Get the Words Out

I spent Saturday at the World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it was much more festival than conference, almost like the organizers can't quite decide which one it really is. I think I'm ok with it being somewhere in between.

The event was exciting, overwhelming, and exhausting. I'm just beginning to form coherent thoughts around the things I saw, but I want to get some thoughts down before I get too overwhelmed with my day to day stuff again.

I didn't notice BYOB (Bring Your Own Books) by Celia Alvarado & Alberto G Saenz until my second or third pass inside the Great Hall. In short, users throw books at a wall. When the book hits the wall, projections of letters spill out of the spot the book hit and fall to the ground, along with the physical book.

It reminded me a bit of Golan Levin's work, particularly the Interstitial Fragment Processor (2007) and Ursonography (2005).

The statements in the video documentation are telling. "Down with books," one user says with a big grin. It's pretty hard not to read a comment about the demise of the physical book into it. You are throwing the book against the wall, letting it fall among the other bibliocarcasses while digital letters fall out or possibly escape.

To be honest, I don't really care whether it's a statement about questions surrounding the future of the physical book. I'm interested in the activity of letters and the decision to free them from the pages of the book. Over the past month or so I've been trying to wrangle an insatiable desire to release words or letters from the page. BYOB does just that. The letters are not merely splatter. They spread out, hang in the air for a moment, and then fall to the ground. That moment in the air gives them their autonomy, more than if they just fell out or remained splattered on the wall (although there's a thought about how to build up a surface).

I'm looking forward to checking out the other projects on her website. It looks like she has a playful tendency that I find very seductive.

Bread, Eggs, Milk, Buffalo

When I’m all done with grad school next summer, there’s a possibility that instead of moving to New Orleans, I’ll end up in D.C. (Boo.) New Orleans keeps taking a licking, no doubt, but I still love that city and dream of calling it home, for better or worse. Case in point: how can you not love a place where deer and buffalo watch over you, ensuring a healthful and humble choice of produce?

Technically the Casey Jones Supermarket is in Gretna, but I’m gonna let it slide this time.)

Ippiki Industries

Things are a little slow getting going here, but progress is being made. There is officially an Etsy site for my prints and handmade books now. You can check out what's currently for sale over at the Ippiki Industries shop.

Choosing a press/shop/business name was tough. I've been flip flopping back and forth for a couple years about Ippiki Industries. I'll spare everyone the details of just how hard it was to choose this name and why. It seems like it'd be nice to make known what it means though.

In Japanese, there is a whole vocabulary exclusively for indicating the number of certain types of things. There are specific words to indicate two large vehicles, or 3 tall drinks, or 8 large animals, or one large appliance. Ippiki is the Japanese counter for one small animal. It's such a funny little word, I was taken with it as soon as I learned it.

I could've gone with Ippiki Press, but I felt like having "press" in the name was a little limiting. I use print processes, but I make books and prints, not to mention handmade paper and those occasions when I re-adopt the role of graphic designer. I ultimately opted for Industries because it seemed like it would allow me to grow and develop my little business with some flexibility in deference to my varying skills and interests.

i also love the contrast in the name. On the one hand, there is one word suggesting one small animal, which feels especially fitting as I produce most of my work entirely on my own. Industries is an interesting juxtaposition, calling in ideas of a manufacturing, production, and a larger operation.

But, for now, it's just me. One small creature working extra hard to bring it all together.

Book Arts Nerd Camp

I finally made it to Paper & Book Intensive. My high school boyfriend’s dad told me about it in 1996 and it only took me, oh, 15 years to finally get there. I’m happy to report that the experience delivered and I’m looking forward to going again in a couple years.

PBI is an annual event offering a series of intensive workshops in book arts, papermaking, printmaking and conservation. The location and workshops change every year and this year’s PBI was held at the University of Machias Maine. Bernie Vinzani has built a lovely facility there for the UMM book arts program. I was particularly impressed by the well designed and incredibly clean papermaking studio.

I’ll post more details about the workshops I took, but for now here’s the most adorable little Showcard press. It was an itty bitty workhorse. The modular rails to lock in type were new to me, thus utterly captivating. Pretty much everyone had a crush on this little press.