One fact that that survived the fog of new-parenthood was about Poppy’s visual development. For the first weeks she could barely see any distance, and couldn’t differentiate one colour from the next. Apparently a lot of this isn’t to do with the eye, but with neurology — visual processing takes a while to perfect. Little ones like pictures full of sharp edges and high contrast. We noticed that she’s taken quite a shine to a wood engraving we have on the wall. She can stare at it for minutes at a time and seems fascinated. This was food for thought.

All Poppy’s baby books are full of bright primaries or pastels. There’s very little with strong, monochrome images that might appeal to her. So I thought about making some very simple designs and binding them into a little concertina book. I’ll start with letter and number shapes, musical notes, domino and dice spots, spirals, zigzags and meanders, and so on. Will she come to understand any designs? I doubt the cognitive tools are there just yet. But who knows? Maybe when she encounters writing and other symbols elsewhere she’ll recognize something. And we’ll have a book to preserve, drool and all, as a keepsake.

Here is a stab at letter shapes. As usual I struggled to ink evenly, but then it’s a first proof. I’ll post later — and hopefully more interesting — designs when they’re ready.

Last year my uncle and cousin visited from the States. During their visit we went to Belas Knap. On leaving Oxford, aim your car at Winchcombe and follow the back roads. You will follow a deep, twisting valley that heads west until the land unfolds. Along the way is a sign that points you left, walking through woods and up a steep incline onto the ridge. There is Belas Knap — an ancient barrow and the perfect place to sit and watch the sky.

We took many photos. I completely failed to capture some small mushrooms in the crook of a tree. This design is an attempt to recreate them from memory. The only bit that works for me is the leftmost mushroom. The block was one of the largest I’ve cut (at a measly 8″x6″), and I became impatient trying to model the tree. It came out looking like a hacked-up linocut. But the mushroom remains, and I’m happy with that.

And many thanks to Bareners who gave advice on how to get a denser result print from ply. This one used my nipping press and a sandwich of heavy MDF board plus a little soft backing cardboard to even things out. Getting there…