The wild flurry that is DWP

16 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Deep Wood Press in Fine Press Book Association, Letterpress, Literary Journal, Oak Knoll Fest, PR and Media releases, Printing, Trout

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

A Craftsman's Legacy, Chad Pastotnik, Fine Press, flyfishing, Kerrytown Bookfest, Letterpress, Michael Delp, Trout

Ok, so I’m a bad blogger but I’ve been busy enough. I am currently wrapping up the new book The Mad Angler Poems by Michael Delp (details of which will appear in a blog post this coming week) having just finished the wood engraving press run last Friday. I’ve got company for the summer in the studio – my old apprentice, Erin Murray, is here to help before she heads off to graduate work at the University of the Arts London, Camberwell this fall. Erin is a big help in the studio, I trust her skills and judgement in the bindery and she is creating her own little wonders of paper and ink while she’s here as well. That is another future blog post – I will feature some of the apprentices I’ve had here at DWP from the last 15 years. I’ve lost touch with some of them but many are still kicking out some wonderful prints, bindings or books and are making their own way in the art world.

Probably the biggest news since New York is the PBS film crew that came to shoot a segment for a new national series that will premiere this fall – A Craftsman’s Legacy. No idea when it will air on television and a quick internet search doesn’t turn anything up yet either. I’ll be sure to let you know when I know. It was a long day of shooting, not sure what parts of the 11+ hours will make the show. Here’s a couple pics of the host, Eric Gorges, and some of the crew in action.

On another note, last fall I had a visit from James Spica who is the editor for Michigan’s Trout Unlimited magazine Michigan Trout. James was amused enough to write a story about the visit and I’m happy to say it will be appearing in The Flyfish Journal in this falls issue along with some artwork or studio pics that FFJ requested which will help cement some of the mythology surrounding DWP. James stopped in again a couple weeks ago when he was back from Philly, we got out on the water and were properly skunked. It’s been a slow start for trout here in the north this summer.

A Deep Wood Journal is also coming along nicely though there is still nothing to show for it that I can share at the moment. Let’s just say that the quality of writing and the writers themselves won’t disappoint you and I’m anxious to be able to disclose more information with you as soon as some more details are taken care of. Can I tempt you with a new translation by Daniel Mark Epstein?

This fall I have a couple events lined up. On September 7th I’ll be part of the 12th annual Kerrytown Bookfest again in Ann Arbor, MI and will be on a panel of Michigan based independent presses in addition to demonstrating intaglio printing throughout the day. In October I’ll be in Newcastle, Delaware for Oak Knoll Fest XVIII from the 3rd-5th. Oak Knoll Fest is another show sponsored by the Fine Press Book Association and, like our NY show, will draw fine printers from around the world to once again gather to sell our books and have a small symposium, a few drinks and a lovely time in this village that time forgot.

Once again, for those of you who aren’t smitten, sorry for all the trouty stuff that makes the recurring visit on these pages. Regular literature that everyone enjoys is coming soon. Ok, here’s one teaser prototype title page for the new book before it comes out this week:

New Literary Journal ~ we’ve got a name!

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Deep Wood Press in A Deep Wood Journal, job work, Letterpress, Literary Journal, Printing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

C&P 8x12 OS, CD Packaging, Chad Pastotnik, Deep Wood Press, Letterpress, Seth Bernard, Wood Engraving

It’s been some time now since the announcement of this project back in October of 2013 and the solicitation of name ideas. I wanted a name that “zinged” and though there were many responses both here and off the blog for suggestions none of them really hit me and after all these months I’ve decided to go with my first thoughts on the idea. I didn’t want to appear to be vainglorious of Deep Wood Press but in this age of SEO nonsense and our inundation of ephemeral media it just makes sense to go with the flow. So without further ado let me introduce the forthcoming

A Deep Wood Journal

In these months of silence on the subject progress has been made – my editorial partners on this project and I have been going over layout ideas, talking to some of our favorite writers and artists and working out a way that this can be done and not be overwhelmed by it – I’ve other books to print as well! I’ve talked to other publishers of such journals also, most recently in New York during the FPBA fair I had the good fortune of having a table next to John Randal and he was very helpful with some suggestions and experience based on his 31 issues of Matrix. We’ve decided to make this an annual publication and are working towards a tentative release date for this December or January 2015. I am working with a talented young designer to put together a web presence for the journal which will, hopefully, be online and have some content as well as subscription information. At this point we are not taking submissions but that will most likely change with time as I plan to be in this for the long haul. I will say that the author and artist list we have now will blow your socks off with the melding of prose, poetry and art in a luscious little finely printed gem. Aesthetics will be as important as content as far as I’m concerned.

It looks like a commenter back in October has won a prize as well but his avatar is currently not linking to an email so if Mark Mansfield is still reading this blog please contact me about your free copy of A Deep Wood Journal #1!

And finally, just so no one thinks I’m a complete slacker, here’s a little project that was cranked out last week for musician friend Seth Bernard. Not something I do on a regular basis here at DWP but since I’ve done his previous 2 albums and he’s such a good guy, comes to help the process along, plus we always have a good time and take the occasional break to strum a guitar – why not. With only a few days to design, layout and set the type I’m fairly pleased except for the broken serifs on the italic lower case “y”s on the front cover. The image on the right of the inside jacket is difficult to photograph because it is a metallic copper colored ink but in “real life” it comes off quite well and yes, that old wood engraving on the cover is getting quite a lot of extended use. All run through the old 1911 8×12 C&P platen press 4 times plus the foil stamp run – 2 solid days of printing for 1250 CD packages.