Dancing on Ice....

Not me.  My car.  This afternoon.  In fact, what a great day all round!

This morning, I drove over to the art room at Long Eaton to see if the kiln fairies had been kind to the Sunday class.  They were, and I hope everybody who took the class will be pleased with the results.  Mind you, it was so cold, that when I put the kiln shelves back in the boot of the car, I noticed some glass in a box had ice on it!  

A visit to the studio next, to find Rachel had a roaring fire going, too the point the stove was actually glowing hot... unfortunately, after a warm by the fire, it was all hands on deck (well, me and Rachel, as that was all who was there) after a pipe burst and we had water everywhere.  Don't panic!  Oh, yeah, and the toilets were frozen.... 

After this, I had to call at the exhaust repair centre, to get a bracket replaced - quick job, five minutes in and out.  Or it would have been if I hadn't got stuck with wheels-a-spinning, trying to get back up the road out of the place... oh the embarrassment.... I have to say, I was glad to get home tonight!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

The reason I was up in Rowsley, before the weather got really bad last week, is because I am shadowing Rachel Carter as an artist in residence for the Bolsover Project.  We're weaving willow spheres (something new to me and thoroughly enjoyable) with community groups there.  The spheres are then going to be part of the Bolsover Lantern Parade on Saturday.  I am helping Rachel with the work, although I am not sure I will be able to get to Bolsover on Saturday to see them lit up in all their glory, as my son is playing in a band on Saturday night, and it's hardly the weather for racing around...

I hope I remember to take my camera with me tomorrow up to the Peak District, even if the snow is melting, it should still be spectacular scenery....

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow!

Well, last Friday saw a heavy snowfall, and I didn't know if I could get to Kedleston Hall - I struggled to get out the end of my road, never mind across Derby.

But oh my, the grounds were beautiful when I got there. I forgot to take my camera with me, so I had to resort to my mobile to take a few snaps.

This one was on the lane as I drove down to the Lodge entrance.  As the sun was melting the ice on these bushes, it twinkled, although I am not sure if you can see that with such a device!

This was a view down over the grounds, and yes, the roads (yes, there is a road there somewhere under the snow) were a slippy as they look!

On Tuesday, before it got worse, we went up to Rowsley, near Bakewell.  I am shadowing a local artist, Rachel Carter, in a community project.  The views through Matlock were amazing, sadly, although I remembered about my camera this time, I forgot to charge the batteries.  And I couldn't use my phone as the battery on that was getting low too!  I hoped to be able to capture the beauty another day, but we haven't been able to get up there ever since.

Sadly, the Christmas Craft exhibition at Strutts Society this Saturday has had to be cancelled, as some makers couldn't make it, and with the added pressure of difficult car park conditions, extra visitors and the threat of more snow and freezing temperatures, the organisers have regretfully had to cancel.  It is a shame, I was looking forward to meeting Simon Groom and getting my Blue Peter badge.

We ARE however, running the glass fusing workshop on Sunday, yippee!

A Matter of Trust

The National Trust, actually.

This weekend, I am at the Christmas Craft Fair at Kedleston Hall in Derby.

I've never been here, and it looks magnificent!  I hope I get a chance to get a look-see at some point...

The Craft Fair is on 11am to 3pm on Saturday and Sunday 27th/28th November, and I will be the "smoking room" which is next to Caesars Hall.  If you're coming by public transport, there are free buses from Derby bus station.  Craft demonstrations will be on throughout the event, and apparently there will be a barrel organ playing Christmas tunes, it's close enough to December now to start hearing them! 

Must remember to make myself some Handmade in Derbyshire labels, as this is something they're promoting for the event, and it was a suggestion made at our open studio too, so it will be worth me doing that I think.

Christmas decorations were popular at the weekend, but as each event is always different, I need a good range of goods, so off to the studio for me to do a bit more making!

Long Eaton Art Room...

... is where I am at this weekend.

I have been busy making, and doing, and fixing and packing, and unfortunately, not photographing anything yet!

So, if you want to see some of my latest pieces, including the lovely new decal work I am doing, you'll have to come along to Long Eaton Art Room this Saturday or Sunday to take a peek.

Lots of locally made craft from a range designer/makers, drinks and snacks available and lamp-working demonstration on Sunday by my lovely friend Ruth of A & R Beads.

