blah, blah, blog! stuff that’s going on in and out of the printable universe… follow us on social media for all our latest news, blogs and updates FILTERSAllCommissionsFlat RefurbGrand Days OutHistoryHome IdeasHome PrintingMetal DetectingMetal Detectingall noisy on the weston frontI’m sure most detectorists would agree that the hardest part of our hobby is obtaining permissions. I have been trying so hard for the past few years to get my own permissions outside of the couple of fields my family owns...Metal Detectinga detectorists best friend2022 shall be remembered as the year that saw the death of many a detectorists best and trusted friend, the humble spade. Ground conditions in the middle of this year became incredibly hard due to the long hot summer...Metal DetectingWriting is now a hobby!Since I started metal detecting again back in September 2021, I have become so passionate about it that I felt compelled to write about it. This gave birth to the Hertfordshire History Hunter blog in which I write about...Metal DetectingWhere are all the finds?One sunny winter’s morning, I was standing with a friend on his permission, in the gaze of the late bronze age hill fort of Arbury Banks, (a Scheduled Ancient Monument) looking out over the site of a suspected Roman villa complex...Metal DetectingJeton Back to the PastIt’s been a long time coming, but I have finally had this Jeton I found way back in June 2021 identified. Well sort of, it turns out that there is ’no parallel for this particular Jetton’ according to my local FLO. But he did say...Metal Detectingcan’t stop treasure huntingSo as my love for this wonderful hobby grows, so does my contributions to Treasure Hunting magazine. This is now my third outing in my favourite mag, but this time it feels that bit more special as I have made it onto the contents page!Home IdeasThe Light DistilleryLast year I posted a blog called “Krakin’ Kraken Lights” in which I made some shelf lights out of old Kraken Rum bottles. They actually turned out better than I had hoped, so I wondered if I could turn them into lamps...Metal DetectingTreasure Hunting Again…So here I go again, I now have my second article printed in the January 2022 edition of Treasure Hunting Magazine. This time I have two pages dedicated to my ramblings so things are definitely on the up.Metal DetectingAnother walk in the fieldsI had two weekends in which to search a field that was incredibly muddy and which was so big I couldn’t fully see it from end to end! I was told I had the permission a day before the first weekend and luckily I had no plans.HistoryA Life SpanNot many people know or knew that my Grandmother was German. She was born and raised in Berlin and when WWII broke out she was just a young teenager. This is her story, written in her words...Metal DetectingA walk in the fieldsSo I have been back detecting again for nearly a year now and I have pretty much been on the same permission for that entire time. The two fields where I detect were kept by my family when the rest of the land which they owned...Grand Days OutCars, cars cars…I wanted to write a short blog about the London Concours car event that I attended in June and share some of the photos I took as it’s not everyday you get to see a collection of precious cars like this all in one place.Metal Detectingfavourite find so farI don’t know why I have waited until now, but I think its time to blog about my favourite find so far, an Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) small-long brooch. I found this little beauty on a pretty cold Sunday afternoon at the beginning of January.Metal DetectingTreasure HuntingSo as you will know from my blog, I got back into detecting in September 2020. Since then it’s a hobby which I have become addicted too and one that I love everything about. I have only been detecting in two fields so far...Home Ideaskrakin’ kraken lightsThis time the focus is wall lights. Before the plastering was redone there used to be two wall lights, one either side of the fireplace. The wiring for these lights was left in place but we couldn’t find any lights that we liked to replace them with.Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 8Looking back on my finished blog, I think it will serve as a great reminder for my future self. If ever I find myself in a situation feeling like I can't do something, all I will have to do is just look at this and I will know! 🙂Metal DetectingDetect-Ed Shaft ReviewYou may ask what’s the point in changing the shaft, the stock one is reasonably user friendly and it’s not particularly heavy? These things are true, but I have a couple of niggles with the stock one and I also have a tech addiction to please.Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 7So here it is, the final room to be tackled and the journey’s end for my flat refurbishment project! As you can see from the cover pic, this room was used as storage whilst the rest of the flat was being sorted out.Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 6Two things in the living room had to go which were the old enclosed wooden curtain rail and the bulky 1960's gas fireplace surround. The curtain rail was easy to remove with a little help from a crow bar...Metal DetectingThe humble, boring, button…On the whole most of the buttons I find are in fact quite boring, faceless and small. But as you can see from my collection, I have also found some buttons with quite detailed designs and variations in sizes.Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 5The hallway… what can you say about the hallway? It’s not like the other rooms where a lot of consideration was needed to make things work the way I wanted. In fact it’s not really a room at all, more a collection of doors.Home IdeasCreating A Gallery WallCreating a gallery wall is a great way of making an exciting feature in your home and there is no end to what you can include. So if creating a gallery wall is something you want to do then just do it!Commissionsa three part commissionWe absolutely loved working on this commission. Our client came to us with an idea of what he wanted, and we turned that Idea into reality. The three musical artists in this series are personal favourites of our client.Metal Detectingwhat have the romans…So having found my first silver hammy I didn’t think it could get much better. Even though it’s a coin that’s fairly common in the world of hammered’s, it was still a thrill to find my first, so much so that I have framed it!Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 4The bathroom… oh the bathroom. This was possibly even worse than the kitchen. The thing that first hit you was the musty damp smell which emanated from the floor. Why would anyone use carpet as bathroom flooring, just why!?!Metal Detectingfirst silver hammy…For the most part, I find detecting is a pastime that enriches my soul and I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking it’s a great tonic for mental health too, something a lot of people are struggling with during this pandemic.Metal Detectinghalf a denari…As most detectorists know, it’s a great feeling when you find something good, but for me it’s even better when you are able to research the history, and sometimes even find out who made and held what you found.Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 3The toughest and most costly parts of this refurb were always going to be the kitchen and bathroom as both needed to be completely ripped out, re-designed and rebuilt from scratch. I decided to tackle the kitchen first...Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 2So, I had the keys, my stuff was all moved in, the only thing left to do was show the place to my son. He was 12 at the time and I guess he probably couldn’t visualise what the flat could become. He was pretty excited...Flat RefurbFlat Refurbishment – Part 1Back at the beginning of 2019 at the ripe old age of 46 I was lucky enough to find myself in a position to buy my first flat. Little did I know what an amazing journey lay ahead and how rewarding it would be...Metal Detectinghistory is in the leadSince I started my new journey back into this amazing hobby I have been finding all sorts of things of the metal persuasion. A lot of the time I find quite a bit of rubbish, nails, tin cans, ring pulls, the list goes on...Metal Detectingdetecting – what a hobby!In detecting I have found a hobby that I truly love and one I know will keep me (and the dog) occupied and happy for years to come, I just need to work on securing some new permission's for the future!Home IdeasSkateboard Coat RackI knew I wanted something contemporary and cool but my searches on the internet weren't really coming up with anything inspiring and if anything was close to what I was looking for then it would also have a ridiculous price tag!Home Printinggetting the best home print!Recently we wanted showcase some of our digital art prints at a local art market in Hitchin, so we thought it was a great opportunity to try out some different printer paper types to see what would give the best results for our prints.
