Side By Side - Week 81 - 88

Hello there,
Well I am back after a bit of hiatus but I have been SUPER busy I promise. Currently, I have my Mum visiting which is great but busy! Before that I was working on a wee bit of home renovation and that has been taking a LOT of my free time on the weekends. In fact ALL my time on the weekends (that and the usual stuff). I also managed some time away over Easter which was ages ago now - and therefore quite embarrasing that it has taken me so long to update the blog.
However a change is about to take place here at Little Letters and I will be spending a LOT more time focusing. Stay tuned for my new update.

Ok on to Side By Side. Here we go....

Week 88 - Blast From The Past.

I went to a vintage market on the weekend and picked up some odds and ends. I have a collection of wooden rulers on the wall and these are more for the collection. Some vintage sizing tape from France, and some other stuff.

Week 87 - Life on the other side.

My cat Missy does not get out onto the street and has to stay behind the gate in our garden (1 part me being a worried owner and 1 part being the law in my area). She often stares out the the gate dreaming of the other side. So I had the idea of showing her staring out and what is on the other side.

Week 86 - By Candle Light

Average week for me. Winter is here with both it's damp yuk weather and its usual colds and flu! I have succumbed to a cold and have done nothing much more than stay warm indoors. So this is just a cozy photo from the week. Simple.

Week 85 - Evil Flower

This is a phone photo but I had to use it. Its a malformed Gerbera flower...with a mutation where one stem has tried to form two heads (they are a single headed flower). It looks Eeeeeviilllll! I thought this was brilliant.


Week 84 - Forever Temporary

The ever changing Hosier Lane in Melbourne is one of my favourite places to go. Something new every time you visit from something small to larger works like this one. Brilliant. Sadly, unlike the what it says it won't be forever and will most likely have developed into something completely different the next time I visit. Love it.

Week 83 - Abstract Glow

I got up early last Saturday and while sitting eating breakfast I saw the wonderful pattern the sun was making as it pushed through the blinds. The colour also just happened all by itself. I like the abstract Bokeh look.....

Week 82 - Sunny Skies and Lazy Days

We had an extra long Easter weekend here with a 5 day weekend. We headed for the hills and explored the mountains up at Falls Creek in Victoria. The cooler climate and mountain air brings the best out of the trees around this area and we saw a lovely array of reds, oranges and yellow. I took a heap of photos but this was my fave of the sun just peaking through the yellow leaves.

Week 81 - Autumnal Art

I was in the city on the weekend at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and while we were waiting to go into the show we saw people sticking stuff to a wall. Intrigued after the show we went over to the wall and could see that people had been picking up the Autumn leaves and sticking them to the wall. How I hear you say! Well the wall has a very thin flow of water running down it and the leaves were sticking to it without being flushed away. I am not sure if this was some sort of intentional installation or it just happened by chance. You never know in Melbourne.

Update complete for your viewing pleasure - bye for now!!

Modernised History.

I have been searching for some new bedside tables for AGES. I have been lusting after some of the wonderful pieces at super cool Retro Modern,who specialise in refurbishing classic furniture pieces so you can bring some retro style into your modern life. Our house is a late 50's weather board house so I wanted this 60's build furniture so that I could keep some of the history of the original house with a 2011 twist.

Sadly, their pieces were WAY above our budget so I set about attempting to get a similar look at a half the price. Step 1 was was to try and find some classic 60's style bedside tables. The Danish style bedsides that I so desperately wanted, were wanted by everyone else too and I was outbid more than a few times on Ebay. After some exhaustive searching I found these two little beauties. Sorry the photo is not the best...these are from the website and I forgot to take a picture of them before I set about refurbishing.


So as this point I am sure you are thinking - Oooooo...kay...they look umm...old and retro! Where is the modern?

Here is where the magic happened....! Step 2 involved sanding the surfaces back, removing the handles and removing the legs and metal feet. The legs and feet were cleaned and polished. Next stop IKEA to pick up some new modern handles to bring a fresh up to date look, as always I found what I was after and picked up these GREJ handles ($10 a pair) with a brushed stainless finish. I removed the drawers, then painstakingly masked off the edges on the body as I planned to leave these with a smooth sanded lightly oiled finish and the rest of would be white. However, it was all down to how well the masking went. You all know that the paint can bleed through sometimes and I had a suspicion that this would be the case here. I was wrong and the masking was successful and I managed to get a really crisp edge. A few coats of regular satin finish oil paint and all done.

The finished product in place in our bedroom, set off rather nicely by my Orla Kiely bedspread if I do say so myself.

Side By Side - Weeks 76 - 80

It's side by side catch up time again...so here we go. Remember you can see our photos side by side at the Side By Side blog...here

Week 76 - Old Man Zak

We got some sad news about our 17year old dog Zak the other day and we don't expect him to be around for too much longer. The vet found a tumour in his abdomen, for now he is all good and eating and jumping around like a fool when its time for a walk. It is to be expected I guess at his age. We are enjoying our time with him and spoiling him rotten for the time being. This week is dedicated to the old boy :-)

Week 77 - Thinking of Japan

I bought this Tokyo cut out postcard this time last year when I visited Japan, and I have been thinking a lot about the place. I really did fall in love with the country and the people and I feel so bad for those who lost their lives and/or homes. Anyway, I googled the Japanese flag and held the postcard up to the screen...ta da...this weeks pic.

Week 78 - Finders Keepers Market

I headed to the wonderful Finders Keepers craft market or should I say Indie craft market. A large shed or warehouse in Melbourne's Docklands crammed full of creative goodness. Needless to say I found and kept plenty of good stuff. Sadly not one of these retro lamps...they are super cool though.

Week 79 - The Beautiful Mundane

I had planned to shoot some photos in the city this weekend passed...alas housework and the like took over and I didn't quite make it. A good housework day is worth the effort, clean bed sheets rock!! You can also see a hint of my refurbished 60s bedside tables in the shot.

Week 80 - Can you see the man on the Moon?

There has been a beautiful crescent moon here for the last week or so and I set up the tripod and shot some pics out the back door of our house. It was a tough choice this week but the simple moon with a couple of stars won.

Until next time.

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.