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Low key Christmas round ours
Dec. 30th, 2013 02:22 pmHighlights were: a great feed at Vitus and Isabel's house on Boxing day (including their family, Ozbeg and Katherine, and Paul and Anne), a visit with Sir Nasr and Countess Ellie on the weekend, and not doing very much at all for a few days.
Neither of us feel up to much: I'd hoped to get a handle on a backlog but the lure of the sofa overwhelmed me. Closest I came was some bookmarks for the giftbasket and a single work for Coronation. Happy with those, fairly, but bummed at low volume.
The cleverest thing I did was fine-nib pen trials. I can now reliably trim my quills to about 1 mm width, which is small but not very small. I spent some time trying to get a smaller nib from my current pens, and decided that it will take more practice, and I shouldn't try to trim nibs when under a (self-imposed) deadline.
So: setting aside the quills, I went back to my boxes of nibs and tried out a whole range of fine pointy nibs, a mix of old ones and ones I'd bought and never used.
Managed to get quite surprising results from them - ones that look like sharp points actually generating serifs like a 'round' hand nib, albeit tiny ones.
Since I did this in one long sitting, I could feel the difference between nibs: some were soft and springy some were hard and thin. Still don't know why you might choose a soft nib over a hard one, but at least I could feel the difference.
Am hoping to scribble some more with pens alone in the next few days.
One comfort: the cosmetic smellies that Lady Ynes left with us got good reviews at Christmas. At our gift exchange I gave out bags of 'red damask powder', left with us by Ynes. I also made 'Spanish leather' following S Pointer's recipe in her book - a sort of scented paste that you rub into soft leather to serve as a small flat pomander. It's rich and earthy and dense smelling, very different from a modern perfume.
We also still have 'nightcap powder', which I think has changed a bit since Ynes left it with us, but stll is delightful and I made new bags for our linens to tuck into our pillows.
I like all these scented items, but perfume is so individual it's hard to predict who will like what, so I didn't oblige anyone to take anything in our gift exchange.
Over the break, I found myself stressed by not getting things done that I'd promised myself over the holiday: no cards, no decorating, a lot less crafting. Just don't have the energy.
However, if tomorrow at work is like today, I can sit and write post-Christmas cards practically all day. Assuming a gale doesn't blow me over on my way to work. This has to be the gustiest and rainiest Christmas I've seen in England.
Also: disappointed with the Doctor. The 50th anniversary was brilliant, and this was a strained anticlimax in comparison.
Neither of us feel up to much: I'd hoped to get a handle on a backlog but the lure of the sofa overwhelmed me. Closest I came was some bookmarks for the giftbasket and a single work for Coronation. Happy with those, fairly, but bummed at low volume.
The cleverest thing I did was fine-nib pen trials. I can now reliably trim my quills to about 1 mm width, which is small but not very small. I spent some time trying to get a smaller nib from my current pens, and decided that it will take more practice, and I shouldn't try to trim nibs when under a (self-imposed) deadline.
So: setting aside the quills, I went back to my boxes of nibs and tried out a whole range of fine pointy nibs, a mix of old ones and ones I'd bought and never used.
Managed to get quite surprising results from them - ones that look like sharp points actually generating serifs like a 'round' hand nib, albeit tiny ones.
Since I did this in one long sitting, I could feel the difference between nibs: some were soft and springy some were hard and thin. Still don't know why you might choose a soft nib over a hard one, but at least I could feel the difference.
Am hoping to scribble some more with pens alone in the next few days.
One comfort: the cosmetic smellies that Lady Ynes left with us got good reviews at Christmas. At our gift exchange I gave out bags of 'red damask powder', left with us by Ynes. I also made 'Spanish leather' following S Pointer's recipe in her book - a sort of scented paste that you rub into soft leather to serve as a small flat pomander. It's rich and earthy and dense smelling, very different from a modern perfume.
We also still have 'nightcap powder', which I think has changed a bit since Ynes left it with us, but stll is delightful and I made new bags for our linens to tuck into our pillows.
I like all these scented items, but perfume is so individual it's hard to predict who will like what, so I didn't oblige anyone to take anything in our gift exchange.
Over the break, I found myself stressed by not getting things done that I'd promised myself over the holiday: no cards, no decorating, a lot less crafting. Just don't have the energy.
However, if tomorrow at work is like today, I can sit and write post-Christmas cards practically all day. Assuming a gale doesn't blow me over on my way to work. This has to be the gustiest and rainiest Christmas I've seen in England.
Also: disappointed with the Doctor. The 50th anniversary was brilliant, and this was a strained anticlimax in comparison.
