Dear Friends and Collaborators, New Year's Greetings!
While turning the calendar page is not a panacea for all the difficulties of 2020, the turn of the year does give a time for reflection, and hope for new beginnings. We hope you are well, have found positive things in your reflections, and are looking forward with anticipation.
SHOP UPDATE: Since December 12, 2020, Sonoma County, along with most of California, was once again under a Stay Home Order. This paused printing activities at the shop in Sebastopol through January. Members continued to work on projects at home, and some will be resuming work at the shop in February.
However, the shop is still closed to the general public, so we are planning to give you virtual peeks at member work as the year proceeds. We are also hoping to figure out some COVID appropriate means for actual physical sharing of the printed page.
In other shop news, there have been some new additions to the family of equipment! Last fall, as you may have seen on our social media, an imposing table joined the fold. Very imposing! In fact three feet by five feet, with the two inch thick marble top alone weighing 400 lbs. ! ! Altogether it's about 1000 pounds -
half a ton!
The name imposing table derives from its use in printshops as a big enough surface to lay out the forms for multiple pages of a book to be put into the presses at once - that process is called imposition.
The table had most recently been in Graton, where it was stored in a container. The owners said that they had used it as a kitchen island in their previous home, and had no idea when it was last employed by printers. No doubt it had been wonderful as a kitchen island, but there is something very satisfying about having it back to its built-for purpose. And it just looks and feels so good in the shop!
Another significant addition, just this month, is A Big Presse! Which, it turns out, is not a claim about size, but - letterspacing lesson here, kids - Abig, the name of the manufacturer. Eric cleaned this up and found a spot for it. As those of you who have visited the shop know, that is no mean feat.
And so, we press on!
SCHOLARSHIP UPDATE and THANK YOU to all Donors:
We are so grateful for your generous contributions to the Rod Buchignani Scholarship Fund. As of January 16th, 2021, we have received over $1900 in donations from over 25 supporters! The application form will be published very soon. We intend to publicize, accept applications and grant these scholarships after we leave lock down and commence activities.
In 2016, Rod Buchignani published the book The 2016 US Presidential Discontent When Words Fail. In the Foreword, Rod described the book as a collection of quotations about the lack of courage and abundance of equivocation. In a positive contrast, we see the Rod Buchignani Scholarship Fund as a way for Words to Succeed. Thank you for your support. It is a bright spot of encouragement for the future.
We are continuing to accept donations. For more information visit the Scholarship webpage.
Warm Wishes from,
North Bay Letterpress Arts