Attempting a birthday card

For project 2 I decided to try to print a birthday card for my Dad.

I wanted a mixture of text and a picture. So off I went and rummaged through the bits I had and spent ages played with them and trying to set them in the forme.

What I realised was that something relatively simple is not as easy as it looks if there is lots of space to be carefully filled and the forme must made nicely tight so nothing wobbles when you print.

After lots of testing and packing the print bed and so on I got a few acceptable prints.

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Voila!

It has rather a school project quality I feel.

It was hard to get a good print impression from both the font and the countryside scene.

I think my Dad liked it, he said he did.

forme = a technical term for the composition of text and any pictures laid out ready to print with spacing material and locked tight in a frame specific to the print press being used (the frame being known as a chase)

note:

ink: Light Green (Hawthorn Printmaker Supplies Stay Open Ink)

paper: cotton rag pre folded square card with envelopes 210gsm medium texture (Khadi Papers)

Beautiful soap

I’ve mostly been a shower gel kind of girl and have been for a long time.

Soap is fine for hands but I find it too drying otherwise.

Well not anymore, because I found these:

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Not only are they beautifully wrapped they are also wonderfully gentle on the skin.

At the moment I’m using the top one which is organic lavender. I can’t decide whether to use the plummy berry scented one next or the sophisticated scented rainbow.

They are handcrafted by Leaf House in Suffolk. I’m also slightly addicted to their baby lotion and rescue cream.

You can buy online or from their market stall in Bury St Edmunds.

Here’s to lovely soaps.

Letterpress inspiration (Mr Smith)

I’m sure I’m always going on about this but Twitter is great for finding interesting stuff…and the other day after I’d tweeted my previous post via the twitter airwaves I found this

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWszb97fG-A]

which I loved, especially the bit where he’s setting up the letters before he prints, it can take ages but even though I’m new to it all you get totally absorbed.

Oh and I love his workshop – wish I had one like that.

Egg and cress

Egg and cress makes me think of summer.

I love it in sandwiches (I know lots of people don’t). Especially on a nice crispy white roll or baguette.

But recently I’ve been flipping through @Scandilicious new book The Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking and there’s quite a few open sandwiches with an eggy theme.

So I decided why not try egg and cress on lovely @PetersYard crispbreads for a quick lunch.

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Wow it was fab. Helped of course that I had home grown cress and bantam eggs gifted from a friend.

Perfect with some crunchy breakfast radish on the side.

For a filling lunch for 1 you need:

2-3 bantam or small hens eggs, hardboiled

your favourite mayonnaise, a good dollop

1 tub of cress

3 Peters Yard crispbread or some slices of sourdough or rye bread

Chop the hard boiled eggs in with the mayo , stir in pepper and cress. Pile on bread or crispbreads, garnish with more cress and serve with crispy radish or some tomatoes