Hipster Cow Linocut Reduction Print

Do you ever see cows in gray flannel in London?

I grew up on a farm, am addicted to regency romance, and live in a city full of hipsters. So, I’m reading Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, and there’s this scene where the ladies of Cranford dress a prized milk cow in flannel and the wry narrator asks, “Do you ever see cows in gray flannel in London?”  I had this flash of a hipster cow and it was such a humorous marriage of my worlds that I knew I had to make it a print.  That was over a year ago—having a baby sure slowed things down—but I am pleased to present the final print available for purchase on Etsy.

The print is a limited edition of 105; being a reduction, I couldn’t reprint if I wanted to.  For those of you who heard reduction and went, “Say what?” a reduction is where you carve your printing block, print a color, carve more of the block, and overprint the second color.  This is only a two-color print, but I’ve seen reduction prints with 17 colors!  Some printers call reduction printing print suicide because the process destroys your printing block and you can’t recover from mishaps.  For example, I actually printed 120 posters, but only 105 were up to my standards as far as ink coverage and registration.  If the posters that made it get damaged somehow, I’m screwed out of a lot of work.  A LOT OF WORK.

It makes me a bit nervous, but I’ve learned something from my Relics collection—an open edition is a ball and chain.  People keep buying the prints, so I keep reprinting the prints, and it keeps me from the projects I’d like to pursue next.  The collection is a great money maker, but I’m done; I want to move on.  I’ve been tempted on more than one occasion to destroy the blocks so I can’t reprint, but then I think of how those prints fund all my other projects and I stay my hand.

Journal Writing for People Who Can’t Keep a Journal: The Power of Journal Prompts

Next up is a guest blog post from blogger/author/photographer Lee Anne White.  If you’re interested in journaling, you should check out her blog www.herownway.com.

Some days the words flow easily. Other days they don’t flow at all—even when we’re in the mood to write in our journal. (Please tell me I’m not alone on this.) It’s not that we’re afraid of writing. It’s just that sometimes we don’t know what to write about.

Those are the days we need a journal prompt. Journal prompts are simply topics or
questions we’d like to explore when we have the time. They may be ideas we’d like to tinker around with or issues we need to mull over more thoroughly. They may be quotes that inspire deep thinking or random words about which we write freely and furiously. They may be memories we’d like to recall from our past or plans we’d like to make for our future.

Where do journal prompts come from? Well, the best ones probably come from within. Just as we have days when we don’t know what to write, we also have days that we have more ideas than we know what to do with. As ideas for topics come to you, try jotting them down on the last page of your journal. That way, they are right there when you need them and you’ll never get caught without a topic.

As an alternative, you might write journal prompts individually on small strips of paper—much like those found in fortune cookies—and either draw one randomly as a challenge or sort through them until you find one you feel like pondering that day. I keep a few dozen of these in a small jar on my desk. You know, just in case.

You could devote a pocket-sized journal to writing prompts—one that you can easily carry with you to write down topics as they come to you. I have several of these. I take one on my morning walks. I tuck another in a bag when traveling or lunching on my own. I keep one next to the bed and not too far from the shower. I’ve even been known to take one out in the garden. These are the places where my mind wanders most freely—providing ample ideas to explore more fully in my journal.

Just about anything is fodder for a journal—observations, overheard conversations, life’s big questions, places you’d like to visit, people you admire, new techniques you’d like to try, what you just harvested from the garden, your grandmother’s words of wisdom, or your latest political theory. You can even find compelling journal prompts on twitter—tweets that pique your curiosity or make you stop and think. If writing really isn’t your thing, you can still keep a journal by jotting down short notes, making sketches or keeping lists. While you’re at it, why not keep a list of the lists you’d like to make, so that one day, when you think you don’t know what to write in your journal, you actually will.

Lee Anne White is an author, photographer and avid journal writer. She offers journal prompts at the end of each chapter in her latest book, Her Own Way.

Journal Writing for People Who Can’t Keep a Journal: Expect Your Motivation to Waver

If you expect to ride your wave of motivation, you are doomed to fail.  Motivated is a transient feeling that changes more quickly than your clothes.  Motivated goes away when you’ve had a busy day, you’re hungry, you’re tired, the kids expect to be fed (the nerve!), and then you get down on yourself for not following through on your goal.  Establishing a habit is like going on a diet.  If you think of it as going on a diet, the frustration of deprivation gets to you, but when you think of it as a lifestyle change, a never-going-back-I’m-moving-forward change, you don’t look forward to not being on the diet any more.  You can’t look at keeping a journal as this spiffy new project that’s going to be lots of fun and uplifting and enlightening and … whatever you think journaling is about.  Think of it like brushing your teeth.  It’s a necessary habit, nothing more, nothing less.

There are lots of articles out there about building good habits—let me boil down every last single one of them for you: Just do it.

