Fireplace restoration

I have been wanting to share my reclaimed, rescued and restored fireplace and mantle piece for a while now.

I found it in a reclamation yard in North London (the one I saw on Kristy's Homemade Home in fact). It was a sad looking thing. it had been painted white at some stage and was all rusty with some of the ugliest tiles i have ever seen. I obviously showed far to much excitement upon finding it because the owner wouldn't budge when I tried to argue the price down from £50, which frankly I thought was a bargain considering some of the ones I had seen sold on eBay for 14 times as much.

The face features a pretty wreath detail that I found charming and thought would complement some of the vintage tiles I had already started collecting for it. Its shape was also ideal, being fairly narrow and not to tall to work well with the lower ceiling heights in the loft.

The restoration involved getting it dipped (in an acid bath!). I was going to attempt this stage on my own with some NitroMors, but thought the better of it. The dipping removed the layers of paint and rust, taking it back to its original cast iron finish. When we got it back it had to go back outside for a little while before the builders could fit it. This meant it started to oxidise again and came out in rust spots again. My husband, bless him, sanded all of these spots off for me again. The oxidisation largely stopped once it was bought inside, hence I haven't been rushed to make a decision on what type of varnish, paint, sealant I want to use. Suggestions again are more than welcome. I was thinking of painting it white initially, but I have gone off that idea now.

The original chimney breasts - from the fireplaces downstairs, worked as a natural looking protrusion to bolt the mantle on. Because of a mistake the builders made in placing a RSJ, it couldn't sit as far back as I hoped, but the builders made a casing out of wood, that eventually will be painted over to look like a continuation of the fireplace. This also meant that a sweet little recess could be created where the fire would have been. I have used this area to showcase little French oils, books and other knick knacks.

I purchased each of the tiles from Portobello road. Each is unique with the bulk from 1800's England. There is a Japanese one or two in the mix too. I think my favourite is the yellow tile, it reminds me of a lemon tart. Yum.

Letterpressing for Christmas

For Christmas I have gone out on a limb.

I have got two magnesium plates made up to print our own personalised Christmas cards. One is the stamp I will be using on the backs of my cards with my logo and 'catch line' (Phoebe and the Letterpress, Custom letterpress papery things). The other was a Christmas message for the front cover of the card. I wasn't sure how well I would print with either of these, I was more worried about the logo stamp than the bigger Christmas stamp. But, it all felt a bit risky.

I thought the small font size, thin lines and detail in the fonts, namely rosewood, I chose for my logo stamp would give me issues. I remember when I was making my wedding invitations, the man who made my photopolymer plates, a Mr Sparrow, quite famous in letterpress circles, now sadly retired, warned me of the dangers of using small fonts. In fact I think I had to go up to a size 12 font before he would happily make my wedding invitation plates for me (maybe he was being cautious as I was a beginner). The stamps he made me printed very nicely, but I bemoaned the fact I didn't get the deep impression I was hoping for. I suspect this was more due to the hard card I was using than anything else. Edward, or Ted as he prefers to be known (brilliant name!), was a traditionalist and keen on the 'kiss' method as opposed to bashing the font forcefully into the paper. I remember him telling me that letterpress shouldn't leave any 'deep impression' on the paper other than the ink. I was confused as it was precisely this impression that had made me fall in love with letterpress. As I read more, I discovered two different views in letterpress. One is to leave the lightest kiss on the paper, and they other is to impress a deep 'debossing'. I personally love the debossed look. So, as I have progressed, I am always striving for the deepest impression I can muster, really thrusting those letters irretrievably into the page.

I started printing with my logo stamp and was pleasantly surprised. The impression, while not as deep as I like, was still fairly good and all my tiny fonts printed clearly, cleanly and legibly. Even the rosewood font came out perfectly. So I deemed this run a success. Good, that was the hard part over. Next I was moving on to my big Christmas block with large font using a variety of typefaces. This I thought would be easier as Ted had been so positive about large font. But NOOOOO! I cant seem to get the ink to transfer to the paper evenly let alone worry about the impression on the paper. I am double inking, and pressing 3 to 4 times and still I am getting problems with patchy ink particularly in the middle of the my stamp. I rollered the stamp myself thinking perhaps my rollers weren't getting at the stamp properly, I packed up the tympan in a variety of ways, I adjusted the impression bolts constantly and I still cant get it perfect. My husband has tried to reassure me that they don't need to be perfect because after all they are handmade, but it is driving me bonkers.

There are a few other options I can try to improve the prints but these all involve mess, something I wasn't prepared to undertake late last night. At the moment, I have the stamp sitting in the top corner of the frame thing (god, I really need to learn what everything is called already!), so I think I should try and move it into the middle to try and get a bit more control over where the impression bolts are affecting.