Oh What a Day...

It was the Open Studio event at Shed 2 yesterday... phew (in a good way)! The studio looked great when we'd had a good tidy up, rearranged the furniture and put our work out on display. 

The whole morning went by in a bit of a blur, it was really busy, although a lot of people through the door were my friends and family!  It was great though, that I got so much support and it was a lovely opportunity to show my friends what I've been doing with my time down at the studio.

I got some very positive responses to my own work, and most people said how they thought the whole of Shed 2 was a great place (something which I don't need telling twice).  People seemed to particularly love the camper vans (watch this space), so guess what I am making this week... because I can't rest on my laurels, I have craft fairs for the next weekends, so I need to make sure I have lots of stock (for those lovely customers!).

Will try and post some photos of the new work over the next couple of days.

Talking of Craft Events

Tis a busy weekend all round.  We have our open event at Shed 2 Studios on Saturday 13th November, so that will keep me out of mischief for a while.

Elsewhere, also this weekend, is Lustre, an annual contemporary craft event held at Nottingham's Lakeside Arts Centre. 

 This is an exciting year, because four of my course colleagues have been selected for their "Young Meteors" scheme, so will be exhibiting.

Robyn Holgate, who makes beautiful products from printed, steam bent wood, which are finished off with hand crocheted trims.  She posted these new items recently on her blog.

Deborah Miles, who makes automata from recycled wood and tin - this is an example of some work that went to the Catmose Gallery in Rutland. I am sure the work Deb takes to Lustre will be equally fun.

Another Shed 2 resident, Nicola Lidstone, will be taking a selection of beautiful, hand-shaped porcelain animal sculptures

I haven't been able to speak to Katie Heeks lately but these Gardens of Personal Delight are quite stunning, intricate little fantasy worlds.  I can't wait to see what she's making for the show.

If you get the chance to make it over to Nottingham, Lustre is well worth a visit, a show full of high quality contemporary craft work.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Ever done a craft fair?

A forum friend wrote this blog post the other day, and I really wanted to share it with you.  It's a funny read, but it's also oh so true!

If you've ever done a craft fair, you'll recognise a few of the characters I am sure.  And if you've not done an event yet, still read it, and be prepared!

A Bedtime Story for Craft Stall Holders...

So, apart from being amused by this blog post, what else have I been up to.  Well, the kiln has been working hard, as has the grinder, although it's poorly today, I do hope I haven't broken it for good.

I've been playing with more decals, but I haven't taken any photographs yet, so here's something else I made instead....

 

  

I've been quite busy, trying to build up stock for the Open Studio Event next weekend.  I hope to offer a chance to decorate glass tree ornaments, so that's the latest task this week.  I also went along to a networking meeting at Erewash Partnership, met some thoroughly lovely people, as well as hopefully made some useful contacts and I visited a local infants school the other day about a potential project there.  I'll tell you more about that in due course...

Oh, and most exciting news!  I have some of my ceramic wall art pieces on display in their first gallery shop!  Tim at Corner Arts in Ilkeston had a look at my work last week, liked what he saw and took all four pieces that I showed him, so that was rather pleasing.  I haven't been back since they've been hung, hope they look good on his walls.

Home from Home?

Well, maybe not quite!

I've been down at Shed 2 Studios for nearly two months now, and as it's getting colder, the more we need to get the stove going.  It's a bit stubborn sometimes, although I am not sure it's meant to do this!  But that's what you get if you let boys loose near things you can set on fire.  Oops. Sorry, I meant men (who act like boys near an open flame).  Mind you, once it's going (and it was here!), it's lovely and cosy.

So, the last couple of months I have been finding my feet again, experimenting, and preparing for the coming few weeks.  You'll be able to see some of my work at our forthcoming OPEN STUDIOS EVENT on Saturday 13th November.  Please do come along and join us for mince pies and mulled wine, a look around the studios.

After that, I will be doing a few more days furiously making, finishing off, packing and preparing for three craft fairs... Long Eaton Art Room Christmas Beau Show on 20/21st November, Kedleston Hall on 27th/28th November, and Strutts Society at Belper on Saturday 4th December.  Busy few weekends ahead for me!

What we saw at the IFG

Okay, okay, I know it was ages ago. But I have to blog about something, right?

