Journey Jottings

Yesterday, I went to see our printer in Brisbane to sign off the proof for a new travel wallet I’m producing for our Australia Map Journal ~

There’s always an air of trepidation signing off a proof ~ It sounds a bit melodramatic, but it can feel close to signing your life away!

One can’t help but have a fear that you just may have missed a spelling mistake and that once the printing machines start rolling you’ll have reams of paper piling up off the end of the press all displaying some glaring bloomer

It’s also a really exciting time!

The proof is produced on a high gloss photographic paper so the image is strong and crisp, but because one can’t write on glossy paper we produce our products on uncoated papers – Uncoated papers absorb more ink so the final result is visually more muted – The proof in our case is therefore no real indication as to what it will look like as it comes off the press, which can mean a few surprises

On the eco front, we use a 40% post consumer waste recycled paper, with the remainder coming from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) managed trees. Our printer uses soy based inks.

So… Here is a sneak peak of the new travel wallet front cover…

and the back…

I’ve selected a textured card with a lovely feel to it so… I can’t wait to see and touch the final product!

Fingers crossed it lives up to my expectations

For about 4 years I worked in mineral exploration as a geological draughtsperson.

I was contracting to a company in Perth who saw the light in sending someone out into the field with the reconnaissance team, who could plot the grids and interpolate the data as it came to hand.

Most projects ran for 3 months, where the accommodation was a tent and the annexe was my office.

My fondest memories are from a job that had us camping on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in WA not far, metaphorically speaking, from Wolf Creek meteorite crater.

We had a weekly chartered airplane come in with supplies to last for the following week, on which I would put copies of the latest plans so head office could see what we had done and where we were at.

A sun-printing method was used to produce these prints, where the pen and ink drawings on draughting film were laid over light sensitive paper in a darkened tent – This entailed pulling down all the flaps when it was 40 degrees outside and working as fast as possible to get the plans strapped to a board that was pulled back in an arching position to ensure a good close contact was being made. Then outside, pouring with sweat, to stand and face the glaring sun with the board held aloft for a timed 2 minutes, before back into the steaming darkened tent to wipe a solution over the now exposed film that would develop the image. Voila!

Exploration crew in the Great Sandy Desert

This is a photo of me, on the left, with Jim, Phil, Verne, Noel and John at the end of the project as we are about to pull out and hit the road.