Meeting Morso

Had a bit of a play with framing machinery this afternoon; hanging with my framers is a favourite painting day pursuit as they are really fun and you can go a little loopy sitting talking to cats all day in your studio. Make that loopier. Actually, make that any other word than loopier as loopy is actually right up there with 'arty-farty' as one of my least favourite expressions.

Long ago in London I and a friend once held to hostage a terrible photo of another friend and made her write out 'lines' like in school for its safe return. We chose her self proclaimed least favourite words as her lines and I can still see the piece of hand written scrawl she handed back;

baps, baps, baps... nick-nacks, nick-nacks, nick-nacks... thankfully my memory has erased the rest of the words; love those two though. This, I hasten to add, was how we passed some of our working time at a large and reputable publishing house in Covent Garden when we were supposed to be picture researching. Every time I hear articles on how many man-hours are lost through people calling in sick and web surfing I think of those days before widespread internet services when our job was to trawl libraries and photo agencies across London for pictures to include in publications. Key words here? 'Across London'. Bad day at the office? Trip to the British Museum. Hangover? Trip to somewhere no-one has heard of, which actually meant 'staying in bed'. After a very bad home hair dye experience I once managed to spend the entire (working) morning finding a salon that could do a repair job and getting it redyed; officially I was out hunting for botanical illustrations or similar. We always handed in the jobs on time though; no bad karma on that one; we just did it in an early approximation of flexitime.

And so to Morso; a Danish company who manufacture the industry standard framing mitre cutter and wood burning stoves. They seem to have a thing for cast iron, and very chunky and hard wearing it is too. I have been in the framing workshop a zillion times without really clocking the fascinating machine that is the Morso, so today's lesson was a real revelation. I had always imagined mitre cutters as a kind of saw, but no, this boy is a chopper. Two wonderfully hefty looking blades at a right angle and a foot pedal; clamp in the wood, adjust some adjusty bits and *whack* - down with the blade and a perfect bite of 45 degrees is removed. I am in awe of this as a piece of machinery and hope fervently that we can own one before long; so much more cool than a saw and of course not messy or sawdusty at all. I imagine you could lose a piece of your body pretty easily however so I don't imagine Morso is top of the H&S wishlist for a playgroup or similar institution; the plastic safety guard is a mere Hannibal Lecter mask which does little to diminish the apparent power.

Stu's framing ambitions are leading us to Gairloch in October; having played with my Edinburgh framers equipment we are to spend a quality day seeing how a rural cottage industry framer plies her trade; can't accuse us of lacking in thoroughness in research. I want to get an overview of how different systems work and the workability of different machines as relates to our situation. Then we can progress with authority, methinks. Or me hopes certainly.

An unexpected treat comes from this step of the learning curve (don't you just love a mixed metaphor of a Friday); I have found the solution to indulging my camping obsession while securing a less canvassy environment for Stu. Teepees. The campsite in Gairloch boasts a selection of wooden hut like constructions on a loosely teepee shape, complete with beds and heating -ta dah! Problem solved - Stu can, with a little imagination, think himself in a rigid structure with mod cons, and I can use mine to hear the flapping of canvas and the nestling reindeer nuzzling outside. I am sure we will be just peachy as long as the rain is kind to us, and if it chucks it down I am more than sure that a welcoming hostelry will be found for shelter and even a quiz night if we are really lucky...

Painting like a painting beast tonight so I shall away to my painty lair to keep the momentum going; Lotte the elephant riding angel is on her way to completion!