Andy Mangold

Photo by Becky Slogeris

Today, I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Globe with my letterpress class. I of course forgot my camera on said life-changing tour, but luckily the amazing Becky Slogeris had her’s and was snapping away.

I was absolutely in awe of the equipment, tools, wood type and presses in the Globe shop. It was humbling to see the workspace of such authentic craftsmen, and very sad to see it so dusty and unused. In its prime, Globe was a premier provider of show and carnival posters, among other things. They have an enormous collection of wood type, one-of-a-kind etchings and wood cuts, not to mention a prestigious portfolio of work. Globe is a family run business, and unfortunately doesn’t have the money to get their huge poster presses running again just yet. They do sell stunning screen-printed re-issues of their classic posters, and they are available here: Globe Poster Classics

The posters are cheap, beautifully printed, unique and supporting an incredible business that has sadly fallen off the map in many ways. Holidays are approaching, I’m just sayyyiinnnn’. (so is Becky)

Becky’s Pictures

Soooooooooo for my Experimental Lettering course we had to expand on our monogram/cipher sketches from last week and apply the finalized design to some medium. I chose to create a letterpress wood block I can use on any typesetting things I tackle in the future. So, I got up real early on Saturday, went down to the wood shop, cut a piece of wood to the perfect size, went over to the lasercutter/etcher and waited my turn in line, and etched the design into the end grain of the block. The result was this:

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or at least what I haven’t lost, thrown away, sold, or gifted.

I certainly had a very book centric semester, but I think it worked out quite well in the end. I now have the book thing added to my belt to help me execute some bigger ideas. I will continue to make books over the summer, perhaps some small editions to make some cash. Also, my portfolio will be updated soon as well, perhaps along with my website??? WHO KNOWS! Stay tuned.

Selectively stained and Tung Oiled, though still not really finished. Stay tuned for packaging and some significantly more respectable documentation.

Super secret spy shots! I am excited about this project, expect in depth photo documentation, packaging, videos of it in action, etc. within the month.

While chillin’ in the ATL over spring break, I insisted we visit a flea market, a fixture of the south not so abundant in the north. So, I consulted GoogleMaps and found “My Favorite Place” which we visited for an afternoon of boyish scrounging. We came across a lot of fun stuff there, including a cast iron pan we re-claimed from the depths of rusty inactivity, but the best find of the day, in my opinion, was this handmade, rosewood and brass square. As you may know, I love tools, especially beautifully handcrafted, and obviously well used, ones with character dripping off of them. This particular tool will come in handy in my bookwork, as well as pretty much anything else in the shop. Its a perfect size for just tossing in a bag, and I am excited to use it as much as the owner before me did, and hopefully pass it down someday. There is something really exciting to me about this thing carrying the history of the person that made it, and everything it helped create. (more…)

These are the plans for a rubber band gun I am working on at the moment. It, and its packaging, is going to be my final for GD II, and I am getting quite excited about it. The bloodwood and curly red leaf maple are in the mail!

You should be able to figure out how it works from looking at the diagrams; the tension of the loaded rubber bands (up to 5) is key to its fuctionality. I am still debating whether or not it needs a spring to give the trigger some extra tension. I was originally hoping to lasercut the bloodwood middle parts, but at 3/8ths of an inch thick, our 30watt laser won’t be able to handle it. So, I am going to have to etch it and then cut it manually with a bandsaw. I am very fortunate to have cheap access to a laser for something as simple as marking cuts.

It has recently occurred to me that one of the biggest reasons I am a Book Arts Concentrator may be as an excuse to own a slew of nice, bookmaking tools. Though I have used many a utility knife in my day and borrowed a few from my father, I had never bought my own. So, realizing that a proper book makers kit needed one, I set about shopping around to find a good knife I can keep with me, hopefully forever. I settled on the Bessey D-BKWH Quick-Change Folding Utility Knife, with the hard wood handle of course. I figured I would post up some large, detailed images of it and write a quick review to help anyone who may be shopping around in the utility knife department. (more…)

This is my latest project for my Artist’s Books class. The assignment was to bind together atleast 8 of something at a single point. Usually, this style of binding ends up functioning like a booklet of paint swatches, fanning out to be read. My book is all about the tools I use to create; it is both a reaction to my being the only male in my book arts class and people who assume design is synonymous with digital.

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