It's A New Year!

I welcomed 2012 the best way I could:
printing New Year's postcards for Keep Writing.






making kimchi and soured beets with these lovelies from the garden.



setting woodtype for another of Jason's mystery projects.




Now off to bed with hot buttered whiskey. I need to get my rest. There is a lot coming up this year. Stay tuned.

Lady vs. Machine

So the postcards are "late" every month because I set deadlines for myself that no one else notices. Some times I have excuses. Like how when I went to expose a screen for the first layer of this month's postcard, the exposure unit would not turn on. A bummer for me but something to cause my professor a whole lotta cursing as it was the first day of classes. The situation is temporarily resolved for the shop and Blackbird Letterpress, my employer and print-guardian angel, added my image to their order for a polymer plate. I should be able to pick it up soon as I finish this post.



However, in the dark room mess, my professor found my coated screen after he turned on the lights, with the transparency taped to it so we exposed it on my studio desk. I think it is a little over exposed but we'll see if we need/want another layer when I go to print this weekend. So, no later than usual and Ms. Ella D. has offered her assistance in addressing cards. Which may be more helpful than the hours of Glee I watched in June while writing addresses.



The sun is hesitant today but yesterday it shone through my new bottle of blueberry kombucha and made it the most beautiful thing in the world. I experimented, adding mashed organic blueberries to the tea and it came out lovely. A little tart, a little sweet, a little somethin'. Now I must go show my appreciation for the letterpress shop and show up for work.

"My Guys Don't Do Arts and Crafts"

Some screen printing dudes sent this comment to my friend when he asked if they would cut down the patches they screened for him or if he had too. My friend was going to cut all three hundred with scissors, but I do "do arts and crafts" without shame or apology, so I borrowed the rotary cutter and a few grumpy hours later, done. I know this is some offhand comment by some guy who is too busy and fine, you don't have to demean yourself to this level. But the secret is, not all arts and crafts are crap.

For example, yesterday I made these tags for the jars of homemade treats I made fro a friend's wedding gift. You can talk down arts and crafts and I will eat half-sour tomatoes while analyzing your comments and moving on.


Also, as part of a response to Keep Writing number 29 I got this scrap of a t-shirt with hand painted birds. Merci, Claire!


Oh, and I finally took a good photo of the print I made about bicycling in Baton Rouge. You can buy one on Etsy, and $10 of it will go to the New Orleans Community Print Shop, but you have to wait until I return from vacation. Vacation!