Works ______ With Others part I

  I'm not going to bore you with stories of busy-ness and certainly there are no excuses. But here is a showcase of some of the things I have printed in the past 2 months.  There has been a lot of collaborating going on, some more successful than others.

hand set type, silver on black paper, printed at SFCB


Thou is touring a bunch these moths.  Which means Andy is out of town and I will probably eat more burritos.  I might even catch up on posting Keep Writing photos to the Tumblr website. Maybe.  The best part is that Thou is coming here with Cloud Rat. Which means I get to see them all play and I got to make this poster for some of the shows here. You have to go the website to see the whole list.  And you can get a peek in Bryan's brain as there are days marked for writing and practicing and a to do list that looks little too familiar.  Anyway, these posters were printed at the San Francisco Center for the Book, using their beautiful collection of handset type and photo plates.  I printed while Andy learned about locking in the type, furniture, distributing type and got snacks for us.   I will have these for sale at the shows for $5 and on etsy if there are any left after that.

5.75 x 8 letterpress on somerset paper, image by cecilia hedin

I was lucky to work with designer Cecilia Hedin again to print another hybrid animal postcard.  She sends me a drawing done in film--coated black plastic that she essentially scratches at. I turn it into a plate and print it with the type she chooses. The Goldfant is her 3rd such creation. Her line work is amazing and the fluorescent makes it so fun!

keep writing numbers 59 and 61!

Jeremy Sedita of Sea Monster Workshop was kind enough to let me use two of his drawing for two months of postcards while I was working too much at non-print endeavors.  The first one came out quite nice but the second one had some issues with poor resolution and added text.  It was a fine enough postcard but not exactly Jeremy's work. He's a sweetie and a great artist so don't let the poor linework fool you. The sloppy/loose/handmade look is all me.

There's more but I will save it for another day soon. Rain finally came to California, which means the plants are all reaching for the endless sun and I light have to go take a little ride around the block to check it out! More soon!

Thanks for Five Years

so much thanks!

Five years ago I had just arrived in Baton Rouge from New Orleans.  I was eighty miles away and a 31 year year old freshman in college at a big ol'state university.  I missed my friends. I wanted to do well in school, and moreso, I wanted to use all the great stuff at my disposal.  But how would I find time to write to all the people I loved most?

the first moht of keep writing! and still one of my favorites

And so I started Keep Writing.  Maybe you know this story. I sent out a postcard to fifty friends, to see if anyone was interested.  The first months included a few creative ways of making postcards without letterpress or silkscreen--lots of sewing, color copies and handcarved stamps. Luckily I got a key to the letterpress studio soon after the 4th month.

keep writing number 56!

This month marks five years of sending a monthly postcard to friends and strangers who have asked for it.  The past 2 1/2 years have included an interactive portion where you get to send something back to me.  Like the month I gave you a Venn Diagram to fill out and send back.  It's been super fun, a monthly challenge and full of surprises.  So, to thank you, you can renew your subscription (or sign up!) for the month of November for whatever you can afford from $5 to $30 (the regular price is $30 for a year). Email your payment through paypal to gutwrenchhope@gmail.com . Don't forget to include your mailing address!  Thanks y'all!  Now if I can get 800 more subscribers, I can quit my day jobs and spent all my time making mail!

The Longest Days

Phew!  June has been packed with an art show at our place, apertivo every Friday and out-of-town guest-adventures.  We forgot to take photos of the art show but I still have one of my prints to share.

seven postcards based on printmaking and prince 

The Prince/Prints art show was June 7th.  We raised over $150 dollars for the Beagle Freedom Project, Ben gave letterpress demos and Andy and Brooks served drinks.  A few people went home with prints and I napped with a rescued beagle on my couch.

practice practice. and measuring.

I also took a class at the SF Center for The Book in handlettering.  Unfortunately, I was ill for a few classes but I have been using my new pen nib trying out a little handlettering.  I am far from doing well but it is fun.   I practice once or twice a week, which is not nearly enough, but I experimented a little with some new postcard backs and next month's Keep Writing postcard.

a peek at next month's Keep Writing postcard

I am excited to try out printing next month's card on Crane's Lettra, the wonderfully ubiquitous paper made for letterpress printing.  I use it at work for almost everything we do but this is the first time I will use it for my own project.  We'll try it out next week.

potatoes!

While it is still never really hot here, I am sometimes warm enough and the garden seems very happy.  We harvested our first round of potatoes the other day and have eaten them all.  Here they are, washed and drying.  No complaints here.

