Now showing at Over Easy Cafe

Yep, that's right. from now until the end of November, some of my prints and drawings are on display at Over Easy Cafe in downtown Asheville. Go check it out!

Spring is in the air

Yes, and blooms are welcoming the warm afternoon showers. Time to gear up for those upcoming summer weddings! Here's a recent invitation I printed for Jenni Mullendore, with custom apple blossom illustrations to reflect the apple farm where the wedding will take place.

Asheville BookWorks MicroPulpery

I've been making paper on commission for a couple of years, but haven't really pursued selling handmade paper in stores until now. Fellow Asheville papermaker Frank Brannon (of Speakeasy Press) and I have decided to join forces and finally make this happen! We're calling ourselves the Asheville BookWorks MicroPulpery because the paper is handmade at the papermaking studio at BookWorks, and each batch is carefully handcrafted seasonally, in small quantities - just like at one of our many local microbreweries. Right now we offer 4 kinds of paper: cotton rag in white, cotton rag in cotton candy blue, cotton/abaca blend, and a double-thick flax. Because we're making them in small batches, there is no guarantee that we'll always have the same papers for sale - if you see something you like, it's better to go ahead and buy it now!

Papers can be purchased at Asheville BookWorks and at Asheville Art Supply, or you can order directly from us by contacting Frank (frank@speakeasypress.com). We also offer papermaking classes, commission, and artist collaborations.

Lucky Creature cards

Just finished a big batch of business cards for Scott Smith of luckycreature.com, using his own drawings in four different designs. The plan was to finally get the hang of edge painting with these to add all the color that's his signature style, but it just didn't work out. I might get an airbrush one day and try again, but until then, I think it's best left to the professionals!

Heroes and Criminals in downtown Asheville!

Blue Spiral 1 has been carrying my prints for a while, but now there's a new place to shop for Heroes & Criminals Press goodies! My cards, chapbooks, and letterpress ephemera are now available at Garage 34 on Lexington Ave., right down the street from the French Broad Chocolate Lounge. It's an awesome store chock full of handmade goods from local artisans, and they're breaking out all the new spring stuff right now. If you're up for exploring a bit while in Asheville, come by the River Arts District and you might catch me at work in my studio (#291 Riverview Station, 191 Lyman Street).

Gearing up for the Fall

I just found out this morning that I'll be vending again at The Big Crafty on December 4th! This is one of my favorite craft fairs, both for vending and shopping, because of the variety of handmade stuff, the friendly faces, the party atmosphere, and of course it's all right here in my neighborhood. I never take it for granted that I'll be in because of their jury process, so it's always exciting to put it on my calendar.

But before December comes along, we still have November to contend with, and this will be one my biggest Novembers yet! As some of you already know, I moved into a new studio space this past summer, but I haven't yet invited anyone to stop by, or opened it to the public, because most days I'm either still fixing it up or just too gosh darn busy to have people wandering around in here. I'm now working on the invitations for the big Grand Opening and Open Studio, scheduled during the River Arts District Studio Stroll on November 12th. Check back here for details, or sign up to be on my mailing list to get a personal invitation (including a raffle ticket to win a free Heavens to Betsy print!).

August redux

Well, thanks August - it was certainly fun and exhilarating, but I think I'm ready to get off this wild ride. I'm finally stepping out of the whirlwind and seeing everything that swirled around me (and I swirled around) for the past 4 weeks, and I'm surprised that I've managed to emerge fairly unscathed. Exhausted, yes, muddled and disorganized, most definitely, but breathing in the crisp fall September air and ready to move on. Well, maybe after just a few more days of cleaning, re-organizing, and breathing.

So here goes: it started with a six-week workshop at BookWorks, The Printed Book (still ongoing, with just two classes left). It's with a phenomenal group of super-talented women overflowing with ideas for book projects. They're in the final stages now, moving into printing and binding the books they've been planning for the past few weeks.

