Salvage hunting

To take our minds off certain house buying things, we went salvage browsing.

The first place boasted the 'largest stock of furniture' in the Universe - or claims to that effect and yet oddly, we could not find anything we particularly liked (or could afford!) in the vast storerooms.

 

Apart from this lovely (new) four poster bed, which would swamp an average sized bedroom.

Our next stop, BEESTON RECLAMATION YARD  was more like it. Must have chimney pots in a garden one day.

 

 And maybe an Edwardian fireplace - for inside, of course.  but which one to choose?

 

 This one was sweet - 

 Under the cobwebs, poppies and swallows;

 

...and this one...

But I think we both liked this the best, with bucolic country views painted onto the tiles. It would go beautifully in a little Edwardian cottage bedroom...

 

 

We day-dreamed of re-tiling a kitchen wall with a glorious melange of antique panels.

 

These kinds of colours, we thought. 

Exploring  enticing storage crates rammed with furniture -

- if I could have had one thing and money to burn, it would have been this clock, though hard to tell if it just needs winding or simply won't go any more...

Finding exactly the right sized radiator I'd thought would be perfect for underneath a window. If one had a window of one's own , that is.

Then I spotted this giant old water trough and started wondering how it could be turned into an outdoor hot tub. At which point I realised it had all gone to my head and it was time to trundle home for a cup of tea. And to tackle the behemoth deadlines, two of 'em, that are still looming over my head.

 

Another squirrel

We are on the cliff edge of waiting for our mortgage application to be approved. If it is, then great joy and celebrations will ensue - limbo and uncertainty will be over.  If it isn't approved, we'll have uprooted ourselves for nothing and wasted a lot of money in the process. God knows what happens then.

At the moment there is nothing to do except wait and work. Thank goodness for the salvation of work.

Visiting the Incline Press

 

What, no green fields or pastoral hills? No, occasionally we go urban. This is Oldham, 'up North', on the outskirts of Manchester, the weather typically grey. We'd been warned by our host to take the tram as 'there's a lot of roadworks in town'. He wasn't kidding.

 

 

 We were here to visit the Incline Press (whom I've met over the years at various Fine Press fairs and Wayzgooses, blogged here, here and here) which we found tucked away in a little side road, looking very unassuming.

Until you get inside, that is and breathe in the inky aroma. What treasures are piled ceiling high - what delights are being printed!

 

 

At the moment Graham is producing 'Danger and Destiny in the Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm' written by David Blamires, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the first printing of Grimms' Fairytales. It will be a limited edition of 300 copies and when I say producing, I mean that he is setting the entire text by hand, printing it on the traditional press and binding it - again by hand. Pre-publication price as I write is £48, which I consider to be reasonable in the extreme.

When we arrived, Graham was typesetting and had noticed a tiny fault in a 'J' block. He printed off a page to show us.

 

 

 

 

Although he was clearly busy with setting up the book, he kindly took us on a tour of the studio - I dawdled and took lots of  nosey photos.

Down the stairs, carefully now!

 

To the basement - heavenly.

Packets of minty fresh type bought up from Stephenson Blake, the last working type foundry in Britain before it shut down at the end of the Twentieth century.

 

So many corners filled with *stuff* - I asked Graham if he knew what he'd got and where it all was and he said yes.

 

 Towers of type cabinets. My not-very-secret passion.

Various jobs in various states.

 

 We had a brilliant and informative time - and Graham gave me some sound advice on what to do with my salvaged Adana gear, which is stored down in the Forest of Dean until we find our new home. 

 Town or country, one thing remains true - Andy is always many strides ahead of me.  

Thank you Graham for a lovely visit and our very special souvenir. 

 'Letterpress Printer's Essential

MARMALADE

May cause stickiness so eat responsibly

Do not use while operating machinery

Hand Made at Incline Press 36 Bow Street Oldham'

Little houses

I've got  a few things going on at the moment, life-wise  - and an ongoing order list for full sized toys. But it's nice to go AWOL sometimes and sneak a bit of playtime in.

So when I can, I've been making little things. Such as tiny houses - as we seem to be having a house oriented year.

Which *only* take 3-4 hours to make.

These 'Wee Housies' were going to be popped into my Etsy shop for £30 each.

But the entire village was snapped up before I could list them. Sorry!