And pictures of glass are always good, even if it's not your own... apart from the samples, I really haven't got much else to blog about anyway. I am trying to make sure I am in the studio every day, but as I have not got a specific project to be working on right now, I am just doing a bit of general making, and experimenting.

So, instead, I will back track a couple of weeks, (okay, five) and show you some of my favourite photographs from Stourbridge.  But, organised as ever, I didn't photograph the labels, so whilst I can identify some artists, I am afraid some will go unnamed.  Perhaps some one would like to buy me the official Bienale 2010 catalogue, it would look very nice on my coffee table....

This piece was by one of my favourite glass artists, Keiko Mukaide - who does some wonderful work, often based on culture and family traditions.  There is a lot of depth and meaning in a lot of her work, and I have seen her use glass in a different way in a number of her pieces.  My son took the "artistic angle" photo on the right. I thought it was rather effective. Good lad.

Can't recall who this was by, but technically astonishing. And someone said it looked like a Borg cube.... (if you don't know, then you obviously are not a Trekkie.  Or should that be Trekker?)

A close up of one of Rachel Elliott's allotment pieces.  Amazing detail, fabulous work from a brilliant glass artist, who is not only extremely talented, but is also very generous with her  knowledge.  Well done, Rachel!

One of my favourites at the last Bienale, James Lethbridge.  One of my favourite places in London is the Wellcome Trust (have you ever seen Bleigiessen?), and their art meets medicine gallery - there's a James Lethbridge piece in there, a glass representation of the Aids Virus.  The Wellcome Gallery is worth a visit if you're down in London.

Okay, lets get back to a bit of colour.... and an assortment of makers...

 

Finally, this was the most amazing effect.  Originally cast from books, this was like one of those optical illusions - is it sticking outwards, or sunken inwards?  

 

Not Much to Report

Since going to the IFG (oh, I ought to post some photographs, there was some lovely glass eye candy!), I have mainly been busy moving, what seems like endless amounts of boxes and 'things' from my old space at university, to my new space at Shed 2 Studios, along with building some oversized meccano which eventually became shelving, and finally, after three years, re-claiming the room back that was once the kitchen at home!

It took a couple of weeks to get it to the point of being able to work in my space, but I have spent the last few days, basically just enjoying the space and the freedom of not having to do something to satisfy a project brief.

It's been good to get back to glass, I really haven't done much lately.  I can't spend too many weeks playing though, I DO have some craft fairs and open studio events to get ready for!

Off to the IFG this weekend - woop woop!

The what??

The International Festival of Glass 2010.

Every two years, there's a big glass festival held in Stourbridge, West Midlands - I discovered it the first time two years ago; I went with my son, and we had the most fabulous time.

The festival is set out over several sites around Stourbridge, including Broadfield House Glass Museum - always worth a visit, I loved it there.  Well, they had glass, of course I loved it!  The special exhibition two years ago was Glass dresses, here's a pic I took:



As well as street market, entertainment, a bead fair, evening goings on, a big part of the Festival is the Glass Bienale, a mahoosive exhibition at the Ruskin Glass Centre (which has lots of other happenings over the festival weekend).  The exhibition two years ago was amazing, with lots of fabulous work, but this was on of my favourites, having made it to wallpaper status on the laptop (that's high accolade to make it on my desktop!):

When I get back from this glass fest, it's time to start moving!  Yup, got the keys, space will be clear, now I just have to make several journeys back and forth from Uni to get all my stuff in the right places...

I've got the keys to the door....

Never been twenty one before...!

Go the keys to Shed 2 Studios today... now the moving operation begins....exciting.

If i remember to take the camera with me, I will take photos!

Congratulations All Round and time to start packing....

..... for a holiday?  No. I wish! 

But possibly a whole lot more exciting! I've been fairly quiet about this, but time is fast approaching, and I want to start sharing my news... I was very pleased to be offered studio space at Shed 2 Studios in Ilkeston.

This is great news for me.  Shed 2 was founded by former students on the same course as I did at Derby, everybody who is there is not only lovely, but produce great work and are all doing very well, and I know it will be a wonderful supportive environment.  I would be terrible if I worked from home - about the only time that I ever really want to do housework (as in an insatiable burning desire to do it!) is when I have a project to do... so all that remains is to pack up the three truckloads of stuff I still have at Uni and move it all in...

