Exterminate!

Dalek vs. Squirrel was one of the prints we gave away at the CONvergence letterpress printing demo. Another was the first in a new series, Flying Squirrels. This is the European Flying Squirrel, but I'm still considering the name - it might be changed to Ader Flying Squirrel to give homage to French aviation pioneer Clement Ader, who designed this gravity defying contraption.



I will try to have a few of these available for sale at my Etsy shop by September.

Overall, CONvergence 2009 was a blast. One of my favorite panels was about whether or not comics are literature. The answer? Yes, no, and maybe. Go to con-news.com to see photos and videos of the 4-day event.

Coming up next, a show that I forgot to mention in the last update: I have few prints in "Bridges", an art show opening at the Em Space Gallery on July 18th in Portland, Oregon. This looks like an amazing new space for print and book arts - anyone who goes to see this show, please tell me all about it!

Summer events

Upcoming summer events for Heroes & Criminals Press:
July 3rd & 4th: Scott and I will be giving letterpress printing demonstrations on Friday and Saturday nights at ConVergence, a annual sci-fi convention in Minneapolis. Prints will be made on the handy-dandy Kelsey 5x8, and given away like candy. In the spirit of the convention's theme this year, "A Celebration of the Funny Side", we'll make one print of a Dalek-vs-squirrel showdown, and another of a flying squirrel (the inventive kind, that helped people create their flying machines). Let me know if you want dibs on any leftovers.


July 18th: H&C Press will have a table at the first annual Iowa City Book Festival! I'm so excited that I get to be a part of this, and let's face it, isn't it really about time that IC had its own book festival? It'll be held in Gibson Square, outside of the library's south entrance, and will include music, vendors, food, demonstrations, readings, and panel discussions. Come out and celebrate books with us!

July 28th: The Big Move. We'll be relocating to Asheville, NC and setting up a print studio and bindery in West Asheville. On to new adventures!

August 5 - 9th: Thanks to the Grabhorn Fellowship, I'll be spending this week at Arion Press in San Francisco to learn the in-and-outs of how to run a fine press, along with a visit at the M&H Typefoundry. I'll be sure to post details and photos of this trip on my blog, so check back in mid-August for the nitty gritty.

August 29 - 30th: I'll be teaching a workshop, (Nearly) Non-Toxic Intaglio at Asheville Bookworks. We'll cover the basics of intaglio printing, plus we'll focus on using simple and clean materials like plexiglas and water-based inks. Printing that can be done in your very own kitchen, even if you have kids or pets! Go here to sign up. This will hopefully be the beginning of a long friendship with the wonderful people at ABW.

Starting in September, I'll be cranking out new work that'll be added to my Etsy site, and also will be making the rounds in various art and crafts shows in & around the Appalachians. I'll keep you posted on the details at my blog, and I hope you'll come visit me at one of these events.

Until then, I hope you're staying cool and enjoying the summer!

The Lost Land in progress

I'm now in the final stretch of my big Final Project for the UICB certificate. I'm printing a short story by Lawrence Pun, a Chinese author based in Hong Kong, who was in the International Writing Program here in Iowa City last year. The story, The Lost Land, was translated into English and I'm printing it in both languages, to be bound in a dos-a-dos binding (two books that share one cover). The English version is printed from metal type from the Bixler Press & Letterfoundry, and the Chinese is printed from photopolymer plates made by Boxcar Press.
Here are some images of the printing process:




The cover will be decorated with 'paper' from a real hornet's nest!

This book will be on display at "The Printed The Bound The Finale" show at Arts Iowa City Gallery, 103 E. College St., in May. Come to the opening reception on Friday May 8th, from 6-9pm to meet the artists and touch their books!

MIMB on the move

Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books (MIMB) is now on display at the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory in Cleveland Ohio. It was recently reviewed by Douglas Utter in the Cleveland Scene Magazine, and you can read the review here. He mentioned my scroll, describing it as "about three inches high and nine feet long, it shows opposing armies of squirrels and rabbits, a raccoon, a ferret, several deer, an emu, an elephant, camels and a catapult, drawn in outline as if to be colored. It's a story (a little like The Iliad) of offense and incommensurate response, and about the questions asked of justice by accident and fate."

Sweet.

The Exhibition closes on April 29th, so make plans to see it while you can!

MIMB

The Monumental Idea in Miniature Books (MIMB) show, now on exhibit at Columbia College Chicago for the Southern Graphics Council Conference 2009, now has their website up here. The gallery space is small, but is in a great location on Michigan Ave. 5 blocks from Chicago Art Institute, next to the Hilton Hotel(the conference site for SGC). This international show of miniature books by 125 artists was curated by Hui-Chu Ying at University of Akron, with the help of her students. There are more photos at the MIMB flickr site.

Slay a bookbinder

I recently found this on another bookbinder's website:

Writing in 1898 Kenneth Grahame noted that:

“As a general rule, the man in the habit of murdering bookbinders, though he performs a distinct service to society, only wastes his own time and takes no personal advantage”

In 1904 he expanded on that thought, perhaps because some book had still not been completed/delivered:

“Not in that he bindeth books - for the fair binding is the final crown and flower of painful achievement - but because he bindeth not: because the weary weeks lapse by and turn to months, and the months to years, and still the binder bindeth not: and the heart grows sick with hope deferred.

Each morn the maiden binds her hair, each spring the honeysuckle binds the cottage porch, each autumn the harvester binds his sheaves, each winter the iron frost binds lake and stream, and still the binder bindeth not.

Then a secret voice whispereth: ‘Arise, be a man, and slay him! Take him grossly, full of bread, with all his crimes broadblown as flush as May; at gaming, swearing, or about some act that hath no resish of salvation in it!’

But when the deed is done, and the floor strewn with fragments of binder - still the books remain unbound…”

Hah! It really cracks me up. On that note, I just finished binding a book. It's a sampler of 4 different link stitches and 2 different kettle stitches, bound on wooden boards. I used instructions from J.A. Szirmai's The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding.

International Edible Books Festival 2009

I'm helping out this year to create an exhibit of edible books for the International Edible Books Festival 2009! Sponsored by the University of Iowa Center for the Book, it will be held at the UI Main Library on Wednesday, April 1, in the North Lobby. Here are the details:

When was the last time you really devoured a good book? This year, the University of Iowa’s Center for the Book invites faculty, staff, and students to join us in celebrating the annual International Edible Books Festival by creating a delicious book to share with your fellow literary and food enthusiasts.

To celebrate this international event, the Book Arts Club is organizing an exhibition of edible books to be on display on April 1st (no joke!) in the North Lobby of the University of Iowa Main Library. There are only two rules; entries must be edible and they must have something to do with books as shapes and/or content. An entry fee of $5 goes to support the Book Arts Club.

To participate, drop off edible books at the UI Main Library North Lobby on Wednesday, April 1st, between 9-10am. They will be on display from 10am – 12 noon, followed by a reception and book tasting from 12 – 2pm. The awards ceremony starts at 12:30 pm, with prizes awarded based on Best Book Structure, Most Creative Literary Reference, and Best In Show. Also, all entries are automatically entered into a raffle for free sketchbooks from Blick Art Materials.

* The International Edible Book Festival is a yearly event held on April 1st throughout the world. This event unites bibliophiles, book artists, and food lovers to celebrate the ingestion of culture and its fulfilling nourishment. Participants create edible books that are exhibited, documented, and then consumed. Information and inspiration can be found on the Festival's home page at Books2Eat.com.

Edible Books Submission Form (bottom right)

(the photo above is by Heather Hunter and friends, England: Thames, 2002)