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Small Collects 1: Kindness

Small Collects is what I once wrote on a box of stuff that had either been sent to me over the years or I'd found or bought on travels. I'm going to make it a subset of posts to feature the sheer beauty and creativity of ephemera. 

Kindness card series: Deckled Edge Press, Qld


Fiona Dempster and Barry Smith are two of the kindest people I have ever met.

As I write, they are still living in the house they built on the edge of the escarpment outside of the Qld town of Maleny, a house with a view across the valley towards Brisbane so stunning it literally makes you gasp. Both of them are creative in multiple ways, and over the last few years they have turned their attention towards letterpress, collecting equipment and knowledge and quietly getting on with it. They had planned to sell the house and downscale, but the CV-19 situation has postponed that for the moment. However, they have moved the letterpress studio, and have been keeping busy until they can start holding public programs. I've linked their names to their respective blogs above.

Here's what they sent me a couple of weeks ago in that be-stamped envelope I showed in the last post:






Yes, I did enjoy getting a copy. It's such a gentle, friendly gesture. The cards are lovely and crisp, with the embossed chopmark in the corner that feels great under your fingers. They are a rainbow palette, but I thought I'd group them like companions. 

Colophon: Kindness cards, 2020. 175 x 125mm ea. Set of 7 presented in cellophane bag. Handset letterpress on white card. Deckled Edge Press, QLD. Accompanied by handwritten card on remnant of thin etched paper and a business card. Received March 2020 by unsolicited mail. 


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