I have also been a bit dodgy and have been layering up my tympan in a haphazard fashion. I think I might need to take all of that apart and put it together properly. Other than that, im not sure what else I should do! Fingers crossed this works. If it doesn't, I am going to cry. Still they do look pretty cool, I particularly love the shade of red (one I got from Caslon when I purchased my Adana). It is lovely and bright and festive!

I have printed on 2 different papers - 

One was a Somerset

The other was thick watercolour paper cardstock

Here are some photos of that i have printed so far.

If i know you, you are probably going to get one in the mail. Sorry to ruin the surprise!

Nearly forgot, if you are interested in more about my letterpress, check out http://phoebeandtheletterpress.com 

ENO's La Boheme at the London Coliseum

I went to the Opera last night and saw La Boheme at the Coliseum in London. It was great, and quite something to hear those songs I knew so well from my parents CD and movie collection (Moonstruck anyone?) belted out 'live'. But I have to admit, the bit that really caught my imagination was the set design. WOW. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't fancy or dazzling or anything like that. It was the "miniature-ness" of it. Like a life size doll house, that spun around to reveal different rooms and even a street scape.

I couldn't take any photos unfortunately, I did get one of the curtain before it went up, but that was all I could manage. However there are a few lurking around on the web that you can see here or check out the video on the ENO page.

This particular version on La Boheme was set in 1930s Paris, and apparently was heavily inspired by photography from the time. The style of the windows, the brasserie and even the staircase were so authentic and conjured up a real sense of the Parisian architecture of the time. I particularly loved the advertisements painted on the walls, entirely reminiscent of those interwar years.

As the characters are 'bohemian' and essentially poor, there is no glitz to be seen, except perhaps in the brass fittings in the French brasserie they dine in during the second act. Otherwise, the sets are furnished with drab material, dirty looking bed sheets, an armchair that has seen better days, a few wooden dining chairs, some lovely old wash basins attached to the "invisible wall" we view the set through (nice touch in my opinion), and some long work benches that reminded me of the old science labs at school.

The use of light was special too. The room in which Rodolfo and Marcello live had some wonderful little skylights that cast lovely shadows on the room. These shadows were even nicer as panes of glass were cross hatched with lead to create long trapezoid shadings on the wall. The broad expanse of glass across the entire back wall of the room gave the studio a very artistic feel. Oh and the light fittings, some lovely industrial styled shades hanging from lone cords from the ceiling.

I found the female character's outfits were really quite lovely too, particularly as I am very fond of the fashions from that era. Again, poor Mimi's dresses were generally stained and marked with dirt, but the cuts and colours were really something special. Musetta's outfits were tailored pieces that were better cared for, probably thanks to her knack for snaring rich men.

What an amazing job it must be to come up with these set designs. All you set designers out there - I envy you.

A little birdie

We haven't got around to carpeting the stairs to our loft bedroom yet. At the moment they are just the raw MDF with paint splatters and water stains speckling their surface. But every morning as i go downstairs, there is one particular water stain that makes me smile. Somehow, along the way, a little birdie has appeared on the third step down.

Isn't it cute?! I imagine it is mid tweet sending me on my way to breakfast every morning.

p xo

Upholstery Update: The end is in sight!

Yes, that's right, I am almost there! I have finally reached calico on both sides. The front has been tightened  and i just need to tighten the back before i finish with the fabric. Ah, but before that, i also need to sew about 10 metres worth of double piping and pattern match and sew up both fabric panels. It is actually fairly nerve wracking as i don't have enough fabric to make any mistakes. It is sure to keep me busy this weekend.

Pretty music

I was working on some designs the other week, bopping away to BBC 6music in the background, when I heard Undertow by Warpaint. It was love at first listen. The feminine voices singing lowly over guitar and bass reminded me of Mazzy Star crossed with My Bloody Valentine. It took me straight back to my teenage years, spent almost entirely with my Sony walkman earphones plugged in my ears.

What's more the four girls that make up the band are all gorgeous girlfriends from childhood. I can feel another girl crush coming on. My husband last night said to me "you really do love them don't you?" upon finding me sitting, glued to my computer, watching them perform some of their songs live. Their CD has been played on a loop continuously since I got it last week. I told him, that these girls must have grown up listening to the same music I did; they are from Los Angeles, I have never been there, but in my imagination, its not worlds away from Sydney; and if I could have ever been in a band (forget for a second I cant play any instruments, and even though I enjoy singing immensely, technically I don't have any actual ability...at all...whatsoever) this is the band I would have wanted to been in.

Their first full album, the Fool, was released just a few weeks ago on Rough Trade records. If you like your alternative 90's bands, music filled with distorted guitar riffs and ethereal female vocals, I strongly suggest having a listen.

I missed out on tickets for their London show next week. However my Australian friends might have a bit more luck, they are heading down that way in February and from all reports (and my Vimeo watching), they are brilliant live.

Selfridges sparkles

A dazzling display of dangling disco balls glittering away in Selfridges as a part of their Christmas display. So pretty and sparkly.