Progress on Qin Guan

15 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by Deep Wood Press in Letterpress, Moon as Bright as Water, Oak Knoll Fest

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Printing is coming along nicely on Moon As Bright As Water with all but a few pages of the introduction and the color runs to do.

I’d forgotten how dusty Hahnemühle Biblio is, after 3 runs of 100 sheets the press must be cleaned up completely – new ink and vacuum the whole thing down. It doesn’t help that I’m running it with one natural deckle on the fore edge of the page. Such a nice soft sheet though with a nice heft at 150gsm that takes ink and impression so well.

I should have copies ready for Oak Knoll Fest coming up the end of the month on September 30 – October 2nd in New Castle, Delaware. Jim Dissette and I will be there as usual with books on the table and enjoying the camaraderie of our fellow printers and enthusiasts from around the globe.

Previous apprentice Daniel Schneider, Bonnie Loukus and another former apprentice, Erin Murray, will be here in the studio next week to assist in the bindery as loose sheets turn into folios and are sewn into book form ready to be covered in some sage Asahi book cloth and a lovely cotton indigo Shizen batik paper with a hint of gold highlights. Stock I found at Hollander’s in Ann Arbor last weekend as I once again presented at the Kerrytown Bookfest.

There is already high demand for the unbound copies of the edition so if you are a bookbinder looking for books in sheets let me know soon as they will ship upon my return from Oak Knoll.

Looking forward to wrapping up this project and getting back to my Kafka madness.

Here is a photo of some of the piles of sheets taking up space in the bindery. The wood engraving on the left is for another project. More updates next week as things head into the bindery side of the shop.

progress

The Mad Angler Poems – trout, ink and paper

28 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by Deep Wood Press in Book Bindings, Books, Letterpress, Printing, The Mad Angler Poems, The Mad Angler's Manifesto, Trout

≈ 1 Comment

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Chad Pastotnik, Deep Wood Press, Fine Press, fine press books, fly fishing, Letterpress, Mad Angler, Michael Delp, Printing, Trout, Wood Engraving

I’m happy to announce the arrival of The Mad Angler Poems, the latest book of verse by Michael Delp produced here at Deep Wood Press. Twenty four poems accompanied by 5 hand colored wood engravings by Chad Pastotnik and an introduction by Jack Driscoll.

Ever since last falls release of Mike’s poem The Mad Angler’s Manifesto which I produced as a large broadside I have been working on this updated and complete body of poems that embodies the habitat of trout as sacred places and the defilement, which is man, of the balance of nature. While the theme may be angling, trout specific and a little angry these poems transcend the niche and are just as much about how we interact with the natural world and the compromises and justifications we make to do it. Most often this is also done with coyote charm and devilish delight – excerpted from The Mad Angler Speaks Truth to Power:

I say that water is better than money,
something wet and smooth to be taken in and coveted.
I say that long ago we spoke to water and it spoke back.

Water is a form of being saved, lying down,
something wise in our cells seeking gradients,
places to run and places to rest.
I claim that once, in a dream, I walked on water.
Storms came.
I entered the clouds and when I came back down,
I spit the truth.

Michael Delp is a writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction whose works have appeared in numerous national publications. He is the author of the following five books from Wayne State University Press – Over the Graves of Horses (1989), Under the Influence of Water (1992), The Coast of Nowhere (1997), The Last Good Water (2003), and As If We Were Prey (2010) in addition to six chapbooks of poetry and being the co-editor of the Made In Michigan book series from Wayne State University Press. He taught creative writing at the Interlochen Arts Academy, has twice been the winner of the Passages North/NEH Poetry Competition, and has won a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award.

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The regular edition is quarter-bound with a brown Harmatan Moroccan goat with a cotton/linen Asahi book cloth. Gold title on spine with a varnished panel on the cover cloth overprinted with the brown drake fly wood engraving and Hahnemuhle Bugra in mocha colored flyleaves back up the book blocks which are hand sewn on straps. The book is composed in 11 and 14pt Janson with Garamond in display sizes and printed in 2 colors on Magnani Revere Book cotton 120gsm paper. 8 7/8 x 6 7/8 x 1/2 inches, 33 pages.

Edition of 71 books, the first 5 are reserved for the deluxe edition and one special copy for the author. Signed, numbered and available for purchase on the Deep Wood Press website for $350.00.

from The Prayer of The Mad Angler:

“I pray that the water in the heart of Jesus might wash away the sins of fools who erect dams, channel rivers, build levies
and create false cataracts in the lobbies of hotels.

I pray for eddies, backwaters, the slow places where current cannot find its way and I pray for shallow riffles where gravel churns up new words constantly,
the river a book spoken in all kinds of weather.”

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

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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: