Pie In The Sky Press

Everything in its place

2011-10-30T15:02:00.001-07:00

Work tables installation

2011-09-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

My generous brother-in-law, Mark Traughber, built the two huge work tables that Jonathan designed. The table complete the new letterpress/bookbinding studio conversion of our suburban living room.

One of the finished table waiting in Mark's shop in Long Beach to be picked up and delivered to Simi Valley.

Mark picks up the table with the fork lift, yikes.

Mark and Jonathan wedge the huge table into the rental truck. The tables are so big, in fact, that we had to make two journeys. Only one would fit in the truck.

Getting the table out of the truck on our end. Jonathan used a rope and pulley system that he designed to lift his motorcycle.

The first table coming up the front walk.

Jonathan and Chance push it into position.

The second table moved into place.

Jonathan installed levelers to the bottom of the table to deal with our uneven floor.

Work tables continued

2011-09-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Installing the shelves for paper and supply storage.

I'm using these silverware organizers from Ikea from small tool storage drawers. This is the general tools one with bone folders, exacto knives, etc.

This one is for sewing supplies.

This one has sanding supplies.

This one has leather working tools: paring knives, strop, band stick, band nippers, pointe and spokeshave.

Paper and board storage. The units were designed to accommodate 20 x 30 inch papers.

The final touches

2011-09-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

The last of the equipment is moved from the garage into the studio. This little guillotine proved to be one of the most challenging pieces to move. It is extremely top heavy and threatened to tip over all the way into the house.

The letterpress/bindery studio is complete. It's pure wonderfulness is beyond my wildest dreams. Thanks to Jonathan Plaskett, Chance Chamlee Plaskett, Mark Traughber and the Center for Cultural Innovation for making this beautiful workspace happen.

Printing My Partial Tongue

2011-08-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

I’m in the thick of printing a new book. My Partial Tongue by poet Martha Ronk uses phrases from an essay on gardens and plants by Sir Thomas Brown, a 17th century essayist who wrote about the order in nature. The poems have a great deal of space in them, space suggestive of what is missing and of silence, and reflect a feeling of distance from the natural world that seems to be disappearing.

This is by far the most demanding and technical printing I’ve attempted. I created photographs of plants and feathers that reflect the content of the poems. The images were digitally manipulated and separated then printed in tight registration on Rives BFK.

All of the text is handset Bodoni. The 14 pt Bodoni book, book italic and 36 pt book are from the collection of Otis. The 72pt roman and italic are mine.

Printed pages are stacked on the banquet tables my sisters gave me for my birthday. They will be replaced by custom tables with lots of storage soon.

The 14pt Bodoni book was hand set for the 14 poems in the book. It wasn’t as much of a chore as I thought it would be. It printed so wonderfully I may never go back to polymer for text.

The type for the title page. The 36pt Bodoni used for Martha's name is from Otis. The amazing 72pt is something I’ve had laying around for years. It was destined to be melted down before I saved it. Many of the letters of the italic have kerns, where they overlap the neighboring letters. I had to be very careful to not break them. As it was I broke several ears from the lower case “g”s and “r”s.

This is the title page in the grippers of the press ready to have my imprint and date printed.

Production dummy

2011-08-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to enter My Partial Tongue in the College Book Arts Association's juried member show. The deadline for online submissions is Monday. I had to get enough of the book printed so I could bind it and make it look like a complete book.

The plan for this book is a separate board binding with a goat leather spine and boards covered in paste paper. This dummy only has half of the images printed.

Here’s a close up of the head and rolled leather endband. I put a little piece of cord inside the spine piece to form a faux end cap. In this binding the spine is made and applied to the text block separately from the cover boards.

Along with the plant images there are three images of feathers. These feathers are from a hen common pheasant. I bought them on ebay.

Most of the plants came from my garden. This image is of a flower and buds from my Ballerina, an old fashioned rambler, that has grown over the side wall and into the neighbor’s tree.

The sword fern that grows on the shady side of the house started as a little piece from my sister's yard. It is so happy there I have to periodically hack it back to clear the path.

My grassy paste paper.

More My Partial Tongue images

2011-08-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

Santa Barbara Daisy

2011-08-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

I have these plants all over the place. They are very successful self-seeders.

Printing the Ballerina image

2011-08-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is an example of the way the images were printed.

First the solid colors were printed with the final black detail printed last.

This is after the green and pink plates were printed. It's ready to print the yellow.
The yellow plate just been printed.

Now it is ready to print the black detail plate.

The black has just been printed. You can see the plate in the bed of the press.

The board shear moves in

2011-05-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day my wonderful son and husband brought the board shear into the print shop/bindery/living room. Notice how the feet are bolted to the moving dollies and how they jack it up to raise it over the threshold. A very heavy and awkward piece of equipment is moved with very little drama thanks to Jonathan's genius equipment moving skills.

The bindery equipment has arrived!

2011-04-29T11:22:00.001-07:00

This morning the bindery equipment arrived. We were very relieved that the delivery man was kind enough to put it in the garage rather than just leaving it curbside. This equipment, a Jacques board shear; Challenge guillotine and a Hickok job backer, was paid for by the Investing in Artists grant I received from the Center for Cultural Innovation. The next step will be to get it into the living room/print shop bindery.

