What do you do again?

ecently, a dear friend of mine, Noelle, wrote about the transformation she has undergone since starting her graduate schooling and how, against all odds, she finally sees her place in the world. Graduate School has been the greatest thing I have ever done. Sure, I haven't had a good night's rest in over a year, and yeah, the massive amounts of debt resting on my shoulders keep me tethered to a Mr. Burns-like posture... But  similar to Noelle, graduate school has transformed my life.

I have always been a bit of a hippie child, thanks to my Dadu. But at times I have also been complacent with the convenience and consumerism of mainstream American culture. Book Arts works in direct opposition with these trends. The notion of craft is impossible to concretely define, as so many people have differing perceptions of the word and its meaning. But for any person who has labored consciously and deliberately with their hands to produce a piece of work which inspires reverence for the beauty, the precision, the form, and the execution of the piece understands what I mean when I say craft. It is the craftsmanship required in letterpress printing, bookbinding, and papermaking that makes the art form so valuable in our culture of consumption and disposal. When you hold a book in your hands and realize that the papers made from old rags, formed by precise and acute muscle memory of the maker, each letter in each word in each sentence in each paragraph on each page was set individually, one at a time, spaced specifically such that the text is most easily read by the viewer, the form of the book has been pieced together deliberately, each section sewn into the following, the spine covered with various adhesives, papers, and fabrics to allow the most flexibility for function and the most strength for longevity, you soon see the value in the object, the craftsmanship of the maker, and just how much we take for granted. How easily we forget what gratification can be had with working with our hands, how life altering it can be to create something, how grounded one feels when they remember the feeling of touch. How easily we forget this country was built by craftsman, artisans,  and farmers; how easily we forget this country was built with hands. Prominent culture in America places highest value on monetary gains, rather than personal gains.

My graduate experience has reinforced to me the power and importance of individual achievement concerning the expansion of ones knowledge, intellect, craft, and self fulfillment. Like Noelle, I am doing that what I love and can't express how happy I am to be able to do it, how grateful I am for the opportunity to cultivate these skills and values, and just how lucky I am that I found not only something that will make me happy, but something I am meant to do. I will never be rich doing what I do. But I will be happy and fulfilled. How many insurance salesmen can claim that?


*The amazing display cap above is by Jessica Hische, an amazing designer I came across in my perpetual search for awesome design and typography. The letter comes from her Daily Drop Cap project. 

Lessons learned about Papermaking from Letterpress Printing

unny thing about Graduate School is that you never have any time for anything but school, work, and a little sleep. I've been told this is not everyone's experience with grad school. My dad brags about how he had more time in grad school than any time in his life. I do not, hence my ghastly maintenance of this blog. It should be of comfort to all that my absence is merely a result of throwing myself head first into my program and not just being lazy.

This semester has been a whirlwind of making paper, designing, printing, sharpening knives, and paring leather plus so much more. Its amazing how much work 15 credit hours really is. I recently finished a recipe book of my family's Thanksgiving recipes. Its a powerful experience when you come to the end of a project and reflect back on the efforts extended to create this object. This was my first project in which I made the paper. Let me tell you, there is nothing that teaches you about papermaking more than printing on it. I learned so much about how you want to form the sheets for letterpress printing. I used old cotton t shirts Boy and I had lying around. You would never know that the cotton had pit stains and the like from the bright white sheets I pulled. I don't know the science behind it, but somehow when I turned off the Hollander beater to drain my pulp, that cotton looked virginal, as my friend Mukti would say.

In pulling the sheets, I was too stingy on the amount of pulp in the vat and too generous with the amount of water. The result was very thin sheets. And I mean thin. I was determined to stick with them for my book however.

As for the book cover, I made the paper from seasonally patterned fabric I found at the fabric store. At the time I was more concerned about the color and didn't really think about the quality of the fabric. Big mistake. The fabric was similar to the cotton calico prints you can get for quilting but was very low in quality. The Hollander blew the fibers apart such that running your fingers through the pulp, you felt nothing. Ordinarily, you can feel the pulp run through your fingers with the consistency of whipped rice, or shredded wheat.

Each couch (pronounced cooch) resulted in half a sheet on the felt and half still on the mould. Out of the whole vat which should have rendered 20ish sheets, I only got out 5. I was so disappointed. I did the math and were I to be creative, I could still cover the majority for the edition. And the color was spot on.

During for first print run, I realized that I really needed to dampen my paper. Dampening paper, while it sounds scary, is actually one of the best things you can do to produce a quality print and impression. Imagine you spilled a glass of wine on the counter. You grab your dry, hard kitchen sponge to clean it up. You get some of the wine, but you certainly didn't absorb very much. But when you dampen the sponge and then lap up the puddle, you are able to really absorb it. It is the same with dampening paper and printing. Moisture is attracted to and bonds with moisture. It works that way in papermaking, it works that way in printing. The ink absorbs so much more on dampened paper. You have cleaner lines, more even inking, gorgeous impression, and a print that is so fun to roll off the cylinder you get chills every time. With each meeting of paper and type, the printer feels the embrace which really teaches you what it means to create a lasting impression. But all puns aside, it is a practice altering moment for printers and one that not many practice anymore in the interest of speed and convenience.


