - Norfolk Churches by Munro Cautley, originally published in 1949 with a watercolour by Albert Ribbans on the front cover.
Cautley was also an architect, and there's a Flickr group devoted to his work.

Here's a print taken from the block -

The church is St Peter's in Ringland, not far from Norwich, so of course we had to go on an expedition (complete with the block in our rucksack....)

The tree in Ribban's watercolour has gone, but here's the church from almost the same place.

You can find out more about the church on Simon Knott's Norfolk Churches website, always our first port of call for Norfolk church related things.

Now we just have to get our hands on a copy of the book!

In other news...

I have finally finished sewing together the pile of little notebooks that I started a while ago. Sets of five notebooks are listed in our Folksy shop at the moment.

Our Folksy shop was in serious need of restocking, and this afternoon is the first chance I've had to sit down with a cup of tea and do it, although there's still more to list.

Jon is busy working on a new engraving, which should be finished by the weekend.

And finally - on my way to the Post Office with some orders this morning I couldn't help but notice this dandy Hornsea storage jar in the local charity shop, so naturally it came home with me and is adjusting to life on our mantlepiece rather than at the back of a dusty shelf.

Poppies and castles

On Sunday it was another sunny, hot day so we headed off early in the morning for a walk and then a picnic at Baconsthorpe Castle, near Holt in Norfolk. It was built in the 15th century, and was more like a country house than a castle, and the ruins are a lovely spot for an afternoon in the sunshine. We spread out our picnic blanket next to the moat and watched the ducklings gliding around.

Even though it was a glorious Sunday afternoon, there were only a couple of other people there, and we didn't see a soul on the five mile walk we did beforehand - where does everyone in Norfolk go when it's sunny? To the seaside I suppose!

Jon has printed his new engraving of a poppy head - it's on thick, Somerset paper, which was lovely to print on.

Theres one in the Folksy shop now.

We both have ideas for new prints to start this week - the inevitable water tower for me, and another engraving for Jon...

Wheels, windmills and water towers

Today we had a fun day out for the first time in ages! After several weekends cooped up doing Open Studios (great fun, but housebound), it was lovely to be out in the countryside, especially on such a nice day.

We started at Bircham Mill - a mid nineteenth century windmill in north west Norfolk, scene of many a childhood cream tea for me and Jon's first visit.

We climbed all the way to the fan at the very top!

It was definitely worth the climb up the steep ladders, and unlike previous visits I didn't have to be talked down in tears by my Dad (I am not brave with heights, but Jon was bouncing up and down the ladders).

Then it was off for a 10 mile cycle along a section of the Peddars Way, a Roman road that runs all the way up through this part of Norfolk towards Holme-next-the-Sea on the coast.

One day we'll get round to doing the whole thing, and camping along the way - but 10 miles was quite enough for one afternoon. We didn't see a soul, just lots of birds and several hares.

After a nice cup of tea and a scone back at the windmill, we headed off for a bit of water tower geekery - stopping to investigate Docking and Foulsham. Expect to see both in printed form soon(ish)...

Docking (in the distance)

Foulsham

In July there's an exhibition on the towers of East Anglia (not just water towers) in Felixstowe organised by the British Water Tower Appreciation Soceity. I wonder just how many there are in Norfolk?

New projects

Last weekend was the final weekend of Norfolk Open Studios - thanks to everyone who came along this weekend. We have really enjoyed the experience, and we've met so many lovely people!

We both started new projects over the weekend. Jon engraved a small block with a close-up of a poppy head in a walled garden -

We are going to print it one evening this week.

I letterpressed lots and lots of little coloured covers with some of our nice vintage blocks for sets of small notebooks. I've been sewing the notebooks together inbetween other jobs - very therapeutic.


This week we've been enjoying cherries and peonies (and these strange pink spiky flowers) from the market in Norwich. The cherries didn't last very long...


Just nudging into the corner of the photo of the flowers is our new little raku pebble by Norwich ceramicist Lucy Edwards. It just fits in the palm of my hand, and is lovely and tactile, and such pretty colours!
Also, thanks to everyone for taking part in our survey. We've had loads of responses, and I'm going to pick the winner of the giveaway later this evening :)