The making of A Reason of Water

2011-04-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

New from Pie In The Sky Press

2011-04-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

Barbara Maloutas’ poem A Reason of Water is a poetic and visual exploration of the poet/book artist as archivist. Practical Housekeeping, a 1883 publication that holds tried and true recommendations covering everything from the latest household gadgets to instructions on how to revive a drowning victim, provides some of the words and phrases in the lyrical prose poems.

The “cuts” (illustrations) from Practical Housekeeping that occasionally migrate into the pages are rendered as abstracted forms along with the text of the poems and pulled phrases. The objects are lightly used and repetitious enough to suggest the playfulness of the modern woman who might do well to learn some of the determination, craft and skill of a plucky 1883 housewife (to whom Practical Housekeeping is dedicated). Pulling words or phrases from the poems is a way to create interest and hierarchy on the page and with the very non-hierarchical poems and provide another method of working and presenting a new archive.

The book was designed, letterpress printed and hand bound by Rebecca Chamlee at Pie In The Sky Press on Rives Heavyweight paper using photo polymer plates, various wood type with the water textures cut from linoleum. The binding is a 20-page drumleaf sewn-board binding, with the boards covered in paste paper made by the binder. The edition is 30 signed and numbered copies with six hors de commerce copies and several artist’s proofs. A limited number of printer’s proofs were left in sheets for book binders.

The text typeface is Emigre Tribute, by German type designer Frank Heine, a Renaissance Antiqua revival. Its archaic and slightly rough feel mimics the quality of the typography and reproduction of Practical Housekeeping, where words, phrases and imagery were found.

One by One Craft in America

2011-02-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Clark Library Event Oct. 9

2010-09-17T12:18:00.001-07:00

Pie In The Sky Press will be showing work at the reception, with a short reading by Paul Vangelisti.

Visit Pie In The Sky Press at the L.A. Printers Fair

2010-09-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

New Pie In The Sky Press website!

2010-08-19T16:49:00.001-07:00

Check out my new website at:

www.pieintheskypress.com/

Study for the Possibility of Hope

2010-08-07T11:57:00.001-07:00

The printing is nearly complete on my latest edition, Study for the Possibility of Hope, by poet Dennis Phillips.

Paul Vangelisti writes, “ Dennis Phillips, in Study for the Possibility of Hope, embarks on a speculative and finally optimistic version of the pastoral, examining the poem’s (and our) place in the natural world. As he was also at the time working on his novel Hope (Green Integer, 2007), one can’t help noting the aptness of some of the poet’s musings in relation to that other world of language. For the poet, Hope becomes both a device and a destination: ‘a boat moored in a glassy cove.’

“In this book, with ‘slow surface,’ its careful and often droll meanderings, Dennis Phillips shows himself to be a poet’s poet, a true, in Heidegger’s words, ‘shepherd of Being.’”

The images of native California plants and The San Gabriel Mountains on double gatefold spreads reference the view from the poet’s porch where the poems were conceived.

These are pictures of the printer's/binder's proof.

American Academy of Bookbinding

2010-08-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Early this summer I spent 2 perfect weeks at the American Academy of Bookbinding in Telluride, Colorado. I studied french-style fine leather binding with renowned bookbinder, Monique Lallier. One of the books I made was yet another version of Azusa: a sequel by Paul Vangelisti. This time the book is covered in scarlet Harmatan goat with underlay and onlay cover decoration and a green leather fly. I think this is the very best one yet.

Codex International Book Fair

2010-07-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

Preparations are underway for the Third Biennial CODEX International Book Fair and Symposium on February 6-9, 2010. We estimate over 3000 people will attend the four day event, with 150 presses, artists, and suppliers from all over the world exhibiting and selling at the book fair, and 250 artists, collectors, and curators participating in the BORDERS AND COLLABORATIONS symposium focusing on global collaboration to strengthen and enhance the future of the book arts.

http://www.codexfoundation.org

Pie In The Sky Press will have a table, come and take a look at the books in person!

National Museum of Women in the Arts grant proposal

2010-05-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

Barbara Maloutas and I are applying for the 2010 Library Fellows Program grant to produce Barbara's poem A Reason of Elements. This is the mockup of the water section.

Further Apocrypha Quarter Leather

2010-05-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here's another version of Ray DiPalma's Further Apocrypha bound in quarter blue Harmatan goat leather with paste paper. This version comes in a paste paper slipcase.

Ray DiPalma's "Further Apocrypha" deluxe edition

2010-03-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

Further Apocrypha contains twenty-seven previously uncollected poems written by Ray DiPalma between 1993 and 2009. These writings, both sensuous and lyric in their philosophic concerns, reflect what has often been noted as DiPalma’s finely tuned ear and his preoccupation with testing the limits of language and form. Six of his original graphic works accompany the poems.

The deluxe copies numbered four and five of the edition of forty are red full Harmatan goat leather. The text blocks were sewn on linen tapes with printed endsheets of Bugra paper, sprinkled edge decoration, hand sewn silk endbands and are stored in a cloth-covered clamshell box. The image of an airplane from the endsheets is impressed into the cover of both the box and the book.

