Typesetting Lesson

Last week I spend an enjoyable day with Mike, Treasurer of the British Printing Society and his two cats. He is my letterpress mentor and very kindly offered to teach me the rudiments of typesetting, using one of his Adana 8x5 printers.

I'd already read "Type and Typesetting", published by Adana, but like many people I find it much easier to learn something while actually doing it. It was useful to have grasped the basics of Ems & Ens etc in advance though especially since maths was never my strong point.

Although I'm going to be using my Adana for very simple words and phrases in my card designs, I think it's important to be shown how to print the correct way. Using a composing stick for the first time was interesting and I'm certainly not going to break any records for speed, but it was immensely satisfying to see something I'd typeset being printed.

I realise now that I should have taken a series of instructional photos for this blog, but hey ho, you'll just have to watch this fabulous 1950s video I found instead. Pay attention because there are questions at the end. Answers on a postcard please....

Wire Fox Terrier Stuff #2

The second item in my collection to feature in this occasional series is a knitted wire fox terrier called Barksdale. He was made by Sally Muir & Joanna Osborne. Although I'm not usually a fan of cuddly toys, I like Barksdale because he's a bit quirky. He almost makes me want to break out my knitting needles!
I was amused by the comment on their website which says "The knitted fox terrier is very much better behaved than the real version, almost as adorable and you can take him for walks in your pocket". Have they met my dog, Jackson, I wonder?

Photo courtesy of Pet Heaven

Light Box

It seems that every Tom, Dick & Harry on Folksy and Etsy are obsessed with light boxes at the moment. I thought I should investigate further, as like many sellers my product photos could do with a little ooomph. I thought about buying a ready made kit but in the end I'm such a cheapskate that I decided to make one myself. I used this tutorial as the basic guide which was very helpful and quick to do.

I bought the poster foam board stuff from an art shop for around £1 per sheet and a local light shop was having a closing down sale so I got some very cheap light fittings and daylight bulbs. The first bulbs I used were fine, but after one or two attempts I decided to try energy saving daylight bulbs instead. They are the equivalent of a 75 watt normal bulb and they give a much brighter intense light.

The box is stuck together with masking tape and can be disassembled easily enough between uses. I'm still experimenting with different backgrounds at the moment. I bought some royal blue card as a back drop and while it works well with some of the things I've photographed, I think it's a bit too dark with my cards. Trouble is, since my cards are mostly white or cream they don't stand out too well against the white of the poster board. I'm thinking of using a lighter blue, but I'm still experimenting at the moment. So don't all rush off to look at my product photos, as I haven't changed them yet!


Here's a photo I took of a pot of Colonel Ichabod Conk's Moustache Wax (don't ask!)
It hasn't been manipulated in Photoshop at all as I thought it I'd show how it turned out without any editing. Not too bad, I think. I set the white balance on my camera to Daylight and used the macro setting. The camera I used for this was a pretty basic Sony Cyber-shot.

Finally, I thought I'd show you a photo of the light box itself. You can see that in this photo I'm only using 3 lights, but usually I'd have 4 at least. It's a bit difficult to get a decent photo of it, but I'm sure you can get the gist. I don't have a tripod for my camera so I rest my shaky hands on a
couple of books to steady the shot. I don't usually have the lights in this position either, but it was tricky trying to fit everything in. The box itself is balanced precariously on my cooker hob!

As you can see, my photography skills are limited, but I thought it might be useful to show how an amateur can improve macro shots and I hope at least some of you find it helpful.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Just uploaded this new card to Folksy, Etsy and also my website.

It's a portrait of sorts of my Wire Fox Terrier, Jackson, and it was produced using my gocco printer. I like the rough and ready feel to the illustration and the keen eyed will spot that I'm using Cocktail Script, one of my favourite fonts again.

The idea for the design came when Jackson sneaked into our bedroom for the umpteenth time. He knows he's not allowed in there, but he should win some sort of award for persistence. Anyway, I caught him curled up on my pillow (yes, it's always my pillow) and it was such a lovely photo opportunity that I took several pictures before shooing him off.

This one was my favourite and so for the card I simply copied his position but changed the location to his red dog bed.

It's the first time I've used Jackson himself as a study for a card although of course he's the general inspiration behind all of them. Let's hope it doesn't go to his head. He'll be signing pawtographs next...

New Forever Foxed Website

I'm delighted to announce that my new Forever Foxed website is finally live, hurrah! Although I was very fond of the old site, the new one is such a treat. Alas, I can't take any of the credit myself, it's all down to the lovely Reagan from Zea Creative. She really has the patience of a saint and deserves some sort of medal for putting up with all my silly questions.

I'm still going to keep my Etsy and new Folksy shops going, but once items have expired in my eBay shop at the end of the month it will close.

Please take a look at the new website and let me know what you think...

Tintin's Anniversary

Blistering barnacles! Today marks the 80th anniversary of the first appearance of Tintin. Drawn and written by the Belgian cartoonist George Remi, better known as Hergé, Tintin was first seen in "Le Petit Vingtième", a weekly children's newspaper on 10th January 1929. Apparently, Tintin was based on an earlier character created by Hergé called Totor who was a boy scout. Tintin however, is a roving reporter, (not that there's ever much evidence of this in the books), who is drawn to dangerous intrigues in which his bravery and quick thinking save the day. He's usually accompanied by Milou, his white Wire Fox Terrier, more commonly known as Snowy.

There have been a few Tintin stories doing the rounds recently; I saw this story on Thursday asking if Tintin is gay. Not that it matters, of course, but I'm sure Snowy knows the truth ;)

Also just read in The Guardian that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are going to be playing the Thompson Twins in the forthcoming Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson film. Hard to imagine really as they don't look a bit alike. In the books they were impossible to tell apart except by their moustaches! The actor playing Tintin has yet to be cast and I'm guessing that Snowy will be some kind of CGI monstrosity, sigh.

Happy Anniversary, Tintin. And Snowy too of course!

Wire Fox Terrier Stuff #1

Over the years I seem to have accumulated a lot of Wire Fox Terrier stuff. I don't deliberately look for WFT things, they just seem to creep up on me. At least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I thought I might post about some of these items so this is the first in an occasional series on WFT stuff that I either already own or secretly covet.

Much of my collection, (known affectionately by my SO as the "Wire Fox Terrier Museum") was given to me as a gift, including the latest addition, a lovely brooch created by Cherish Me Designs.

Go and pay her shop a visit and snap up one of her beautiful designs...