March is “Small Press Month,” an annual celebration of the independent spirit of small publishers and a national effort to showcase the diverse and unique work being published today. Support independent publishing this month and buy a zine or poetry chapbook.
Check out Ker-boom!, a letterpress printed zine
Or the poetry chapbooks and small publishers listed on the DIY Publishing Blog
Or find out more about Small Press month at www.smallpressmonth.org
Today I finished my first broadside. It’s a larger version of the quote and type treatment I did on my 2007 calendar. It’s printed on Crane’s pillowy letterpress paper, lettra, using polymer plates in 3 colors. You can see the entire print here.
 |
I printed these keepsakes for San Francisco Center for the Book’s Valentine’s Day opening reception of the exhibition Bartkowiak’s Best, from a design by Maia de Raat, on SFCB’s newest aquisition — a 10×15 CP floor model platen press. (If you’re in San Fransisco, try to stop by to see the books, they are glorious.) [The exhibition is now online at here] |
To celebrate the 4th of July, my sister & brother-in-law roast a pig in their backyard and invite lots of friends over for the afternoon. Since I knew I would have lots of coasters left after finishing the Sherlock Holmes design, I made one for them too.
I printed this one in 4 steps. First the pig, then the words & glass, then the border. Finally I die cut the coaster into a 3-1/2″ round. I got the die from Taylor Made Dies in Belmont, CA (415-595-4422). The die cutting was easy — just lock the die into the chasse and cut. To make the die cutting jacket, I bought a piece of sheet metal at the hardware store, taped it to a piece of tympan and put it on the platen. (The jacket is needed so the die doesn’t cut into the platen.)
“With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner.” And so Holmes invites Dr. Watson to sit down to hear the tale of “A Scandal in Bohemia.”
This is the design that I did for these coasters for my friend Cathy & Glen’s party.
My friends Cathy & Glen have a bi-annual bash for their bookish friends every winter as part of the Antiquarian Book Fair. For quite some time I’ve been thinking about printing coasters but couldn’t invent a reason. So for Christmas, I gave them an IOU for coasters for their party. Cathy is meant to tell me what they should look like & I’ll design and print them.
I bought coaster blanks from Katz Americas (used to be American Coaster) and they arrived today (I live in California, American Coaster is in NY. I had to buy 1000 coasters for about $18. The shipping was $18! Even with the shipping it’s a great deal). The blanks are 4×4 and about 1/8″ thick — so wonderfully pulpy and chewy! They’ll take a good bite from the letterpress. [You can see the resulting coasters here.]