Further Apocrypha kangaroo leather

2010-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

This special copy of Further Apocrypha is bound in red kangaroo hide. The text block was sewn on linen tapes with endsheets of marble paper made by Pam Smith of Marblesmith and hand sewn silk endbands. The impressed image on the cover is a original graphic by the poet, Ray DiPalma.

Further Apocrypha standard edition

2010-01-29T13:59:00.000-08:00

This edition of 35 standard copies was designed, printed and bound entirely by Rebecca Chamlee. The book was printed on a Vandercook from polymer plates of Centaur and Arrighi types and collages by the poet on Zerkell Nideggen paper. The text blocks were sewn on Ramie tapes with printed Bugra endsheets. The quarter cloth case binding has sides covered in paste papers made by the binder and an inset printed label.

Green Leather "Azusa"

2009-10-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

I've made five deluxe versions of "Azusa : a sequel" by Paul Vangelisti. There are four covered in green goatskin and one bound using red bookcalf. There are all sewn on raised cords with handsewn endbands.

Red Leather "Azusa"

2009-10-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

New Broadside - "Christmas 1956"

2009-10-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

This new broadside is printed on buff Rives BFK. It tells the story about my favorite Christmas present I received as a child.

New Broadside - "Dreams of Flight"

2009-10-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

The broadside is printed on handmade Twinrocker paper and is about a dream I had when I was a child living in suburban Southern California.

New Broadsides - "Fire and Ice"

2009-10-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

This broadside is printed on Arches cover and tell the story of the animals of my childhood.

Book Arts Jam October 17

2009-09-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

I’m thrilled to be showing my work at the 2009 Book Arts Jam--on October 17 at Foothill College. Come for the day and stop by to say hello.

Book Arts Jam details

Don’t miss Book Arts Jam 2009, a one-day regional celebration of the book and print arts, co-sponsored by the Bay Area Book Artists and Foothill College. This year’s event features an exhibition of artists’ books, hands-on demonstrations, and make-and-take activities; an exhibitors’ showcase with work by more than 50 artists and craftspeople in the book, paper, and print arts; a slideshow of member work; silent auction; and a full-service onsite cafeteria. Great for families with children, teachers, students, artists, and anyone who likes books. Remember, books make great gifts!

October 17, 2009; 10 am-4 pm

Foothill College 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, California

Free admission, parking $2. www.bookartsjam.org

Eventline: 650-949-7591

Further Apocrypha excerpt

2009-09-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from my upcoming edition"Further Apocrypha" by Ray DiPalma. This 5-hole pamphlet contains the title poem and an image printed on Zerkall Nideggen paper with Hahnemuhle Bugra cover.

Azusa: a sequel

2009-09-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

This edition of 25 standard and 5 deluxe copies was designed, printed and bound by Rebecca Chamlee of Pie In The Sky Press. It was printed on a Vandercook 4 hand-operated flatbed cylinder press on Rives Heavyweight paper. The wood type is from the collections of Pie In The Sky Press and Otis Laboratory Press. The text is digitally set Seria Sans printed from photo-polymer plates. The standard copies shown here are sewn on ramie tapes with printed endsheets, rolled goat leather endbands, cloth Bradel case binding with a printed, inset label. 2009

Further Apocrypha

2009-09-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

My next project is a collaboration with poet Ray Dipalma called "Further Apocrypha". This is the first dummy, a quarter leather case with my paste paper covering the boards. A printed label of one of Ray's images is inset on the cover.

Sewing Azusa

2009-09-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here is "Azusa: a sequel" in process. Paul Vangelisti, whose poem is featured in the book, thought this picture looked like baby books in a crib.

The Young Manhood of Dave Chamlee wood covers

2009-09-14T10:43:00.001-07:00

This is the same book but with wooden board covers.

The Young Manhood of Dave Chamlee

2009-09-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Recently, I produced a book about my great grandfather told by my father in a Humanities term paper he wrote when he attended Claremont Men’s College in the ‘50s. The book is a simplified binding with kangaroo leather spine and paste paper covered boards.

Vanity

2009-09-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

From the series "Seven Deadly Sins," "Vanity" is an edition is 25 letterpress printed hard cover accordians

Azusa excerpt

2009-09-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is a preview of my upcoming edition "Azusa: a sequel" by Paul Vangelisti.

Chicago Book

2009-09-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

In June 2007 I received a faculty development grant to attend "Action/Interaction: Book/Arts" conference at Columbia College in Chicago. As my report I made a limited edition book.

Cambridge panel

2009-09-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

This July I took a weeklong intensive workshop at the San Francisco Center for the Book with Dominic Riley. We made an 18th century calfskin Cambridge panel book using traditional materials and methods.

2009-06-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

Pie In The Sky Press is a small private press in Ventura County, California that specializes in limited edition artist books by Rebecca Chamlee and fine press books by selected poets such as Paul Vangelisti, Ray DiPalma, Dennis Phillips and Guy Bennett.