Cut and Paste Forever

 

 

Happy Groundhog's Day

I've been working a lot, printing other people's computer-generated designs.  And I've been printing my own computer-assisted designs.  Which is fine.  I like printing.  Maybe a little less at 10 pm on a Saturday night when there is a warm bed and a book waiting for me but it still beats out everything else I could do for "work". 

channeling the spirit of Astropress

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, there have been many work-induced headaches lately.  At my roommate's suggestion, I thought about playing hookey today but the things I wanted to do are, well, things I want to do.   I thought I'd give it a go before I head out into the sunshine (there is still time for that).  I busted out the paper and exacto and pencil, demoted the computer to streaming Italian music only and worked on the postcard  idea I've been carrying around for a week.  You'll have to wait until next month to see it.  And the sketch rarely looks like the final project but here's a start.

keep writing number 49

Even in printing using polymer plates, I can't help cut and rearrrange.  Handset polymer plates, we've been calling it.  It's kind of a pain but I like results.  I hope Viva Snail Mail does too.  She writes a great blog about mail with lots of great photos.  She was also the first person to respond to my offer of custom postcard printing for only the cost of materials.  Here are some peeks at my printing the cards I designed for you.  I will post a photo of the finished project once she receives her cards!

our shop's current soundsystem.  note that it plugs in.

also did a little press maintenance

Moving into the Print Shop

Burrito night is what happens when one or both of my roommates are not home, I work late and I realize that if I will be required to cook for myself, I will eat pasta with butter for dinner (again).  But I live in California, where the burritos are plentiful and cheap.  Afterwards I still feel like doing something, even if that something is writing about my dinner to you.

Behold, I have finally posted  Keep Writing #47 and  #46.  If you look closely and pay attention, you will realize they are both numbered 46.  That is what happens when you prepare files late at night.  In a few months I will be handsetting type again, but while the Center for the Book is still unpacking and setting up, I will print where I can.  Including at Painted Tongue Press (where I work).  Printing post cards on a Heidelburg Windmill, that's right.

thrift store score--the tea pot 

our cat-centric fridge

For the next two weeks or so (and the past one) I will be at home printing, or at Painted Tongue or at the Center for the Book.  Don't fear, last week I had a chance to make the house look pretty and sit and drink tea in the ktichen for hours.

from a book of photos of signs

a post card i made two years ago

And while we were walking around Berkeley a few weeks ago, working up an appetite for giant vegan cinnamon rolls, Andy and I found this in a book .  Weird.

P.S. Today Should Be Okay

view from hostel window 

 The hostel in Perugia was very reassuring. Though the staff spoke quickly in Italian, undeterred by my l blank stares and bad accent. The wind was cold but the view was incredible. I walked in the rain, made tiny books out of train tickets, ate pasta and drank wine. Just as you'd expect.

tiny!tiny!

 

I still make things!

 

                                      Bologna. Maybe it should read: Give me, Hope, candy.

In the Mail!

After three trips to the post office, Keep Writing number 39 is in the mail. I'm going to wait longer than usual to post the actual card as nothing in Italy is quick or efficient. I was worried about the stamp-buying but we worked it out on my third visit. And look at these things! They even feel nice. It's been beautiful here in Milan and I've been home studying with the windows open. I'm taking a few days off now to visit my favorite art history lesson...Florence. Meanwhile, expect mail in a few weeks. After a long lunch break. And a 6 hour strike. And then a coffee break. And maybe a stroll. And then one day after that.

Preparations

I leave next week for Italy, I have to move out of my house before then and what am I doing? Sorting type I acquired a few years ago. And looking for something to mix with coffee for my moving sale tomorrow morning. It's weird to be so busy working towards a due date and then to suddenly realize it means that something is over. I am leaving this town, the job I liked so much, a few great people. Today I ran a few errands but also said goodbye to a few people who helped so much in my last semester at LSU.



Taylor came over the other night for one more dinner at the thai place down the street and then some beer drinking and printing. I printed the first layer of the next Keep Writing postcard on the gocco printer I bought to bring with me to Italy. This drawing of the Mississippi River Bridge is a good start for my new traveling best friend.



Because of the moving sale, I haven't packed much else, as evidenced by this string of holiday cards still strung in our kitchen. I'm going to miss this house, and I am not doing an efficient job packing, but adventure awaits, whether the type is sorted or not.