So what did I learn about papermaking through printing?

• Thicker is better (within reason)
• The quality of your fibers will determine the quality of you sheets
• Dampen. Always. (within reason)

*The amazing display cap above is by Jessica Hische, an amazing designer I came across in my perpetual search for awesome design and typography. The letter comes from her Daily Drop Cap project.

What Summer?

ne thing about getting two masters degrees in three years, you have no life. For me, this includes summer break. I mentioned previously about my awesome time at the University of Utah's Book Arts department in May. Sadly, this remains the extend of any exciting summer activities. Instead of hitting up the beach or travailing about Europe like other people I know, I chose to stay in this sweaty little burg and take some much needed Library classes. Thats right, ladies and gentleman, I voluntarily stayed in 105 degree heat and humidity to learn about the Dewey Decimal *ahem* Classification (not system, get it right...), HTML coding, and just how much money academic libraries spend on databases. Some of my classes were wonderful, some were not so much.

Now, I'm consumed with thoughts of the impending semester which start in a mere week. Not much of a break. The good thing about this experiment they call graduate school is that because I am doing two programs, each semester is a chance to mix it up, do something different, and prevent the fatigue of doing the same thing all the time. Now my mind races with prices of sharpening stones, goat skins, making my own paper, the complexities of really good typographic design, and how the hell I am going to exert any kind of authority to the newbies when I still feel like the newbie. This semester is going to be a doozie for me. I've got a full plate of classes, plus an assistantship, all while still working at the special collections library. Here is what I'm going to be taking:

Printing III - Students initiate and produce an edition of a relatively extensive book and/or participate in production of a Parallel Editions volume. Emphasis is on production, with manuscript selection and editing being critical aspects. Photopolymer platemaking processes are introduced in a desktop publishing environment adapted to historic tools and mediums. Such subjects as marketing and distribution of limited edition books are covered.

Binding III - A concentrated study of the use of leather as a binding cover material. Various binding styles and structures appropriate to leather treatment are studied. Familiarity with the preparation and application of leather in bookbinding is achieved through a series of assigned projects culminating in a final project. Though not the primary focus of the course, binding design and innovation will be studied and explored.

Tool Sharpening - For all my new fancy leather paring tools, and perhaps, my kitchen knives.

Book Repair - I don't even know where this class is going to go, but it will be a great way to learn to repair books and will let me know how I would like conservation type stuff.

Directed Research - 100 hours of papermaking. I will be making all the paper for my projects this year using old t-shirts and bed sheets.

Practicum in Teaching in the Book Arts - I will be assisting my printing professor with the first year printing class. I'll be there to help the students and do demonstrations.

Graduate Assistantship - With the help of another second year student, I will be assisting the Book Arts Department with any and every thing that they need. I'll be maintaining the work spaces, organizing and managing the exhibition space on the fifth floor, as well as planning for local events we are involved in.

In October there is a conference for people who wish to teach letterpress in Washington DC that I am going to look into going to as well.

A lot, right? Its going to be a lot of work. I will be tired and often. I will be cranky at some points, but I also will have a blast for most of it. I'm already looking forward to Christmas break back in the snowy mountains where it will be cold and I can sleep in!


*The amazing display cap above is by Jessica Hische, an amazing designer I came across in my perpetual search for awesome design and typography. The letter comes from her Daily Drop Cap project.

"The Complex of All of These" - Amazing Video

I discovered this amazing video a few days ago and am transfixed by it. I find myself watching it over and over. I love photo streams like this. The artist really shows how intricate and difficult it is to make something completely by hand. So much skill and patience is required for this kind of work and her process is mesmerizing. For those of you interested you should check it out. This is the kind of stuff I'm learning to do and its so wonderful to see the process.

Papermaking

This semester I am taking papermaking. After only a few weeks, I am already officially hooked. Fun, deeply interesting and incredibly hands on, Papermaking totally changes the way you think about paper, the craft of hand made objects, and the time, effort, money and skill required to be a true artist. UA has made a reputation for itself for making Banana paper. Our professor and headmaster of our humble book arts program has been given the grand task of making samples of banana paper for Papermaking Magazine. So we intrepid few endeavored to make the 1700 samples.

First, the banana stalks were chopped and soaked overnight.
Then the stalks must be cooked for about 45 minutes with soda ash to begin to break down the banana.
Once the cook is done, the banana is rinsed and then placed into a Hollander beater to break down the banana into fibrous pulp.


All this prep can take anywhere from a couple hours to several, depending on the fibers you use. In the mean time, the moulds and deckles are soaking in water so they will be ready for the pulp.
Then with a little conviction, several tries and a well practiced wiggle...

After letting the water drain, remove the deckle and couch (sounds like cooch) your paper onto a felt.
After we had a large enough post of felts with our paper on it, we placed the post in a press to squeeze out all the excess water.
Then we took the sheets up to the library to dry.

The whole process was long and by the end of the day I was a little sore and ready for bed. But I am so excited for the rest of the semester. I'm sure I've caught the papermaking bug.