Tooting

We've an extra day down at Spitalfields Market tomorrow so today I was out getting some stock. I bought a big handsome laundry hamper.

But was slightly concerned to see evidence of previous (furry) inhabitants - 'Gosh, how awful, I've bought someones home without even realising, and the poor little things are nowhere to be seen' sigh.

'But wait, what's that rustling noise?'

'Oh hooray, here's the little fellow now - hello friend!'

The hamper is in fact home to a pair of little, furry, West German mice - Fritz and Hans. They're a homosexual couple mostly due to my inability to think of a stereotypical German ladies name. They like to eat corn and decorate their charming period home with whimsical bric-a-brac, they also have a lodger - an Austrian heptathlete vole called Juergen.

 . . . and here's a nice mug.

And some sconces.

And a cabbage leaf bowl.

And a gyroscope in a stonking box. If you've never seen a gyroscope in action before you should because it's a fun thing - come down to Spitalfields Market tomorrow and I'll give you a demo.

Pomology (fruticulture)

Spring has come and it is good - maybe it will go again but it won't matter because today I sat out in the garden and ate an apple with a lump of cheese and that made me very happy.
It also reminded me of this book I perused a couple of weeks back.

It's a thing of beauty.

With carefully curated photos.

A lot of the apples have wonderful names - knowing there's an apple out there called Arthur Turner makes me proud to be English.

And this one is called Mother, would make a good Mothers Day card no?

Indeed all the words in the book are good, please read and enjoy the terms . . . 'lobes', 'puckering', 'apical', 'downy', 'pistil' and especialy 'knobbed' (titter)

Also, the phrase 'King of the Pippins' which I think I shall take as my own title from here on in - Jo, King of the Pippins. Very good.

Pocket Press

A couple of years ago I was at uni and making work from a caravan.

It was parked up outside the house in Devon where I lived with Jack.

I printed books there, under the name Pocket Press. It was a press specialising in very small books. I wanted to be a bit like J.L.Carr.  

In total three books were published - Pockets, Corners and Stairs.

Pockets . . .

Corners . . .

Stairs . . .

They were all written and made by yours truly. I also noodled about printing up little bits of stuff,

with no particular purpose. Sometimes I would be bored. Other times I would be frantically trying to get things done - accidentally printing the last page upside down and having to start all over again, slicing into my fingers with stanley knives then trying not to bleed on the paper and other such haste-induced accidents.

This weekend I was in my caravan again, just looking in the drawers and cupboards, and I missed the press a lot: I wanted to get back in there and print up lots of stuff and hang it from the ceiling. It was nice to be able look at work I'd done and still like it after some years. Very comforting. Maybe one day soon I will have somewhere to put that caravan, or maybe the Pocket Press will have to get smaller and live in a cupboard but I reckon it needs to be reborn.

Noodling, poodling, mooching around.

Today I bought this caravan, which reminded me that I have a caravan of my own - a big thing that I shall show you soon.

And I spent some time sorting marbles into the most pleasing combinations.









And planted up some nice seedums, mint and other things. I live in hope of a beautiful garden being mine soon.

I also took a pleasant wander around this site.

Photos, moving from black to red.

A medley of photos for you, some from the weekend, when there was a family holiday in honour of the mothers birthday, and some from the week before.

The rain moving in over Dungeness.

Scrub at the beach.

Print framed as a birthday gift . . . and displayed on the worlds dirtiest window.

Boys doing wrestling at Performance space.

And a beautiful ball of wool.

Some colour

Here are some bricks I bought at the weekend, the colours are fabulous I think you'll agree.




















Also this plant pot holder casting a nice shadow on my desk. The colour was much needed after a dreary week of rubbishness - including my dream home being cruelly snatched from my grasp at the last minute by callous landlords and my dream printing course being cancelled.
The only way is up.

Stickers.

Just some playing around today, some printing that I'll show you soon. But it was the little bit of impromptu sticker time made me happiest.