oh hi. this was originally published last summer but I am still slowly migrating posts from the old platform over here. This seemed timely as I am trying to do a weeks worth of work in 24 hours before getting on the road to the Bay Area. Live there? Come say hi at the San Jose Printers Fair Saturday April 13th or join me for Don’t Trash It! Collage class at San Francisco Center for the Book on Monday April 15th.
No matter where you live, you could probably use a nap so here we go:
Taking time off when you are self-employed means doing a bunch of work before and after so you can take a break. I split my week between the airport and my studio. There was a brief moment this winter where I stopped work on a Friday and didn't return to it until after a relaxing weekend. But this summer has been packed with extra classes and the return of extended stay headaches. I can't always work with the headaches but I also can't rest enough to get rid of them. Meanwhile the other work piles up, and the stress aggravates the headaches, repeat and repeat.1
Which is how I found myself at the IPRC last month with six scheduled hours over two days to set and print a Keep Writing postcard. The week before I had been feeling headachy and wild so I spent a lot of time laying in the grass looking up at the walnut tree that shades our front yard. I'm sure it looked wingnutty at midnight, in my pajamas, watching the stars but I'm open to whatever it takes to bring myself back into my body.
I had a plan for the Keep Writing card and was ready to go. Except I had to reschedule my first printing appointment; the stress and the headaches were causing nausea and I could not focus. Somehow, when I rescheduled, the IPRC's calendar didn't update and I got a call from A Very Kind Person2 waiting for me to show up and print.
I arrived at my second appointment 20 minutes late. I set all the type for the card and started printing. With an hour left in my appointment the prints looked ok but wet and I realized I would never finish in time. I quit and went home.
The next day I meant to arrive early which meant I showed up on time, toting my CSA haul.3
A volunteer let me sign in but seemed perplexed by my presence. The same Very Kind Person who called me about my last seemingly missed appointment was talking to someone but eyed me. I started setting up .
Very Kind Person informed me I had misread my appointment time, and I was THREE HOURS LATE and they were closing.
They also told me I could print anyway if I would lock up4. I started again.
I realized I could create something better than what I'd planned.And I could be home in time to stretch.
The thing about printing in someone else's shop is you can't find what you need sometimes and you have to leave when they want you to . Which is fair. But I am a slow printer. I am also a messy printer. I have been printing Keep Writing cards essentially in the same format for 10 ish years. I had a plan. But on a new to me press my usual plan didn't work. I adjusted for margins and feed allowance. I swapped out text, turned it upside down, could not find the tool to lower the rollers for better inking. At some point I realized I needed to open the tympan to adjust the packing, an unruly endeavor on my best days. I had one hour left.
And then I decided to follow my own advice and prioritize rest. I wanted to go home. I wanted to arrive home slightly less than exhausted, to not have to come
back next week. I also wanted my card not to be late AGAIN and I wanted to create something I was proud of, in whatever format I could.
I took the best prints from my pile, photocopied them, and scanned them into the RISO machine. I realized I could create something better than what I'd planned.
And I could be home in time to stretch.
It felt like cheating. It felt like doubting my own skills, it felt like giving up,the easy way out.
It also felt like problem solving against a deadline, using all the tools you have to complete a task in an unexpected but satisfying way.
Keep Writing is about printing something that is pretty to look at that poses interesting questions. It is also about trying new things, challenging my print skills, adapting my plan with collaborations, and seeing what I can make that can stand as part of a collection of work and on its own.
I am learning RISO printing, and learning to think about layout in different ways and this time it worked. And I was home around 10.
It felt like cheating…It also felt like problem solving against a deadline, using all the tools you have to complete a task in an unexpected but satisfying way.
I am not scheduling mid day naps like I did last summer, and generally I can work 8 hours a day. I take breaks. I exercise. I sit with the dogs. And sometimes things aren't working and so I choose another path.
The final card claims it was handset and *technically* it was, and very few people know the difference. I even have about 40 awful letterpress prints.
I'm glad I stopped. I'm glad I slept. I'm glad the next day I chose to turn some of our CSA produce into lunches for the week. I also chose to I work from home for the rest of the day, deciding not to bike in 95 degree heat and smoky air. I make choices for my health and my 20 year old self would say sleep when you're dead but naw, I'd rather live when I'm alive.
*1.. yes, I finally went to a doctor and have many strategies for dealing with the headaches including stretching, massage, physical therapy, more exercise and more. 2. yes, sure the emails don't matter and there are plenty I ignore or respond to with the fewest words possible. But sometimes the piled up messages are requests for coffee dates with friends or scheduling a class I want to teach. I do the minimum and and constantly re-evaluating what that minimum is.
the shop manager, Jakee
I told you I'm kinda a mess
whew, thanks to being a trustworthy instructor there
What an experience to reread this essay. I'm in a different place than I was last summer, a very different place. That means different thoughts came to me, different concepts jumped out at me that I hadn't registered before. The need to do different things with the tools at hand; that's the Word for me. Thank you! As always, your writing is timely to me, even when it's a repeat!