Journal Writing for People Who Can’t Keep a Journal: In the Trenches

Today we’re going to hear from a fellow bookbinder/journal-er and mother of seven (seven!): Amy of Wren Books. 

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I have to preface this guest post with the information that I have a pile of journals from when I was younger with a couple of pages written in and the rest empty. I think I had the idea that I needed to start with a new book each time I felt recommitted to writing in a journal. That I still struggle with journal writing is evidenced by the fact that it is my New Year’s resolution…every single year. I have obviously not got this down.

On the other hand, despite my recognition that I need to do better, I have to admit; I am more consistent than when I was a teenager. I fill my journals now, even if it does take a few years to do it.

I have found I write more regularly if it is a pleasant experience that I look forward to, rather than a chore. I have been writing in a beautiful book, handmade by Natalie Stopka with marbled silk covers. I use a fountain pen filled with ink in a color I love. It makes me happy to sit down with lovely things and write.

Besides being esthetically pleasing, I like my writing time to be psychologically painless. In other words, I keep my expectations for myself pretty low! I do try to write every day, but give myself permission to write about the mundane and to be, in a word, boring. I let myself be done after two or three sentences, rather than needing to fill half a page. I don’t stress out if my handwriting is less than perfect. If I expected myself to be sparkling, witty and beautifully transcribed every day, I would just end up with more mostly empty journals.

The biggest turning point for my journal writing was hearing Henry B. Eyring talk about his great-grandfather’s journals and how much they meant to him. He pointed out that his great-grandfather wrote nearly every day, but didn’t write much. A light bulb went off in my head. I didn’t have to be profound or eloquent. I could write a little bit about each day and the whole will end up being more than the sum of the parts.

Journal Writing for People Who Can’t Keep a Journal: Major Mile Markers

I’m going to describe a scenario and you tell me if it sounds at all familiar.  So, ask me how many journals/sketchbooks/notebooks I have?  Umm . . . I don’t have that many fingers and toes.  Ask me how many are full?  Two.  Ask me how many are half full? Reply hazy, try again.  Ask me if my husband knows just how much blank space I have to work with, and yet I still feel the compulsion to buy/bind more books?  I decline to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

The problem is that there’s no way to feel a sense of accomplishment in journaling until you fill a book all the way up, and with most journals, that’s going to be a year, at least.  Personally, I can’t keep something up for a year without some feeling that I’ve achieved something or met a goal.

I said before that the size and format of my double pamphlets was ideal for journal writers who can’t keep journals.  The first reason was that the small page takes less time to fill, but the landscape orientation meant you didn’t have to start a new line every three words.  Well, another reason is that there’s only 34 leaves.  One leaf/day means you fill the whole book in about a month.  Holding a book in your hands that’s full of your own words comes with such a sense of fulfillment, and that affirmation is the best encouragement you can get.

When your journal holds only a few pages, you can reach that major milestone so much more quickly and with greater regularity.  The task of keeping a record of your life, your thoughts, your children, whatever, doesn’t seem so monumental anymore.  And at the end of a year, you can have a tidy stack of colorful books all filled up.

At the end of this year, I’ll be posting a tutorial on an archival box to house a year’s worth of these simple journals, so for those you who are following along, there’s something for you to look forward to!

Journal Writing for People Who Can’t Keep a Journal: Same Time, Same Place

Same Time, Same Place

I may or may not keep my journal under the sink in the bathroom. Before you say eww, let me tell you why I may or may not do this. There are two things that I never lose: my keys and my glasses. Others may lose them for me, but I do not lose them because walking through the front door is my physical cue to hang my keys on the hook as I take off my shoes, and washing my face before bed at night is my cue to take off my glasses and put them on the window sill in the bathroom. I don’t have to remember to do these things because my daily inevitables do it for me. For most people, going to the bathroom is the only guaranteed 5-10 (ish) minutes of alone time you get every day, and it’s usually the same time every day. Walking into the bathroom and sitting down can become your cue to record a few brief details of the day. If you’re worried about germs, keep your little journal and a pen in a little baggy–just make sure that wherever you put it is within arm’s reach of the toilet because you know you won’t think of it until you’re already sitting down, and no one likes to scissor it. And if you’re still completely grossed out by the idea of writing in your journal while taking care of business, forget that I may or may not have said anything.
The important thing is to have a cue that will come up every day like clockwork. What about you? What cues might you use to remind you daily to write in your journal? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

A Boxmaking Jig or Stealing Toys from Children

Lego Box Jig

I’ve been searching for the perfect tool to assist me in constructing book boxes. I have very specific criteria: it must be about 3 inches high, with 3″ legs, perfectly flush, plumb, 90 degrees. It needs to be smooth and durable with a little heft. I tried pricing what it would cost me to have a machinist make this, and it was sadly astronomical. I looked high and low at Home Depot for something that would help me form the walls for my boxes–provide a surface that I could really push against to get the joints perfectly flush, but no dice. Then I walked into my daughter’s room and stepped on a Lego. So I’m cursing incoherently, “Friger, recka, blech, mnnnhh, ohh!” And it hits me. Perfectly flush, plumb, 90 degree angles. I gathered up a bunch of Legos and surreptitiously made off with them into my studio. I didn’t want my daughter to see because they were too perfect to risk her 5-year-old possessiveness. I constructed the perfect L-shaped jig that fit all my demanding criteria to the letter, and then SHE walked in. My heart sank, but do want to know what my sweet little girl did? She went and got more Legos and started making me more L shapes than I could ever possibly use. I love that little girl.

