Inspired by Taiwan

Just got back from a two week trip to Taiwan, and refusing to let jet-lag get the best of me. On this trip, Scott got to meet the rest of my family and to see where I grew up - literally, we stopped in front of the apartment where we lived when I was about 6. (top floor, on the left)

 

 

(my mom, me, Scott, Po-po (my grandmother), Su-gong (my grandfather's brother),

Sen-po (Su-gong's wife), and their friend whose name I've forgotten;

not pictured are my uncle and aunt, my cousins, and their kids)

I've been inspired by so much we saw there - many things that I remember from when I was a kid, but seeing them in a whole new light now.

 

(at the aboriginal settlement in Wulai)

 

 

(Longshan Temple)

 

(Shilin Night Market) 

 

(view from the top floor of the Sogo department store)

I also had a chance to visit Ri Xing Type Foundry, sadly Taiwan's last remaining type foundry.

 

Of course, no trip is complete without stopping by the bookstore, where I found a book of ancient Chinese myths and short fictions, full of fascinating and curious tales about war heroes, philosophers, ghosts, and gods. With these stories and images from the trip swimming in my head, I'm so motivated to translate some of it into my artwork! 

These photos, and many more, were mostly taken by Scott. Here's the full photo-documentation of our trip:

A New Kind of Book Project

After a few years of hand printing and binding my own limited edition books, I am now embarking on an entirely new kind of book project - I've just signed on with Lark Crafts and Sterling Publishing to write a how-to book on letterpress printing! The book will have fun printing projects and step-by-step demonstrations on the techniques used to create each one. Projects will include greeting cards, personal stationary, posters, zines/pamphlets, calendars, invitations, playing cards, paper dolls, and even t-shirts!

Also in the book will be spotlights on printers (and their presses) who have inspired me over the years, information about community print shops where presses and classes are available to those just starting out, and a comprehensive guide of resources, both in print and online. Essentially, I'm writing that book that I wish I had when starting out as a printer, and one that I'll be able to use as I continue to teach printing classes and workshops. I hope that it will be informative, but also fun and challenging to printers at many levels.

The working title so far is Letterpress Now, but that might change down the road. I'll keep you updated on progress, and look for it in Fall of 2012!

How many?

How many blogs can one girl have? Well, in my case, two. And to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure why. I'm particularly attached to this Blogger blog, where you are now, because it was my very first foray into the world of the internets. It existed before Heroes and Criminals Press, Ladies of Letterpress, and even before my current gmail account! So I guess we have long-term relationship, and we're sticking it out for now.

But I also have a fancy-schmancy website, which came included with a blog of its own, cleverly called "News". But really folks - it's just another blog, right? Anyways, my point is that I updated that blog this morning about a recent trip I took to San Francisco to represent Ladies of Letterpress, and I just don't feel like repeating myself here. So for now, go to that blog to read all about it, and I'll let you know if we end up saying goodbye to one of these blogs down the road...

 

Chocolate type, yum!

Last minute Valentine's

If you're in the Asheville area and need to pick up some last minute Valentine's Day gifts, you should stop by Black Mountain Chocolate tomorrow morning for their Chocolate Maker's Valentine's Market. Not only will you be able to pick up the freshest and most delicious chocolate this side of the Mississippi, you 'll also be able to get Heroes & Criminals Press Valentine's cards!

Printed on handmade paper made exclusively for Black Mt. Chocolate, it's embedded with cocoa bean husks from their very own kitchen (the image is of cocoa pods as they grow on the trees). Also for sale are H&CP blank journals made with the same cocoa paper. Look for our display at their shop!

Chocolate Maker's Valentine's Market, Saturday Feb. 12, 9am - 12pm.

Goat Elevator - custom binding

Well, it's a little late to get a custom made Christmas present, but have you considered a custom-bound book for a personalized present at any time of year? This is one I just completed that will be a Christmas present, for Virginia R., the little girl who wrote and illustrated this original story which won a regional first prize for her creativity. Her dad was thoughtful enough to gather the pages of her story and get it professionally bound so that it'll be a book that she can even show her own children one day.

