Wednesday 28 January 2015

A slight refractive error - here's one I made earlier


Last year I joined Stroud Artists' Books at Stroud Valley Arts, a space for artists to meet up monthly and share their ideas for books and practice. 

Each month there is a theme and the theme for February 2014 was, Lens, and for that I used the format of a maze book.

I've just retrieved the single copy I made and looking at it now, I've decided it is a good idea to put this into production for BABE 2015: Bristol Artists Book Event at the Arnolfini 

This event is in 10 weeks on Sat 11 and Sun 12 of April (crikey)!
In my trawl around the net I discovered that the letters used in an eye test are Optotypes (test symbols).

They are not, however, letters from any ordinary typographer's font, they have their own particular, simple geometry in which the thickness of the line equals the thickness of the white spaces between the lines, and the height and the width is five times the thickness of the line . . . 
The type in the title is designed to fade away . . . just as our eye sight is prone to do with age!

Tuesday 27 January 2015

Making Sourdough in Northamptonshire

Where did the month go . . . when I arranged Mr B's Christmas present (a day course in making sourdough bread with Vanessa Kimbell) it seemed so far ahead, and now suddenly it's upon us!

Friday 28 January dawned sharp and clear for our drive up to Northamptonshire, and The Sourdough School. Of course, the best thing about arranging this course is that I can include myself!

I'm a somewhat erratic bread maker, with unpredictable results, mostly good, but occasionally not so good. Last Friday taught me that that is mainly down to over-proving . . . Vanessa's classes, although relaxed and informal, are clear on why certain principles need to be adhered to. However, she also shows how 'recoverable' errors are, and just how forgiving the process of making sourdough is . . . and, we get to return home with our own sourdough starter. No excuses!!

Clearing up at the end of the day. Bread proving in well dusted, cloth lined, wooden proving baskets from Bakery Bits.

Proving time estimated to allow us time to get home to cook the loaves tonight.
Getting ready to take my goodies home.
Back home, and what could be better than a good glass of red, some very tasty cheeses and an utterly delicious sourdough loaf.
Feeling just a tiny bit proud of my first sourdough . . .
Henny, tapping on the window and requesting her share!