Author Archives: Pollay

June 8, 2013 · 12:02 pm

High Flying Lino Print

I can’t tell you how chuffed I am with this clock, even though it is far from perfect, it was the third linocut I ever made and it isn’t horribly wobbly so I’m pleased. I did cheat a little by cutting each image/number out individually and sticking them to scrap wood so I could minimise the impact of mistakes. I managed to smudge the 4 and the centre of the clock when putting it together and I smudged the 10 and 11 when setting the time BUT these are minor issues, which can be easily avoided.

It’s taken an age to get the bits of wood for the backing, order the clock mechanism, not to mention figuring out how much ink to use when printing, which is the best sort of paper and what type of adhesive would work. However, it has paid off as it’s finished and lovely and it’s telling the right time and everything!! (Sorry, I probably sound a little smug, but I made something, it’s pretty and it works). At some point I’ll be setting up an Etsy shop and these clocks will be featured – watch this space!

Whale of a time!

Wow – It has been AGES since my last post but it has been time well spent! The printing press is now up and running and we’ve had lots of work done on our house. This is just a quick post to show one of my first finished printy thing, a birthday card for a friend who is a whale enthusiast.

The black ink hasn’t taken as well as I’d like but it was the end of a printing run of wedding invites so seemed little point in ‘topping it up’. It seems to plod on forever on almost no ink so a tiny bit goes a very long way! The colour was hand painted afterwards with a water based dye called Brusho. I met a very talented artist called Gerard Hobson at York Open Studios a month or so ago, he uses the same inks and recommended them – I love them!

A New Toy

Hello All, I don’t know about you but where we are the weather is stunning, springy and bordering on summeresk – laundry done and dry on the line in one day, so satisfying! It is too nice not to have mentioned the weather but on to the matter at hand…

Having made the lino cut for the wedding invitation (which can be seen here), we decided the onerous task of getting 100 good prints when half of them seem to smudge was far too much of a challenge. Whilst I suggested scanning the image and printing invites, Mr Biscuit hit eBay in search of a printing press, sure enough he found this little monster.

It is an Adana 8 x 5 table top letter press, it needs rollers but aside from that we have been assured it is in good working order, which is super exciting. But… and this isn’t a small but… it came with this lot…

Letters. Thousands and thousands of letters, led lines, spacers and all sorts of things for which we don’t know the names and haven’t the foggiest idea of how to apply. If anyone out there has any advice on letterpress printing or if you know of any good letter press / lino carving blogs I’d be massively grateful! By the end of the first day of sorting I had one clean tray full of flouncy italicised letters (not an upper case A in site), several trays of grubby stamps and one or two boxes of bits:

If anyone knows anything about letter pressing…… help!

Thanks for dropping by,

Pol x

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Filed under Adana, Craftiness, lino cutting, stamp

Tagged as 8 x 5, Adana, invite, letterpress, stamps, wedding

March 26, 2013 · 5:32 pm

An Invitation

Hello Bloggy-land!

I’ve not written in a while as I’ve spent a week or two down with Shingles! Most unpleasant but it could have been a lot worse 🙂

My time was not wasted though, I finally put knife to lino and created the stamp for our wedding invitation.

It is a little cryptic for those who don’t know us, and perhaps a little sombre for those who do… When I first met Mr Ginger Biscuit he had a lovely Labrador called Biscuit, sadly she passed away in January (doggies don’t live forever and we now have a gorgeous beagle puppy – Ginger, hence the name of the blog) – Biscuit is gone but she will never be forgotten. Mr GB also owned a stroppy old donkey named Jupiter, which he’d had for 26 years, as long as he can remember. It seemed fitting to honour them both on the invite as they were a big part of our family for a long time. We both love scuba diving and I did an MSc in marine stuff recently, hence the fish and walking dogs whilst avoiding squirrels, star gazing and outings are things we love hence the tree. Not sure if we’re going to be lino printing an invite for everyone or scanning the image and using a computer but either way, I’m pleased as punch with it!!

I’ve also been pretty hookey lately, but more on that some other time!

Thanks for popping by!

