Fall Tour and Working Together

While this tour is happening farther east,leaving the house a little quiet,  there is plenty going on this coast. 
Astropress and Gutwrench Press are friends, and tabling near you. We will be hauling our prints, postcards, handbound journals, datebooks and a tiny spiky plant around the Bay and beyond.
After our superfun SF Zine Fest weekend two weeks ago, we needed a little time to rest and make more stuff for the following dates:
September 29th SFCB Roadworks, 16th and Rhode Island, San Francisco, 11 am- 4 pm.  Even if you don;t care about seeing us, come see a giant steamroller make prints, including a new linocut from Dutchdoor Press's Anna Braning.
October 19, 20th New Orleans Anarchist Bookfair Zeitgeist, New Orleans.  Come say hi while I am in town for a few days, with just our prints to keep me company as Astropress will have to remain on the west coast.
October 26th East Bay Anarchist Bookfair Oakland.  I'll be home in time for this. Don't sleep through it! Come by!

Also, I have finally posted more postcards on my etsy site, including this collaboration wtih my friend and hero of awesomeness, Jeremy Sedita of Sea Monster Workshop.  He is a fantastic illustrator and worker of magic, so when I saw this illustration, I wanted to print it.  He wanted me to print it too! Now you can buy these collaborative postcards and encourage us to make more together.

Thank you friends, and we will see you soon.

PS, if you followed the link to the Thou Tour Video, know that you have been impressed by Mitch Well's filmmaking.

Vandercook Weekend

I once told a papermaker friend that I tell papermakers I am a printmaker and vice versa.  Maybe it seems like I am lowering the bar as an excuse for myself but I am just giving myself more room to learn all around.  This weekend, I found myself explaining that I print equally on platen presses and flatbed Vandercooks as I had the opportunity to take a Vandercook Maintenance class with Paul Moxen at the San Francisco Center for the Book.   All of my internship hours were worth the chance to take apart sections of presses I have used to create many years of postcards.

 

For non-letterpress friends, this might be a little nerdy.  Paul Moxen probably knows more about Vandercook machines and history than anyone in the US now.  He is a great collector of stories and information, constantly gathering more.  He keeps a registry of Vandercook presses in the world, to which I added the beauty in our garage.  I also had the chance to meet someone who has the same press we have, a motorized Universal 1 with an adjustable bed and automatic feeder.  I look forward to emailing Chip at Quail Lane Press next time our press makes that weird noise as I print another postcard.

checking the balance of the carriage

paper grippers from the inside out

gauge on the 219 for the adjustable bed

 I won't bore you with details of what I learned but a few things started to make sense about presses I have used before (oh the LSU Vandercooks need love).   Maybe I will post some photos when Ben and I have a chance to clean up ours.  But today, before it rains, I must fix my bike after my derailleur somehow twisted itself into my back wheel the other day.  Wish me luck!