Journal Writing for People Who Can’t Keep a Journal: Think Telegram

A Telegram is short and sweet. Keep to the big details.

So, you’re at the bookstore and you find this beautiful blank book, or if you’re a binder like me, you make this beautiful blank book.  But then you start writing in it, and man, it is long and hard to fill a page.   And then you do get to the bottom of the page but you haven’t finished your thought, so you go over to the next page and …can you leave it at that?

I can’t leave a page mostly blank.  It needs to be at least half full.   So there’s more time sucked away into the vortex that is a journal.  So next time I think about writing in my journal, I think again because I know what’s going to happen and I just don’t have time for that.  Unless…

The book isn’t that big!  I thought I was a genius when I came up with this idea.  I started making little 4″x6″ books like my Things of My Soul notebooks, and it was much easier to write, much easier to fill a page.  Except, I started to find it very annoying when I could only fit three words on a line.  That’s where my double pamphlet with its landscape orientation comes in. (I still love my Things of My Soul notebooks, but now I write in them sideways.)

The landscape orientation means my lines are just as long as they are in a bigger notebook, but I write fewer lines per page–about a third.  And if I’m limited to 1-2 sides of paper, there’s only enough space for the major details–one sentence for me, one for each of my kids, one for my husband, for example.  I stick to brief, simple sentences, like a telegram.

This doesn’t leave room for elegant turns of phrase, but you’re a journaller (journalist?  Journalizer.) You’re a journalizer who can’t keep a journal.  Work up to that Pulitzer once you’ve established consistent writing habits.

Gold, Navy, and Off White Letterpress Wedding Invitations

So, my best friend just got married and he asked me to do their invites.  He himself is an exceptionally talented artist and designer, so he designed the invites, but printed them.  No, that doesn’t mean I hit the printer icon and waited for a machine to spit them out.  If you aren’t familiar with letterpress printing, here is a fabulous short documentary film called Upside Down, Left to Right.

When I say I printed the invitations, first I had to get paper–not just any paper, paper that will take an impression.  The paper comes in broadsides (extra large sheets), so I have to cut it down to size.  Then I made negatives of the swirly design and the text which I printed onto transparency sheets, which I used to develop a photopolymer in a UV exposure unit.  It’s a lot like developing photos in a dark room, but instead of making a 2D image, the polymer (plastic) hardens only where the light touches it.  Then I gently wash away the still soft, unexposed polymer and bake the plate to harden what’s left.

When the plate is ready, I tape it with very strong tape to a block in the base of the press (a Vandercook proofing press).  I printed the swirly design first because I was printing that blind (no ink).  Then I mixed the ink for the text–in this case, navy blue.  Navy blue is a tough color to make because there’s a fine line between blue blue and black.  Too much or too little of anything and it’s all wrong.

The invites were coupled were navy blue envelopes addressed in a gold paint pen, and that liberty bell postage stamp went serendipitously well.

If you have any questions about the letterpress process, leave me a comment below!

 

Journal Writing for People Who Can’t Keep a Journal + a Bookbinding Tutorial

The perfect journal.

So, the one and only New Year’s resolution I made this year is to write in my journal every day.  There are a million reasons to keep a journal or diary–studies show their psychological benefits, you may have children and you want to keep track of their development, maybe you’re a creative thinker and you want to record your inspiration, or you want a place to write down your personal prayers and revelations.  Whatever your reason is, there are no real arguments against keeping a journal.  If you’re anything like me, however, you have periods where you write tons and tons and tons, and then you have your years of famine.  I feel guilty for my years of famine because I do not remember at all what was going on with my family, with me spiritually, nothing, and I feel like I have an obligation to myself and to my children to keep a good record.  Hence the one and only resolution for 2013.  I figure if I only make one, I should be able to keep it…right?

Well, I know myself, and I know this is both as easy said as done, and easier said than done.  With that in mind, I am committing this blog to a series of posts on the sevens throughout the year–aka, the 7th, 17th, and 27 of each month I will post tips, tutorials, milestones, and encouragement for all you journal writers out there who share my woes.  Leave a comment if you’d like to be held accountable for your journal writing this year!

To kick the series off, here is a tutorial for a simple, handbound book similar to a pamphlet that is the ideal size for journal writers who find journal writing difficult.  Check back on the 17th to find out why!