FineLine Letterpress

Lower East Side

High Line

Friday afternoon

Central Park

OK, I had been thinking that the blade of my paper cutter was getting dull.

It is good to have a very sharp blade of course, so that it cleanly and effortlessly cuts through a stack of paper.  I get nervous about trimming a project.  I feel fairly confident about my printing, but not so much the cutting.  When faced with a stack of beautifully printed pieces under the knife, I always fight a moment of panic…. what if I slice off a portion of the beautiful cards that I just took hours creating…?    Allright, and what if I slice off the tip of my finger…?

And the concern about the blade being dull….  Uh, well as I said, everything is relative, because according to my finger, it is wicked-sharp.

Sheesh.  I am happy to report, from a safety-perspective, that this did NOT involve the blade coming down while my finger was anywhere in the vicinity.  The blade was sitting very still, in the up position, and I moved my hand up under it while – hahaha!        wait for it…….cleaning!    (that’ll teach me)

Now, here is the positive aspect of this:  (and it is kind of like when you decide to train yourself to be left-handed because you are right-handed and it would be cool to be ambidextrous) I am temporarily forced to hold my pen in a new and slightly awkward way, which slows down my hand-writing, which is a good thing, because I get to experiment with new ways of forming my letters.  And I love this – thinking about the shape of letters, and how they connect to one-another, and what impact that has on their meaning.

And that makes me think about the way things are printed, and the effect it has on the reader’s perception.  And this makes me think about electronic books, and I want to talk about this, but I will wait for another day when it is easier to type.

Despite concrete,

solitude,

dogs,

fog (usually),

and lack of role-model,

here it is.

And also its beautiful side-kick, the shadow.

Sun won out over the fog today.

Hooray.

I went cherry picking this weekend.

I had no idea how beautiful cherries are.

They are incredible!    The color!    The shape!    The cherriness of them!

This is the first of what may be many photos of cherries because I cannot look at them without thinking how beautiful they are.

Incredible.

I am learning to sew a hand-picked zipper.

And I love the way that hand-sewn underlining looks.

One of my sketchbooks is sitting nearby.  Clearly, it is a cousin to the skirt.

I like this little sketchbook.  Small but thick.

We have regular visits from a pair of ravens (especially on trash pick up day), and now, the bluejays are back.

Something about the early morning light.  Even the most ordinary items, that I see every day, look special in it.

Do angels use a Thermos?

At some point will I grow tired of this light?   (I don’t really think so)

Thank you Kathy for the inspiration.

I was a little stuck.  This got me going again.