Greetings From...

I got the most beautiful set of postcards in the mail yesterday, all hand-printed by members of the Ladies of Letterpress! This is a print exchange inspired by mid-century postcards we remember, with the friendly phrases "Greetings from..." or "Hello from...", received each summer from vacationing friends and family. For the summer of 2010, we greet each other from our hometowns and our presses, creating a unique collection of personalized letterpress printed cards. This is just a small sampling of the talent and good cheer that makes up the Ladies of Letterpress.

 

One of the members, Camille Robin of Fish Lake Press instigated this project, organized it, and spent an extraordinary amount of time typesetting and printing the colophon, collating, packaging, and shipping out the finished cards. I loved going through these cards, and felt like I was on a whirlwind roadtrip as I flipped through them, each one a wonderful new surprise. (This photo only shows a small smattering of the whole collection.) We also have a few extra sets to sell, and the proceeds will go into the LofL Scholarship Fund, yippee!

To see all of the postcards in this collection, check out the LoL Postcard Swap 2010 Album here.

Have I mentioned that the Ladies of Letterpress rock? Yes, they do.

New print - Information Desk

Finally, after being pushed to the back burner many times in the past few months, my latest installment of Heavens to Betsy is finished. I'm titling it "Information Desk", but sometimes I refer to it as "Librarian Bear". The little sign on the bear's desk says "Information" and the text says "Can you tell me how to live without fear?"

Now available at my website or stop by my table at The Big Crafty this Sunday to see them in person!

Ladies of Letterpress at Pyramid Atlantic

Spent the weekend at the The Book (R)evolution, the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair, and had a blast. Instead of setting up a table for H&C Press, I decided to set up a Ladies of Letterpress table with Kseniya Thomas to promote LofL and our first LofL conference, to be held next August in Asheville, NC. We were asked by the planning committee to participate in the fair by giving letterpress demonstrations, so we set up a printing area and promptly dubbed it the "Letterpress Party Room". We set up our two Kelsey 5x8 presses, one set with type and the other with photopolymer plates, and let visitors print their own takeaway cards. It was fun to see their faces light up as many of them printed for the very first time! It was also great to see dear old friends and make a few new ones as well, and to see the fantastic bookworks being made by a group of talented and inspiring artists.

 

My new UV exposure unit!

I recently bought a new UV exposure unit that I found by chance on Ebay. I'd never seen it before, or used one like it before, but at the price it was selling for, I just couldn't pass up a chance to buy one and try it out. Hey, if it didn't work, I figured, I could just sell it on Ebay.

It's surprisingly unlabeled and unbranded. In fact all of the information you'll ever get about this little machine is right there on the front panel:

Inside the lid is a spongy pad that helps create good contact between the plate and the negative.

I got a good tip from Kyle Van Horn that I would need to add a light diffuser to get good results, so I purchased a small sheet of Kreen from Boxcar Press which is specifically made for this purpose. I trimmed a piece to the size of the glass plate and attached it with double-sided tape to the underside before replacing the plate.

 

For testing, I used a small negative that I've already used before. This one has a good combination of thick and thin lines.

I exposed a separate plate for each setting, for a total of 12 plates.

I developed each plate using a washout brush, also from Boxcar Press, in a tray of lukewarm water for about 5 minutes each.

Then the plates were dried in my very home-made drying box (no need to keep frozen during this process).

After a second hardening exposure, I printed the plates on a Vandercook SP-20. Yippee, it worked!

You can see the progression from top to bottom, left column then right. For this particular plate, it looks like setting 5 gives the best results. However, the settings of the unit, labeled "Solarize Minute," don't exactly correlate with time. For instance, setting 1 only lasted 47 seconds, while setting 3 lasted 3 minutes 45 seconds. I plan on doing more tests with the timing to see if it's at least consistent. If not, I'll probably attach a dark room timer like the one used on the exposure unit I blogged about in August. I also plan on doing more tests using type, especially small and delicate type, before using it for detailed work. Until then, I'll probably continue to rely on the folks at Boxcar Press to make especially detailed plates, but use my new one right here in my studio for everything else!