So What Have I Been Up To...

Two weeks of school down and what do I have to show for myself?

Here are some stats:

Days of the week I have class: 4
Additional hours required per week for studio work: 10
Number of rooms I occupy at the Library for class, studio and homework: 3
Number of pages read thus far: 401
Number of people in my largest class: 29
Number of people in my smallest class: 9
Number of stairs to the fifth floor of the Library: 106
Pieces of letter press sorted: 900+
Sandragraphs I've printed: 40
Paper Sections for books I've cut: 20
Single pamphlets I've made: 2
Double pamphlets I've made: 2
Money spent on tools and supplies: $98.49
Hilarious Drooling incidents in class: 1

Using these tools, I made...

These!!



I know it may not seem like much now, but just you wait. Bookbinding I will be making a new book every week. This doesn't mean I'm only making one book either. Several copies need to be made in order to turn in for my assignments. Practice makes perfect, right?

This is a print I made in my Printing class. Thick glue, scraps of fabric, thread and muslin glued onto a block of plywood and set to dry. Once dry, set it up in the bed of the press, ink it up and away you go! This picture is only a proof so the actual print has more detail and is not quite finished. Tomorrow I print them all again, but with text! Once I have the final product I'll put up a better picture.

My lecture classes, while not as physically fun, are equally interesting and stimulating. We talk of censorship and restoration, what makes a book a book, learn how to identify the format of a book, if it is made with handmade paper, and if a section or gathering of leaves is comprised of one piece of paper folded and cut. And we read read read.

So this is what I have been doing so far. I haven't even gotten dirty yet. Give me a couple more weeks and I'll be in the thick of it. So until I have more lovely hand-made goodness to show you I'll leave you with the deep thoughts of the trio sitting behind us at Jason's Deli...

*Imagine a soft, somber, reverent voice*

"I mean, I just don't think anyone really understands...understands what Alabama Football means to my life."