Deconstructing that artichoke and other bookmaking tales

California Job Case

My type setting on the tarot cards is coming along nicely. I think I might get the tarot cards done by the Printer's Fair!

One thing I've noticed is that I set type with my left hand faster than I do with my right hand. I used to be right handed, but since my stroke I've become more and more left handed. I've always been somewhat ambidextrous, but now I'm even more so. I eat with my left hand now; I write with my right hand. It's very strange.

I think with setting type, the link between my brain and my hand is stronger with my left hand. You have to visualize where the letters are when you're setting type. And I think my right brain has the typecase memorized (or at least almost), while my left brain doesn't. Or maybe it's the links in the brain. In any case, I realized this late in the process for the tarot cards, but now that I've realized it, I'm setting type faster, which is making the project go faster.

 

It's very weird. It's been a strange process figuring out how my body works now that I've had the stroke.
 

Setting Type

Over the weekend I went and set type at Betsy's. It was pouring rain! Plus it was freezing! It felt so good. I used my right arm to reach for each piece of type and put it in the composing stick. I had to flip the type to have the nick face up, so it was hard to do, but I did it. I don't know how you would set type like a lefty; I'm sure I could figure it out, but I thought hey, if I could do it with my right hand, I would. That's therapy for you!

After going to Betsy's, I went over to Judith's house to give her samples of the type I had set, so she could proofread it, and I shared an idea that I had: the Literary Leaf of Deconstructed Artichoke Press. I think I'm going to print little 'zines of poetry. So she gave me her baseball series and her family series. I'm thinking I'll xerox a dos-a-dos of her baseball series and my baseball series--Giants v. Dodgers. Don't hold your breath though; it probably won't happen until summer!

Home...

...Or soon to be anyway. I just signed the lease on a one bedroom for me and the pooch. It's this great Victorian with a Wedgewood stove. It's way too much, but ah well, it's San Francisco. The living room is fairly large, and I'm looking forward to setting up my studio.

It's on Mission St., which is a really busy, but it's past where I used to live and the apartment faces a side street. Both good things. No crack heads to put up with and it's not directly on Mission. Plus, I'm really close to friends who are going to help me out with grocery shopping and the like.

Going home

Well, tomorrow's the big day! I go back to San Franciso. I'm flying out at 9:20 and staying with a friend until I find a dog-friendly place to live. I've been obsessively looking over the Craiglist postings and I have a few dog-friendly places that I'm looking at this weekend (and a few that aren't but I'm hoping I'll be convincing, you know, stroke and all). Finally, I'll have a studio space again. Book arts here I come.

Although I'm excited, I'm also nervous. Going back to work soon. And then there's a bunch of events my friends have invited me to all ready and I'm just not sure I'll be up for them. We shall see.

Teaching again

Today in therapy (tomorrow's my last day, I have mixed feelings about this) I taught bookarts. I started off by sharing my bag of tricks: bone folder, xacto, you know the stuff. Then I showed my books: Stray, Tarot cards, a couple Christmas present books. Everyone was quite impressed, so picking up on the good vibes I gave them my web address. One of the therapists had to go show the other therapists my book. It went well, I thought.

Then I went into instructing for the book. I taught them a single sheet of paper book (the one that folds into an accordion) and a cover that I had learned from Paul Johnson. We had bought supplies earlier at Michael's. They loved it! And it felt so good to be teaching book arts.

Returning...

This isn't really about art, but that okay. I'm moving back up to San Francisco on July 25th. Woohoo! I'm looking forward to the cooler weather, and most importantly to being back home. I'm scared too about what it will bring. My recovery still has a long way to go. But I'm excited to see all my friends and for a space to work in that's all my own.

A space of my own

I haven't been making much art, it's true. Part of it is, I don't feel like it's my space down here in LA. My parents have very kindly set up my drafting table and my guillotine, but there's something about it that doesn't feel like my own.

I have a couple of books from my Paul Johnson workshop that I found in a box. Maybe that'll make me feel inspired. But I think it's that I need to find a place of my own back in the Bay Area.

Mail Art

I still haven't been able to muster up enough energy for pamphlets, but I do have a few mailart postcards in the making. I tried my hand at drawing on one of them--an artichoke of course. I used both my right hand and my left hand for the drawing. It turned out pretty good, I was excited about that. But I'm also saddened at the same time, thinking about how I used be able to draw without a problem.

Fatigue...

It's so funny, I thought by now I'd have at least a couple pamphlets up on Etsy. But I'm so tired all the time that it hasn't happened. By the time I get home from therapy, I'm wiped out. And the days I don't have therapy I have doctors appointments or I'm calling to set up appointments.

I look at the last post I did before my stroke, and I think, Good god, it's so long. I'm starting to be able to type with two hands, but it is so slow, and what's more, I always have to think about my right hand. It's strange to think about a limb this way. My brain just doesn't connect to it in the same way. And then of course I can't say what I want to say in the same way either. I have so much trouble with word finding. It's all so strange.

Print-o-rama!

Today my dad and I went to the International Printing Museum in Carson (http://www.printmuseum.org/). Wow! They had all sorts of hand presses, a bunch of linotypes (which I was thrilled to see in action), Heidelberg Windmills, and more type than I'd ever seen before in my life. They gave us the run through about the history of the presses and all that. Then they took us to their Book Arts Institute, where they said they were trying to start up a place where people could print their books. They then printed our names out in the linotype machine. Wow, again! Then one of the people working there took us to see the Thompson Casting Machine, since we shared the name. They could create their own type! We lost the tour at that point, and just talked to the folks that were around. There were some Vandercooks (I of course was wearing my Vandercook tshirt) to teach people on.

We ended the day by chatting with a woman from the San Jose Printers Guild and watching  someone fixing a Windmill, which they're going to lend to Hollywood for a movie.