So, why congratulations all round?  Well, course colleagues Deborah Miles and Nicola Lidstone have both been accepted into the Design Factory, as well as along with Katie Heeks and Robyn Holgate were selected for Lustre 2010 in November at the Lakeside Art Centre, Nottingham.  Well done to you all!

A Few Photos from Rufford

At the end of June, myself, and three other students from the Crafts course at Derby had a stand at Rufford Earth & Fire.  It's a fabulous location for a ceramics fair and the weather was glorious all weekend - disappointed initially that we were in almost permanent shade, by Sunday I was really glad, as I think we would have melted in that hot sun all day!

Now, I need to have a photography session for the new ceramics wall works, but here's what I took of our stand:

This is the whole stand - my work is the square pictures at the left and right hand side, the boxed and free standing sculptural forms are by Sarah Jennings (who you can see just at the right), the wonderful animals in the middle are by Nicola Drury, who's there at the back of the stand, and the rock bowls are by Sarah Huson. 

We all plan to go on and be makers, so look out for us all (if you click on the names, it will take you to my friends' websites)

Here's my work in a bit more close up (you can click on the photos for a closer look):

I think it's all over....

Blimey, it seems forever since I last posted.  It has been bit busy, mind.  I was getting ready for Rufford... a fantastic place for a ceramics fair (well, a great venue for any kind of craft fair really), the weather was fabulous all weekend and we were busy.  Our little Derby Crafts stall did quite well.  And the curry night on Saturday was great!

After packing away from Rufford on Sunday, it was back to Uni yet again on Monday, to finish off the the piece that was going down to New Designers in London, and to load the van.

London was HOT.  The place we stayed in was like a sauna... the underground was unbearable at times.  Was a busy weekend for London, with Wimbledon final and Gay Pride, so probably busier everywhere than the average weekend.  Along with rail closures and tube works... oh the joys!

However, I did get to spend a bit of quiet time with a quick visit to see "Remarkable Glass", a CGS exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts.  On Sunday, in a desperate bid to find nicely air conditioned places, I went to the British Musuem and the British Library.  Both wonderful buildings, and great air conditioning!  At the latter there is currently an exhibition about Maps, which I found really interesting - there's something about old fashioned, hand drawn maps that intrigues me.

Talking of maps, a bit of eye candy?  Managed to get a couple of snaps of the Degree Show art work before it all got taken down.
 














So, what next?  Well, watch this space for studio/workshop news sometime very soon... still seem quite busy at the moment, clearing out uni space and just generally catching up all all that "stuff" that gets neglected.  I bet the sun stops shining soon, just as I actually get a bit of time to enjoy it!

Blog Tired....

I am such a bad blogger.... you'd think after the degree show, I might have a bit of time?

Nope.  Aside from invigilating the show, and hanging around all day on assessment days (two of them) as our work was in the main thoroughfare so we could not leave our visual and supporting studies out on display, so we were played the waiting game for two days too.

Then, straight in to making for Rufford and for me, New Designers - seeing as the work I made is WAY to big to take to either event, and not suitable for the first one anyway.

I've been making tiles like they might go out of fashion, and assembled some of them in to wall art.  No photos yet, but hopefully I will remember to snap them before I sell them all at Rufford Earth and Fire!

Wish me luck (and lots of interest!)

...and breathe!

Phew, what a week!!

After getting the wall piece up last week, I arranged the glass fixings and put up the design board.

ALL DONE!  Well, not quite.  All of last weekend was spent preparing for assessment on Tuesday, and the external examiner on Thursday.  But it literally is all done now, there is no more I can do, but sit and wait for results day.

Preview Night was on Wednesday, it was quite a busy evening, although nobody asked if my piece was for sale!  Actually, I noticed that quite a few people, as they walk by, don't even seem to notice it.... but I am not taking this as a bad thing, I think its probably quite a compliment - perhaps people don't realise it's even part of the show - it looks quite at home on the wall where it is... here's a pic:

Unfortunately, the light isn't brilliant where it is, so those panels don't show up as well as they will when it's in it's proper place in the school.... and they reflect a lot on the photo.  I will try and take a better one this week.

Bag o' Nerves

Not any pictures yet (ran out of time) but today we finally hoisted the big art work on to the wall, it's been two days happening, as our poor tutor has been everywhere, helping everybody... and I physically couldn't do this bit on my own.

