The colour of the week is blue, as we have seen a lot of this over the last few days! (the small white dot is the moon)…
This however is not helping me choose which colour leather to order! A binder in the States, Erin Fletcher (who writes a great blog of her own, ‘Flash of the Hand’), told me about French leather suppliers ‘Tannerie Remy Carriat’, who do a vast range of coloured leathers. I intend on ordering a skin or two to try out how the leather might behave if using it to cover a book, but choosing a colour is proving to be a bit of a challenge as I love all of them.
I am excited about trying out new materials during my time here as I have a bit more time to experiment. A week in, I am not sure how I used to manage doing a four-day-a-week job at the V&A as I don’t seem to have any extra time here, but I guess it will take a bit of time to discover a new routine. Although I miss my V&A friends a lot, I am pleased to say that George is proving to be a very good colleague! (and possible apprentice?)
My studio is now filled with the sound of great music to work along to. I am pleased as I have discovered a radio station I used to listen to whilst a student in Brighton, ‘Fip’. I used to be able to get in on FM when in Brighton as the frequency reached far enough over the channel, I am now picking it up via the internet which is also providing me with the required fix of 6Music and Jazz FM!
Google translate is also proving very useful for the few emails George and I have had to write so far. We have booked an introductory session with a French language teacher next week as we need to be able to fend for ourselves sooner rather than later. Our first major challenge arose yesterday when we had to retrieve our fixed car from the Renault garage next door. The mechanic and his wife speak no English at all, and our French hardly yet even stretches to asking for directions, let alone understanding car mechanic terms! George and I then drove in convoy to return our hire car to the office which unintentionally turned into a tour of Avignon city centre as we got a bit lost!
We had a more successful journey out today on our bikes. I bought some ordnance survey-type maps of the region, which have now proved very useful for navigating around the local area. I forgot to take my camera so will have to repeat the route in due course to take some photos! At present I have been using my trusty iPhone to take lots of snaps, but I must read up about the new camera we bought a few months ago and start using that more regularly. I have many photographs on the camera that I will feature on the blog retrospectively in due course once I have waded through them, including photos of some recent bindings that need to make it onto my website.
So much to do! I must get on, this afternoon’s job is starting to plan the designs for the books I pulled into sections the other day…