Motivation

A lovely package arrived in the post this month wrapped up carefully with this nifty packing tape...


And with lovely extra little things inside...


And once I'd unwrapped all the bubble wrap (and popped it)...


Something to inspire me through the last weeks of writing my thesis...


Visit Rob Ryan's website here, and his Etsy shop here.

The East Anglians

Last weekend we headed over to the Sainsbury Centre to see The East Anglians, an exhibition of photographs by Justin Partyka.

It was excellent - lots of atmostpheric photos of Norfolk and Suffolk. It definitely captured the East Anglia we know and love, which seems less like 'a largely forgotten rural world', and more like normal rural life to us.

If you're in Norwich, then do pop in and see it. The rest of the Sainsbury Centre is very nice too, and they do splendid cake. And there's a nice shop.


This week we've been busy working on a pile of hardback journals using some lovely decorative papers, and some marbled papers.

This navy blue and cream paper is Jon's favourite.

I love this blue and green marbled paper. My little raku jar is from Jude Allman's Folksy shop.

This splodgy marbled paper in mustard, dark red and navy blue is another favourite at the moment.

Journals in these papers and more are now available to order from our Etsy and Folksy shops.

Treasury

It's always nice to find ourselves featured in a treasury on Etsy -


This one features lots of other fabulous Etsy printmakers, so do go and have a look!

Today we're finishing off a little print that Jon has been working on this week, we just need to add some letterpress text...

New Stuff

We've bought a few lovely things from the internets over the past few months (some of which we have finally got round to having framed) to share -

Two lovely bird prints from five in the morning lino -

One linocut of swallows and swirling clouds...

...and one of some weaver birds and their intricate nests.

Mark's Etsy shop is here, and he has his own website too.

We also have a new screen print from The Post Family, which is now hanging in the office next to the camera shelves...

The photo doesn't really do it justice and it is pretty big - 79cm x 70cm.

And this morning the most adorable amigurumi from hannah-chan arrived in the post.

A sweet little star gazing bunny...

...and the most adorable finger puppets ever.

Have a look in hannah-chan's Folksy shop, and her blog - they are so lovely, I want more!

Swallows

Today Jon saw his first swallow of the spring down in Suffolk. I managed to snaffle a treasury on Etsy this afternoon, so I chose some pretty swallow themed items to go in it -


Have a proper look here.

Another treasury!

I managed to snag another Etsy treasury this afternoon... They are so much fun to make!


Click here to have a proper look at lots of lovely prints from members of the Printsy street team!

Ahoy there!

Today, after sitting and staring at the computer screen for rather a long time, I finally managed to bag my first Etsy treasury! Hurrah! So, here is it - all members of Printsy: Printmakers of Etsy street team.

Treasuries are member curated lists of lovely things, and this one is all about prints inspired by the high seas.

Jump aboard the HMS Printsy here...

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!

Pika Package!

A few weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a Pika Package, and this morning it arrived from Pikaland! Full of lovely goodies from designers and illustrators from all over the place - all of which are brilliant! I'm so excited - I never win anything!

I'd thought I'd share a couple of my favourite things....

An original drawing on a page of Goethe by Susan Schwake.


A print by Iris Schwarz.


Another little print - by Nancy Mungcal (pretty little thieves)


And my absolute favourite - a Little Red Riding Hood set by Denise Ann Simon, including a Gocco print (above), bookplates (below), and bookmarks!


I have many other favourites too, naturally, and so does Jon! In the package were some adorable stickers from PhatSheep - I am now coveting the Fair Isle jumper tea towel in their Etsy shop.

Apologies for the slightly dodgy photos - it's wet, grey and miserable here today. Where has the summer gone?

We haven't been idle despite the horrid weather - these three lino blocks are almost ready to start cutting! They'll be turned into a set of identical prints in three different sizes, so they'll work together or individually. There is a lot of clearing to do before printing the first layer, which will keep me going through these wet afternoons!

A new photograph of an old print

This week I have been slowly re-scanning some of our prints and taking some nice new photographs of them to add to our Etsy listings. It's a slow process, and the only one I've done so far has been the green TLR camera print, which I think looks rather nice on top of our new bookshelf. The new improved listing is here, and more will follow in the next few days!

We had a jolly day out in London on Monday - Jon had a work meeting, and the office is right next to St James' Park, we followed the sound of the band up to Buckingham Palace and watched the Changing of the Guard (from behind a very large crowd of eager tourists).

Whilst I'm beavering away on jazzing up our Etsy shop Jon has been busy working on a new wood engraving. At the moment he's still sketching the design onto the block - more photos to follow before he starts cutting!

Cock-a-doodle-doo

This weekend I have finally managed to find the time to finish my cockerel print - carving out the final layer and then printing a lovely dark blue colour. Jon helped with the printing when he wasn't out in the garden, and we're both really pleased with how he has turned out. If only we could have a real one of our own! Maybe one day...

We don't have the space at home for a proper studio so all our printmaking activities take place on our dining room table (helpfully covered by a wipe-clean striped oilcloth). My favourite place to sit and carve is in the chair opposite the window, which gets the most sun. Everything gets moved to one sie of the table (or onto the floor) when its time to print, so we often end up having to eat our tea on our laps because the table is covered in wet prints and other printing paraphenalia.

We've interviewed a fellow printmaker, Ellen Shipley, for the Prinsty (Printmakers of Etsy) team blog - read it here.

It has been very hot and sunny here for the past couple of days, which has meant lots of time in the garden tidying up and planting things out. It's all looking lovely and tidy out there now. This is the first year that we have tried our hand at growing strawberries. These ones are in a hanging basket outside the back door, above the herbs. I've got all my fingers and toes crossed that they ripen!