building the print table

we happened upon a lovely and quirky old house when we were looking for a place to live, and since its also a little run-down, it's perfect because the landlord won't really notice if we do things like hangs lots of shelves or put a darkroom in the basement .  it also has this fabulous old living room,that is about sixteen feet long and twelve feet wide, and therefore perfect for a printing table. 

I decided on a thirteen foot table, which makes things a tight squeeze, but bigger is better when it comes to printing tables. this is the frame and cross-bars for support, and to keep the top from warping.

legs with casters, to make moving it around easier.  my casters were the wrong ones, it turns out, because they slide across the hardwood even when locked - should have gotten the soft rubber kind, but they were so much more expensive. note all of ted's 45 degree supports.  lots of them.

this is what my padded top is made up of.  I used 3/8 or 1/2 inch ply for the top, but realized after talking to michelle st-onge  that I should have used MDF, as it warps less.  oh well.  I put in extra cross-beams to make up for it.  The ply is then covered in a layer of carpet underpadding [the multi-coloured foam stuff] and then two layers cotton quilt batting, and then a layer of heavy even-weave cotton stretched and stapled on top. thanks to jenna for the inexpensive printing surface tips - generally a heavy and very, very expensive industrial felt is used.

and here is the finished beast, covered in the much-used drop cloth I purchased when I was a student at NSCAD, because I am so fussy about everything and hated that the ones in studio had holes in the middle. these are dress fronts all pinned and ready for printing. 

outdoor pattern

teaching introduction to screenprinting for a year at nscad reminded me of the prevalence of pattern just about everywhere you look.  above, the clouds seem to do this a lot in halifax - just layers and layers of heavy grey.

this is my favorite driveway - on john street [one of my favorite streets] in the north end.  i tried to convince my parents to lay these gridded cement blocks, but they weren't having any of it.

more clouds, these are called 'mare's tail' clouds.

a storefront in downtown london ontario, that i noticed for the first time when i was there in march, despite growing up in the city.

before the frost

thought i'd make one more little posy from the garden flowers before we pull them up for the season.  cosmos and sweetpea are two of my favorites, in all their colours.  vase by alison cude.

this is from july, when the bees and tomatoes were busy.  we were infested with a horrible, persistent pest called whitefly this season, and ended up pulling up all of the tomatoes and peppers, despite all of our eco-friendly insecticide attempts and dollars.  apparently they are one of the hardest to get rid of, even with the chemical stuff, and regularly destroy crops.

one more once

this was way back at the end of august, which feels like forever ago with the current cool weather.  we made it all the way out to queensland beach on the south shore, driving a 125cc scooter. it  is a good bit warmer than crystal crescent closer to the city - but still cold.  i love swimming in the cold salty ocean, as long as i jump right in and don't spend too much time in the shallows shivering.

  the backpack i have on was made in Japan by Sudahanp.  they make wonderfully functional and lovely bags of all kinds.  i should let you know that i am biased as it is owned by my sister in law Masayo's parents.  you can spot my brother colum in the photos and the blog.