After lots of careful measuring, re measuring, pre-drilling and more, the pieces were STILL in the wrong place... finally late morning we got the artwork screwed to the backing board, now, all we had left to do was lift two boards, 8ft x 4ft, which were batttened across the backs upright, and hang 'em on the hooks...

Sounds easy peasy doesn't it?  At one point I had three technicians and two tutors, plus two course colleagues, all holding, lifting, etc and finally we got it in place.

I think I might have forgotten to breathe for a short while, whilst the piece was put in place, but it's finally there, and oh my, I cannot express the relief I felt.  Thing is, if this piece were to fall, break, etc, it is my ONLY thing for the exhibition (apart from the design board), so talk about all my eggs in one basket!

I had to fight back the tears once we were able to let go - partly from pure and simple relief, and to finally see it upright on a wall (this is the first time I have ever actually seen it in that position!) - it was a tiny bit emotional!

All I have to do now is tidy it up (lots of handprints, and marks to clean off), then mark up the glass elements for fixing, and its done. 

Pictures soon!

Oh the frustration....

This week I have been fusing/slumping the glass elements of the piece.  First one came out fine.  Second one, using a different mould, just a slight bit not worked, so I went back to the first mould.  And it did this:

(excuse the dodgy photograph).

Fine you might think, that bubble is cool!  Well, yeah it is, I love it, but unless I can reproduce that eight times, I can't use it.  And it won't be good for engraving on.

My son said "can't you do them all like that?" to which I replied "not a chance".

Seems I was wrong.  I put another two in last night, one new mould, the other one a used twice before.

And yup, I have more bubbles.  This is not good, and I am stumped as to what's happening.  Something on the glass that I haven't cleaned? Moisture on the glass where I have tried to clean?  Or, something is happening to the mould as it's being re-used?  The previously used mould has blown a bigger bubble than the first time mould.  But that could just be coincidence.

Not sure what is causing it, but I need to resolve it, and fast!

What a Marathon!

Blimey, it's been a hectic few days.  Apart from setting up, and tweaking, and re-tweaking (and re-tweaking) my new website (link on the left), I have still been in to Uni to start work on my board/frame.

Matt (the technician, and now my hero) has cut out the boards for me, but I have to sand, by hand, all of the edges for a good fit and finish.  I never realised how hard MDF was to sand....

Having spent about 3 hours doing this on Thursday and Friday (when I really should be doing portfolio and presentation work), I had a sudden panic when I realised that my big template said one measurement, and my drawing/plans said another.  And yes, everything had been cut to the smaller measurement.

Oh boy, did I feel just  a wee bit ill.  Okay, so there's still a bit more time to do this last bit, but it would mean getting new boards delivered, re-cut, sanded before I was back to where I am.  The frame still needs to be constructed, battened and strengthened, and painted, finished and the tiles actually put on to it!

Panic over though, having rushed back down to my workspace, the original template IS the right size, so major disaster averted. For now.

Just got to get through Monday's presentation, and submit everything required and I can get back to the final piece.

Glass Panel Tests and Improvisation

Waiting on wood today for making frame/backboard, so I worked on the presentation for a little while.

Then I figured it might be a good chance to photograph the first glass panel test I did a couple of weeks back (on top of the ceramic tiles are going to be sections of glass that I wanted to echo the pattern of the main body of the work.  So I did a bit of test carving into the plaster, and slumped the glass on to it,

I made a few more moulds yesterday, this time in ceramic, which will be re-usable, as, quite often, the plaster mould (even with flint added) doesn't survive more than a couple of firings. Certainly not eight!

So, these panels are going to fixed to the board with special stand-off fixings, so they're just flat - will holes in, but this first one didn't.  How to photograph it then?  I needed to get light at the back to show the pattern, but didn't have any of my home-made (well, that means brother-made) stands, so I used glue clamps but they're not very pretty.

Then the light bulb moment happened!  I have lots and lots (and lots) of big, thick, chunky ceramic tiles - with channels cut out!

So, I improvised, and used one as a stand.  I can use this technique to make special 'feet' for other glass panel work.   And I think this photo might make it on to the main website.

The Man from KHCTSC - he say yes!

I had to go to the school (KHCTSC) yesterday evening to present my design ideas to the properties sub committee.

