More Binding and Publishing

Self published and handmade print media continues to establish itself into the (ever-growing) list of passions that I will bore people with at parties. Since my last post about binding and publishing, I've only found myself somehow more impassioned about how we share, store and consume our passions physically. As a consequence, I've written, designed, printed and bound a great deal and this post is a highlight reel some of my recent work.

Lost Art Press (LAP) continues to be one my favourite publishers for many reasons but one key reason is a good portion of what they publish is available for PDF download and often for free. Works they publish are the reason I am this far into my journey as a woodworker. I've printed and bound many of their titles, so many in fact, that I now have an entire shelf dedicated to LAP books.

One limitation of the current process I use for binding books is it does not allow for a specific cover to the book, only cardstock. Naturally, for my two of my most adored LAP books, The Anarchist's Tool Chest and The Stick Chair Book I wanted something more than a blank cover. My roommate Henry sketched this cover for ATC and I frankly fell in love with how much life he embodied into a book by making something so earnest. I even had the pleasure of getting this copied signed by the author, eeek!

Emboldened and inspired by Henry's great work, for The Stick Chair Book I decided to try a new medium I'd wanted to explore for a long time, stamp making! My drawing ability is frankly very poor and carving a stamp I'd be happy with seemed far more achievable.

All it took was one lunchtime research stint, for both technique and design, followed by an hour of actual carving, and I had created something I was damn proud of.

The design was based on a reference image that I thought would work well in this form and I think I was very correct. I really adore how much life these books have as handmade objects, especially for so little of my time. Now, every time I reach for these books as references, I get to indulge how earnestly we celebrated them.

As an engineer, I spend a lot of time dialling formatting in reports and have found myself pretty handy in Microsoft Word. This skill has allowed me to create zines that celebrate and publish other peoples work relatively easily. The act of publishing is equally an act of service (the creator now has a publishable version of their work) and selfishness (I now have a great publication to share).

I formatted this zine for Mech 28, a gritty indie miniatures game ruleset that being solo published for free, had a just an A4 ruleset in a cute font. I've kept the perfect font but made the layout fit in a booklet and supported it with some found images for mech inspiration.

I made it to gift to a friend and have also shared it with the creator. I think it came out very stylish and cohesive and I'm mighty proud.

I also recently collaborated with my roommate Astral to create a zine for a trans feminist essay by Tara Knight which she wanted to share with her friends. We did some subtle things with the formatting that I think add to it as a piece without changing Tara's intent, but I'll admit we skimped on the cover a little. Perfect is the enemy of done, and we are both really proud to have this project done.

Finally, the only publication I'll talk about in this post that is entirely written, designed, printed and bound by me, Letters to Bikes I've Loved. I had the idea for this zine a long time ago, as I felt I had unresolved feelings for the bikes that are no longer with me. I had begun a very early draft but didn't find motivation to move beyond.

Then, after a magnificent bike packing adventure on my Surely Ogre where she performed like no bike I've ever ridden, I knew I had to put my emotions on paper.

I found myself chest deep in feelings as I gushed to my bikes. There was a lot of play to be found in address the bikes directly and anthropomorphising them. I've been reading Virginia Woolf and Jack Kerouac so I took much from their writing styles (both were prolific letter writers).

It feels pretty special to put my heart on the page and share that with others, to be so vulnerable, even if I did write it only for myself. It was a great an opportunity to try more 'creative' writing than I normally find myself doing and it ended up being incredibly rewarding to see (and share) how much I am capable of as a writer.