Holy cow, it's November already and I haven't done a damn thing more with the book. I really almost give up in late October, thinking this can't be done in time for holiday sales. But I know I will feel bad if I don't do it.
I print 200 each of 2 Christmas card designs (the Bike Santas) and am still wavering on WWBFD. Then I get a package in the mail for "Ms. Bigfoot" from my friend and art hero Carye Bye who has been on a month-long trip to the South and Midwest. It has an article on Bigfoot sightings in Minnesota, and a postcard from the Spam Museum of Sasquatch carrying a package of spam. (It's photoshopped onto the Patterson image, but still, it's hilarious!) I am completely re-inspired and I know I really want to do this.
(Um, for non-BF geeks, the Patterson video is famous footage taken in the 1960s of what appears to be a female sasquatch in Northern California. It's never been proven to be a fake, and who back then would have thought to put boobs on a gorilla suit?)
Back to the planning - yep, still 6 blocks to print, and 4 pages of text. It's going to take at least 30 - 40 hours. Can I do it before December 1? I decide I will not do 100 in this run, which will help it go faster - 50 will be plenty for now, and I'll print 60 of each page as some will get messed up. I will print 100 of the text pages, as I only want to set the type once. We are crazy busy at work, so I don't take my regular days off - less time for art for a few weeks, unfortunately.
My birthday, November 15th - I get up and work on it first thing. I realize I want to use the Patterson image for the first image page - Take a Walk. It's perfect and I love the idea. (Thank you again, Carye, as I draw from the postcard she sent.)
November 16th - I print up 60 of them at the IPRC. I haven't ever used laid paper like this before, and it's much thinner than cardstock which is what I usually print on. I have no idea how it will do, but it's excellent, and dries quickly, unlike the cardstock. I am printing all in black so that at least is faster than mixing inks, and I can print 60 very quickly, once I get the block the way I want it. I did some funky background that was supposed to be brush but looks crazy. After I print a few, I realize it's not working (I usually have to fix something in the image after I see it printed.) I carve it out more and it gets worse, and I have messed up one of the hands in the process - crap! I give up and carve the background out so it's blank - it's not the exact Patterson photo hillside, but it looks much better. And I work with the messed up hand and it actually looks better. Ok, whew. Printing is such an imprecise art - that's part of what I love about it. I don't really know how it's all going to look before it's printed. It's a surprise! (When it works.)
Another letterpress printer friend Shannon Buck shows me a trick - placing prints in magazines instead of phone books so they don't stick to the pages. I use the Best Friends animal sanctuary magazines I have around - it seems fitting for Bigfoot. I am so glad the first block is done! 1.5 hours - I am used to doing 100 - 200 prints at once, so 60 seems like nothing!
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