I was a wee bit nervous.  I've invested a lot of time and energy, and emotion into this project (never mind the financial cost invested!), but ultimately, no matter how much I like the work, no matter how much my friends at Uni like the work, it doesn't matter unless the end client likes it.

And in this case, it wasn't as though the end client came to me, or asked for proposals for the commission, and in that case had guidelines.  The idea was generated on my side only, with really, the only discussion so far being that they didn't necessarily want something formal and straight forward - I really did have a free rein on the piece from concept through to materials, size, finish.

So, off to school I went, saw one of my old teachers from back when I was there as a pupil.  He doesn't seem to have aged one bit!

Oh I digress.  Did they like it?  Yes!!! They absolutely did.  A resounding yes certainly from the school head, and as far as I could tell, the whole committee.  In fact, the head teacher was positively enthusiastic about the piece, liking the story behind it, the way the ideas were developed - feels it could be used as an educational tool, which adds even more dimension to the piece. 

I can't tell you how I felt when I came away last night.  I was overwhelmed actually by their reaction, and really, it validates everything that I have done.

So, what am I wittering on about?  Here's a Photoshop mock-up of what the final piece might look like in place:

The area is a stair way, at the half way platform, and it is quite a large piece, about 140cm square when finished.

I am a happy bunny today. 

Websites

Ok, this post is purely for search engine reasons, googling for even my exact site address isn't bringing anything up, so lets see if Blogger can help!

My New Website

However the website is by no means complete so ignore content for now! I just need to know I even exist...

Giant chocolate slabs?

Okay, bit of a gap now, I need to go back and fill in what's been happening.

But here is the basic final design - the tiles will actually be the white sections - the negative spaces.  The first set has been made, just waiting for them to dry - they're quite thick!

There will also be a glass element to the piece, but to be honest, this is difficult to decide until I have the ceramics pieces made - everything looks so different when you scale it up.  Initially, it was going to be a full glass layer, but I began thinking that that was going to be complicated, as fixing the glass isn't straightforward - I want the glass to stand away from the ceramic sections, so that it casts lights and patterns on to the background.

I am also beginning to think that the glass elements may well be unnecessary too - overkill if you like.  But as much as I like working with photoshop, it really doesn't portray the glass very well.  Maybe when I have the proper pieces laid out, I can then tell how much glass will be the right amount.

Anyway, this week I was making my first set of ceramic tiles for the piece - they aren't good enough quality in my opinion, and I am quite sure my tutors will agree!  But for me it was more about practicing handling the clay, working out the best way to do things, and of course seeing if it fires ok (Who knows if shrinkage will affect the proportions badly, the tiles may warp, all sorts of problems if the kiln fairies aren't kind - yes, there are fairies for ceramics as well as glass).  I made these this week, and when I was turning them over, they just reminded me of chocolate... Happy Easter!

Where I am at now

For tomorrow (Tuesday) I should have some sort of finalised design. My tutor wants me to display the finished idea, life size.... yikes, that's about 150 cm square.... ish.

I worked out, that to print that off on my trusty HP, it'll be about 40 sheets of A4.

As I am still totally divided two designs, that's two sets.... one will be based on square tiles, the other is far more organic... here's the two sort of, ideas...



These are not finalised, but they are the kind of idea (the second one needs some grid lines). I know they look quite similar side by side, but I think the finished article would look quite different.

The first one would be technically more challenging I think, with large, organic cut outs in ceramic... with occasional glass tiles. The second one would be built up of square tiles, either screen printed, or textured with the design. Not sure what the glass elements of that one would be yet, I have to work a bit more in this design tonight.

When I display it tomorrow, the circuit board design will be gridded up to show it has tiles. I think if I go with the second one, the circuit board idea has to be even stronger than it shows here, perhaps a little more complex?

Anyhow, have to go, lots to do today, including going to Nottingham, and of course, printing of LOTS of sheets of paper, cutting them out....

So why this blog (as well!)

Okay, this is the first entry in my Independent Study blog.

I don't know if I will keep this up, or if, as I get busier and busier (ha, as if it's not busy already!), I might be under too much stress and pressure for time to spare to do this.

But, if I can maintain it, it should help me to document my progress, something which I usually terrible at doing.

So, another post in a moment to see if this all works okay.

Dawn

Retrospectively Posting

As I have already a considerable amount of research on this project, I might want to retrospectively post. So this post is to test that.