During this time, I was finalizing lesson plans for my first semester-length class at Warren Wilson College, Intro to Papermaking followed by BookForms. This school really blows me away, with a working farm that feeds the students and top rankings as an eco-centered campus. I'm so thrilled to teach here for a semester, and hope that it will continue for many years. My students have really impressed me already with their creative thinking, and the faculty have been incredibly kind and welcoming. I think the Papermaking class is going pretty well so far, but I'll be checking in with my mentors Tim Barrett and Frank Brannon for suggestions and advice.

An then, the biggest event by far was getting married, to my long-time partner Scott (we've been together for almost 10 years). We had a small, quiet ceremony with family at Lake Lure, NC, and spent the week with them in a cabin on a nearby river. It rained on the day of the wedding, but the rest of the week was perfectly beautiful. The idea was to spend a lot of time in the water, and that's exactly what we did - riding on inner-tubes down the river more times than I can remember. It was the perfect weekend of quiet relaxation mixed with thrills.



And then, a week after the wedding, I taught an Introduction to Letterpress workshop at BookWorks. It was one of my favorite workshop yet, because nothing really beats the fun of three days of letterpress printing, and showing other people how. By this point, I had completely lost my voice from a combination of constant talking and a little cold I picked up from Oliver. It was a strangely quiet workshop with lots of whispering and hand motions, but still fun. I just feel bad for the students who had to listen to my troll voice when it started coming back on the last day.

And just when I thought August had reached maximum capacity, the September issue of Verve Magazine comes out, with an article about me and my books, and a photo of me on the cover, trying my best to be the 'sexy librarian' they were looking for to grace the "Get Smart" issue. It was a lot of fun to be interviewed and photographed, and it was a special treat to have someone do my makeup and hair in preparation for the big cover shoot. I was feeling very rock-star that day, albeit a little out of my element.

So, if you're one of the people wondering why I still haven't answered your email, I hope this explains my MIA status. I'm slowly getting back to my non-rock-star life, and really looking forward to some quiet time in my studio.

A fan of Fanaticon

Yesterday I exhibited/vended at Fanaticon, Asheville's first comic con, and really had a great time! I've gone to a few comic cons in the past few years, but this was my first time showing and selling my own work, so I was a little nervous at first but people there turned out to be super nice and friendly. I shared the table with partner-in-crime LuckyCreature, and we took turns watching the table and running around to see everything else there. We were lucky to have a good location, and we could even see the music acts out in the courtyard without leaving our table unattended. The turnout was wayyy more than I'd expected, and such an incredible mix of people - all ages, girls and guys, normal-ish to very weird. Definitely not the same crowd I've gotten used to seeing at other comic cons in the past few years! I'm inspired by other local artists I met there, reminded of how much I love making comics and zines, and definitely planning on being there again next year! Some of my favorites: Comic Envy, Rice Boy, Deaver Park Press, Hope Larson, and Wide Awake Press.

Finding my way home

In the past ten years, I've moved 5 times. Before that, another 8 times or so, starting with the big move from Taichung, Taiwan to Cary, North Carolina when I was nine (actually, we moved a few times while living in the city of Taipei, then to Taichung, *then* to the States). I always thought that I would one day go home, to Taiwan, even as my memory of it and my ability to speak Chinese faded. When I finally went back to visit in 2001, it was a foreign place to me, nothing like the homecoming I was expecting to experience. I found myself in a slightly uncomfortable state of having no roots; not sure of where to plant my feet. I guess that explains the constant moving.

A few years ago, I took a printmaking workshop where I learned how to "pressure print" using a Vandercook press. This was in Iowa City IA, one of my many temporary homes. Just playing around with cut papers, I made this print, among many others:

A few years have passed, and now I find myself in the position of teaching this process at  a community print shop here in Asheville, North Carolina. The other night, I pulled out this very print to show as an example, and one of the students said, "Well, that looks just like the Blue Ridge Parkway." I'd made it , of course, years before moving here, and long before the thought of moving here had even crossed my mind. Two days ago, Scott and I spent the day driving on the Parkway, stopping to visit a few small towns along the way: Cherokee, Sylva, Waynesville. Something about this place just feels right, and every now and then I get the feeling that I may have found my way home.