Po x

3 Comments

Filed under lino cutting, stamp

Tagged as craft, lino cutting, printing, wedding

March 2, 2013 · 2:43 pm

Restless Digits in Abu Dhabi

At the tail end of last year I went to Abu Dhabi to stay with my Mum with the aim of working for a Marine charity for six months. The work placement fell through but the flights were booked and the loose ends were tied so I decided to stay there for six weeks to do research for my pipeline PhD and crochet.

I only found one yarn shop nearby, which was a good hours drive away, so I took some yarn with me in a vacuum pack, a true obsessive! There are a lot of tailors in Abu Dhabi so sewing supply stores were plentiful (hence the buttons) and the metal clips were taken from the lanyards we were given at the Grand Prix. (It was Mr Ginger’s 30th birthday last year so I got him tickets for the race and he joined me for a week in Abu Dhabi). Each of us received a separate lanyard for each of the four days of the race and we went with friends = lots of lanyards = oodles of key rings 🙂

Mr Ginger likes his pictures and he got himself a super zoom lens from eBay – it obviously needed a super case to keep it safe and sound. I made the pattern up as I went along, but the basics came from Attic24’s fabby baggy blog post which is here.

Not one to miss out on the action, I decided I also needed a camera case. I stole the button from Mum… I do hope she never loses a button off whichever blouse it once belonged to! Again, I made this one up as I went along.

Granny Bunting! To be honest I’ve no idea where the pattern came from for these, there seem to be lots of similar ones online. You may have noticed I seem to reference Attic24 in almost every post (repeatedly), the wonderful Lucy has a similar pattern on this post here, aside from that, I think I’d made so many granny squares by this point for my blanket a triangle wasn’t too challenging!

Having spent 6 weeks in the sunshine and knowing I was arriving home at the start of December I decided some gloves were in order. I must admit they are a tad drafty as gloves go, but they did the trick!

Please note, the gloves match my camera case beautifully and Mr Ginger looks very well coordinated using his camera near the bunting. It’s probably for the best I didn’t have more wool as there was reading to be done…

Thanks for popping by!

Po x

Birthday Crochet x 2

I learned to crochet in September last year at a café in York called The Flax and Twine, they do all sorts of wonderful crafty courses (during which they often serve tea, cake and sandwiches – ruddy lovely!). Since then I’ve been well and truly hooked to the hookey business.

By way of birthday gifts I made three brooches for the lovely lady next door:

The rose pattern is from Cute and Easy Crochet by Niki Trench, in the book she attaches loads of them to a stunner of a tea cosy . I then turned to the ever wonderful Lucy of Attic24 for tips on how to make them broochy from this post here.

AND a garland for a friend with a soft spot for ladybirds:

The lady birds were made using Attic24’s flat circle tutorial, I left a gap in the second round and changed colour from red to black to make the head. There are lots of flower patterns knocking around on-line, but I used this one from Sarahndipities lovely flower garland tutorial.

The weather looks utterly gorgous and I have a puppy waiting to explore the great out doors 🙂

Thanks for popping by!

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Filed under Crochet

Tagged as craft, Crochet

February 28, 2013 · 9:49 pm

Intro to me and my blanket

This is my first shot at all this, so I’m going to keep it brief! My name is Polly and I live in York with a puppy called Ginger and my ginger husband-to-be called Tim. We keep bees in our backyard and hope to expand with additional hives in future. I studied the sea but in the absence of a job and the presence of a puppy I spend most of my time crocheting, cooking, pootling in the garden, eating cake with friends, searching for reasons not to do house work and musing the beautiful blogs of crafty people. At present I’m working on a blanket, progress pictures below:

Grannies waiting to be crocheted together, I greatly enjoy pictures like this.

This picture was taken in Abu Dhabi in November when I was visiting my Mum, at the time I thought I’d get the blanket finished by the end of December – not a chance!!

Novembers squares in order!

I’ve done a lot since then, but that picture might have to wait until I’m finished! What I will say is that it’s a flower with blue petals a green stem and purple grannies round the edge.

Thanks for popping by!

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Filed under Crochet

Tagged as Blanket, Crochet

Author Archives: Pollay

High Flying Lino Print

Whale of a time!

A New Toy

An Invitation

Restless Digits in Abu Dhabi

Birthday Crochet x 2

Intro to me and my blanket

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