The Story of the Letterpress.

I have resisted writing about this up until now, because quite honestly I did not want to make my blog a winge fest. I had hoped this weekend I would be writing about my new Adana 8 x 5 press which was going to be the start of my Letterpress adventure. I am writing about my new Adana, except it's more a nightmare than an adventure.

After missing out on several presses on Ebay, I ordered a refurbished Adana 8x5 last Sept from someone in the UK. Then the shenanigans began. I was supposed to get the press within a month and this did not happen, a catalogue of excuses ensued and promises of the press being sent etc etc. After an ultimatum at my end the press started to make its way from the UK to Australia.

A week of obsessive FedEx tracking later, it arrived on my doorstep! I rushed home last night from work, excited to see the press that I have been patiently waiting for. I moved it to its new home and was a little concerned that the box seemed a little worse for wear. I opened it and removed the poorly wrapped press to find that it had been badly damaged and it doesn't function as it should. In fact it does not function at all.

This is what my press should look like, the one shown below is a presses one of my fave letterpress bloggers, Small Caps .

Adana 8 x 5 Press - Photo from small caps

A couple of photos below show that this is what mine is like at the moment, the right side has been pushed in as you can see and it now does not move up and down because its hitting the section where the plate or type would be. The rollers etc are not installed but you can see on the left side they way it should be. Unfortunately the damaged part is cast metal and not so easy to bend back into shape. The supplier is going to check what he has as spare parts but not sure what's going to happen there.


The photo above shows the rod which attaches to the rollers has also been bent. A little easier to fix.

So for now I have to wait to see what FedEx will do regarding the damage, and hope that I can replace the damaged parts.

Sigh........

One for the Scots!

I have been meaning to write about this for a while now - in fact definitely for the last 6months or so if not longer. What am I on about - Gillian Kyle that's what or should I say who! Gillian is a textile design graduate from Glasgow School of Art, who over dinner one night came up saluting some of Scotland's most iconic food and drink products. She launched her business in 2009 and appears to be going from strength to strength.
So my Scottish friends...I have got you thinking haven't I! Iconic foods from Scotland......Irn Bru perhaps, or maybe a Scotch Pie....what about the retro treat that is Creamola Foam - remember that people? Well she has thought of all of these and more and she has put together a fab range of products from aprons, mugs, bags all host to some images of all of these and more.

My brother Anson, sent me a bag year or so ago and that is what sparked my interest, so much so I requested a Tunnocks Teacake apron (that's it below) for the Christmas just passed. Creamola foam mugs are next ;-)

For all you expats or just those who love yourself a teacake..check out her site and online shop at www.gilliankyle.com

Autumn Sky - Week 75 Side By Side

So summer has officially called time here in Australia - although warm days are still hanging in there. With Autumn weather comes awesome skies and after a failed attempt at photographing the 20+ dragonflies flying around the back garden (its freaky they are everywhere at the moment!), I spotted the wonderful clouds reflected in a window of my house. I did a little extra tweaking with some overlay action (Ink & Tea stained papers #5 - if you are interested) from Lost & Taken.

A Sea of Bikes - Week 74 of Side by Side project

It was an early 5.30am wake up to go and support Shane do his 4th triathlon for the season. It was a very rainy morning and my camera had a few issues - so this is the best from the morning. The sea of bikes was impressive and well....here they are.

Lego fun - Side by Side week 73

This is part of a little Lego themed project I have been working on...! I had the best time decorating and colouring the icing to just the right Lego tones! Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Side by Side catch up - No. 2

Yet again I seem to have neglected my little blog but never fear (I am sure your weren't) that is about to change in the next week or so. I have a few wee exciting odds and ends coming your way real soon.

For now here is a catch up of my half of side by side for the last few weeks. Full pairs of my photos along side Ross's are posted up on the Side by Side blog

Week 69 - Waterpark Fun

We headed off for a family picnic in the sun to an 'adventure park' outside of Melbourne. I use the term adventure loosely, as it was more like 2 water slides, some other random water activities and mini golf type of establishment. Anyway it was a sunny day and it was more a catch up with Shane's family. This is just a shot of some kids playing in the water jets in the kids area...i like the shadow and reflections here.

Week 70 - A wee Burns Night dram

On Australia Day I made sure I didn't overlook Scottish celebrations and had a wee dram for the Baird himself....Robert Burns.

Week 71 - Will the rain stop

Australia, mostly in Queensland, was battered with flooding and Cyclone Yasi a couple of weeks ago. Melbourne luckily missed all that but the Yasi fall out meant it rained so hard from 5 - 11pm on Friday that the drains and gutters couldn't cope. Kids were playing out in the street in the stormwater floods....and our back garden was full of water. Up to the top of my wellies...!The following day everything was still sprinkled with what looked like little diamonds...sadly only rain droplets. ;-)

Week 72

I got some early Valentines Day flowers the Saturday before...perhaps my all time fave type - Sunflowers! Shane ordered them specially for me (via his Dad at the flower market) they came with the full stalk on so they were nearly as high as me! They are just so bright and happy looking flowers - I bet you have a smile on your face just looking at them. Haha

Its been a while....

I had great plans to go all out and blog my little socks off over my LOOONNG Christmas break (a whole fat month off work). Instead I decided to step away from the computer a little and get out, take photos and generally give my brain and mainly my eyes a break - yep some new glasses are on the way ;-(
Anyway, I am back and full of blog ideas, however I will start with a Side By Side catch up. I have a whole 8 weeks to catch up on so here we go....

Week 61 - Hello Possum

Well this little man was curled up on the ground in our back garden. They are nocturnal so I think it was just curling up and trying to go to sleep after falling from a tree.

We saved it and put it back up in the tree...it scampered off to go back to sleep. Yay for us....we have some good karma today.

Week 62 - Retro Sunday

I was down at the Mordialloc beach on Sunday and this car was in the car park...wonderfully retro.

Week 63 - Candy Canes and Christmas Lights

Super late in posting this but I did take it last week. I love sugar canes for some reason - really festive I guess. So you can't beat a bit of Candy cane and bokeh action to capture the festive season.

Week 64 - A Time For Reflection

Well I'm super late this week....sadly I have been doing boring stuff like painting and that is why I took so long. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to include a photo of me (and my cat - can you see her?) for a change with a festive spin! Here it is my bauble reflection.

Week 65 - Boozalicious

Well this small collection of alcoholic beverages and related items sums up the last week or so. Festive cheer aplenty!

Week 66 - Last Sunrise of 2010

We headed to the mountains after Christmas for the first time in summer and were lucky enough to stay up on the mountain for a couple of nights. By chance, I woke up needing a glass of water and got up to see a beautiful subdued sunrise. The last for the year.

Week 67 - Summer Holidays

What a hard life, I spent last weekend relaxing down at the beach. This is me taking a break from reading the paper to look out at the beach from the deck of the boat shed where I sat.

Week 68 - Cabin Fever

This photo kinda sums up the week for me and the pets last week. It rained and rained and...um...rained. Although safe from the floods...the last week of my holidays were mostly spent cooped up at home and watching for a break in the rain to get outside and do something in the fresh air. My cat took up residence at the front door...staring at the deck in a trance like state hoping for the same break in the weather. This is Missy...waiting it out! She celebrated the end of the rain by sleeping outside all day in the back garden. ;-)

You can see all our side by side shots here at the Side By Side blog