Test Run

How will I send you postcards from Italy? With this. I am slow to the gocco print trend but I was convinced to bring one in my suitcase to Milan. Tonight I tested my first drawing for Keep Writing number 38 and the screen looks good. So easy. Complete with toxic lightbulbs. I have been asking for donations to cover the extra postage (about 2 dollars a postcard) and I am excited about this plan. I am printing the gocco tomorrow, the letterpress soon. I don't know what customs will think of me. Or my roommates in Milan. But I think I am not going to want to travel without this again.



One thing I am leaving behind that isn't mentioned in next month's postcard is my garden plot at the Hill Farm Community Garden. Even when I only stop by once a week to pick hot peppers or lettuce, or check on this crazy cauliflower, it always made me feel so much better. It is a great quiet spot in the middle of crazy campus. Not to mention all the saurkraut. I have a second giant batch of sour veggies on the fridge right now so I can leave A. with plenty of fermented food while I am away. I guess I should go back to packing.

From Insomnia to Sick

The Movable Type Truck came to Baton Rouge this week for a lecture and then a downtown lunchtime demo. Where were you? Kyle Durrie outfitted this stepvan with a mobile letterpress shop. Two presses, type, ink and a bunk for sleeping all cozied into this truck. She is traveling for 3 more months. Check out her website to see if she is coming to your town!



Meanwhile I realized I am leaving for Italy in two weeks! This week I had trouble sleeping but I cleared out my studio, started packing and panicked a little. Don't worry though, I have a plan to continue sending postcards to you. I will share it soon. Maybe after a two day nap.



Oh, and to my postcard friends...the "my name is..." line on the most recent card is for you to tell me who you are. Yesterday I got my first card with no name. I would like to keep sending postcards to you, whoever you are.

Rainy Day

Flavored soy lattes have been my solution to the tired/stomachache problem. Still nothing for the backpain but hot showers. Enough complaining! I had a little time tonight to catch up on a few things I have been ignoring/forgetting so here is a little bit for you.




First, one of the last submissions to the Keep Writing number 29 batch of paper postcard. This is a postcard from Kathryn of the Jefferson Davis statue in New Orleans. Lasse actually sent his postcard just in time but I can's seem to find the photo of his fabric scraps. The paper is made. I made a base pulp with these t-shirts from Mark, but they looked a little like puke together. So I made a second base pulp, mixed the two, added all the stuff you sent me, and pulled large sheets that will be cut into postcards and printed this weekend. Somehow. (Read:coffee, whiskey and a late night at the printshop). They are currently in the dryer though I suspect nothing in South Louisiana is dry right now, the rain barely made it wetter. Will I ever re-acclimate to average to dry air?



Oh, and note that the photo of Mark's t-shirts was filtered through the new Cheapstamatic website. I liked the old site so much I offered to test the new one. Thanks, Mark. (Not Mark with the shirts, Mark in Sweden who makes the website).

Walk Around the Block

Unexpected but welcome rain changed my plans for the day. I've been home writing letters and posting a million photos on my Keep Writing blog, where you can see all the mail people have been sending me. But I wanted to share this one because it is so nice.
Like listening to the rain. Except the humidity is making everything wonky, including my computer and my head, which sustained a slight injury yesterday when I stood up into a concrete pillar. I would show you a photo but the sharing line has to be drawn somewhere and I don't think Andy would take the picture.

Come see !

Andy and I took a little drive to Pensacola two weeks ago and this is what I saw. Now I am ready for summer! There is paper to be made, postcards to finish printing but first, blueberry pancakes.
Summer in Louisiana is a good time to do all that computer work I have been avoiding. I finally made a site for you to see all the Keep Writing postcards. I am still scanning them and posting so stay tuned. Also on the internet, swimming holes and beaches within two hours of driving from here. Yahoo!

Summer Vaction

I finished my finals, somehow managed an A in my Gen Ed class, despite my whining about it more than attending,and went to the beach for a day. Now it is back to work. But now it is at summer-fun-pace. I have no summer classes but lots to do. My sister has been visiting and she has been a fine companion in the kitchen while I got some of my cooking jitters out. Now, after some handmade ravioli today, the freezer will be stocked and I will be ready to go.

First, here is the buddy I have sitting over my desk at home as I cleaned up a little and answered some mail. He is smart to hide under the jessamine leaf but I don't think he counted on exposing his belly to me.


Keep Writing number 29 went in the mail last week, just after finals. A little late but lovely. I have already started on number 30, a collaboration with my sister something that hasn't happened since we planned our drawings out in crayon. I have some work in progress photos for you as soon as the humidity takes over and it is nicer to sit at this computer than ride around outside.