a (her)story-- a book

an announcement:

i've prepared

with enormous help from carol blinn,

my dear friend, who slaved over this job

through the dark of winter

(special edition with original printed cover and shifu left, 

photographed cover with printed sample on the right)

who did ALL the work

while i just printed and wove and wrote the stuff.

a little book for australia

about my journey through shifu

and printing.

after long conversations with carol 

who is a long time letterpress printer and book designer

(warwick press)

and who is still my friend after this herculean effort to be done,

and alicia bailey from the abecedarin gallery

one of a handful of book arts galleries in the u.s.,

i decided to use the nomenclature

that the book arts community overwhelmingly preferred:

"botanical pressure prints*.

fortunately the only confusion

with the word shifu

is the martial art also called shifu.

sigh.

these will be available first in australia

and back in the states 

at the end of march, when i will put a button in the shop to order.

there is an edition of 50

with 12 special ones that have an original print for the cover

and a little shifu square inside.

below is one of the limited edition of 12 

complete with blue berry prints

should you wish to have a copy

the price will be posted soon, 

and you can let me know and i will set one 

aside for you.

(you'll have to wait until after OZ)

*botanical*

alchemy has a certain glamour.

here is a little much cooked pot of walnut ink

water & 

a short slurp of vinegar,

it's lovely stuff.
more botanical alchemy.

*botanical pressure print: specifically, what many of us once called eco prints, then later called contact prints; book artists find it useful to describe this print process on paper, because the term "contact print" is a photo process on paper. clear as mud, right? 

finish line

 the week that was winter break

flew and plodded along 

 with icy marvels 

and deep cold.

the birches drooped

and the fence lines made new patterns.

 just over a week until i leave for australia!

more about that in a day or so.

good news graced the inbox

my two books available above on this site

(see the bar with the shop label?)

Poor (Wo)man's Asparagus and November, A Map

were just purchased for the poetry collection

at the University of Buffalo (Lockwood Library).

i am dancing to think that my poem/books are there.

 i loved the woven ice as the sun began to sink

 and saw scarlet and purple and greens in the dazzle

as i get my stuff together for the trip

to australia

i've spotted above this summer prunus print on arches

 and below 

four hosta papers

colored with north country ochres

i also realized this terrible headache

and weariness is

a sinus infection

so i got myself to the after hours clinic today

and am taking a killer antibiotic.

the wonderful doctor had an auspicious name: wendy.

there was a wonderful visit from hannah this week

who modeled a unicorn head

at brewer bookstore.

i had a wonderful and wonderfully long chat with an artist 

about some new teaching locally.

and more news is coming,

i promise.

windfall

a friend from p.b.i. 

makes amazing work in his home workshop

including lots of paper experiments.

charlie showed some of these on facebook

and offered to send me

a couple of squares.

instead an entire box came

filled with experiments and thoughts. 

this is the second layer, actually,

the first i'd taken out

before i grabbed the camera. 

 these, alone, are what i was expecting

 but instead i have lots of food for thought.

thank you charlie wisseman!

 meanwhile, the weather turned.

from warmish and no snow

to lake effect snow

which means

 the winds swept over lake ontario 

and hit the north country

 probably another vortex--

i don't know.

i am relieved to have one week off.

winter break.

 from this to this

 at the place i'm calling home 
gwen rests, a sundog,
at my feet.

 while out the window

the cold dances.

30 below zero is cold indeed.

i was trying to get a shot of myself

with the winter tree line behind

i did get some clouds.

today it's warmer,

around zero,

and i have appointments

(teeth and car)

and work to do.

so many preparations still to attend to.

a week off is a great treat.

keep warm you all!

sandra's gift

as i prepare for oz

i'm working

weaving and spinning and drawing.

 i finished up

 a soft book

 rooted in a gift of cloth

shop cloth

mechanic's clean-up cloth.

(i am the final,

fifth daughter

of a seamstress and a mechanic.)

 and kami-ito spun from lokta

 sandra brownlee's gift

 became a small book

full of many stitches.

and touch.