color gradients, new publications & SHORT RUN!
+ process notes on designing the zines, and lichen and volcano prints
Today’s newsletter is about making a few new publications coming out this Saturday at Short Run. (And for non Pacific Northwest people, there are links to where you can get most of the new things online too.) But first, a few notes!
I have an essay in the new fall issue of the Floral Observer about hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail, in good company with other writing, comics, classifieds and nature things, all risograph printed in Detroit by the wonderful Rachel Hays of Taxonomy Press.
Adam and I dropped off our ballots for Harris/Walz and democrats down the ballot last week. Did you vote already? iwillvote.com or vote.gov both have info if you need help sorting out a plan, and early voting is open in most states. (Washington state people, the Stranger and the Progressive Voter Guide have explainers on the initiatives and other down ballot races.)
Ok — so, Short Run! The free festival is at the Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion this Saturday Nov 2nd from 11am-6pm. We’ll be at table A-5 on the very far left side from the entrance, in the area labeled “Sea of Riso” on the map. And tons of our small press friends will be tabling too, with amazing new work we can’t wait to get to see in person. This year we made two new publications, some prints, some bookmarks, and scrapped a few overly-ambitious-for-while-we-are-traveling projects along the way. Here’s a run down on everything:
Taking Care of Yourself as an Artist Publisher
The second book in the Artist Publishing series, Taking Care of Yourself as an Artist Publisher has practical tips on paying attention to what your body needs when you’re making books, improving your process, and enjoying it more. It’s 56 pages of writing, with essays on paying attention, getting a sense of time, working at your own pace, money and care, and making your workspace feel good. Plus some journaling prompts and reading recommendations.
Order a copy at the riso bookstore (more images of the insides there too!) or pick one up at Short Run.
RISO West Coast
The new and expanded RISO West Coast is here! There's so much happening with risograph printers and publishers that can be hard to keep track of it all. Last fall we made a catalog covering 50 presses, places, print shops and events. We wanted something to be able to hand to people and say here! This is a place to start! This new one is twenty four pages and about 200 entries!
We’d just ran out of the first edition at Seattle Art Book Fair 2024 when we met writer and editor Alexander Matthews, who was visiting from California. He volunteered to collaborate on the next version — and besides adding California (!!), this expanded Second Edition of the catalog covers Baja California, Yukon, Alaska and Hawaii in addition to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. We hope you find some good connection, collaborators, and inspiration.
We added goldenrod and light yellow papers to the interior, along with white pages. And Adam did some wild stuff in Typst for the spreadsheet-powered two-column layout, which I’ll write more about later.
For the cover, I used Sketch to make layered gradient fills of fluorescent pink, bright red, and orchid inks for the background. The display typeface Biceps Grotesk for the title and interior headings, and Alex Barsky made the incredible biceps-inspired doodles for the cover.
There are only about 250 copies available, so don’t wait super long on these ones if you want a copy.
We’d also love to send off some wholesale batches to shops/bookstores on the West Coast — just reply to this (or come snag them from us at Short Run).
Northwest Rivers Map
Adam printed off a new run of Northwest Rivers Map, with the major rivers of the NW and the terrain they flow through, with handwritten labels. It’s folded and printed double sided, so that it opens into other views of the northwest.
New Prints & Bookmarks
We made some bookmarks to give away with zine purchases at Short Run, which will remain a surprise for the first couple hundred people. No new lichen themed publication this year (I know, tragic!) but to tide us over, we did make a new Lichen print set of two photos from the summer. Here’s a peek at one:
We also finally made a print of the Loowit (Mt. St. Helens) eruption in 1980, as photographed by the USGS, with black ink on pale grey coverstock.
(Both prints in person only, sorry!)
Long Calendar
Get ready for the Long Calendar 2025. Three months at a time in a tall, vertical format. “I love it so much. I feel like it’s made me visualize time on a bigger scale.” The calendars include phases of the moon, meteor showers, and US holidays. Each 5.5 x 17 inch page is three months, printed single sided with the each year on four pieces of paper. Comes folded in half. The 2025 color scheme is violet and black inks printed on pale orchid paper.
These are my favorite for fridge and/or pinboard, to put all the plans out at a long term glance. Really helps me zoom out on a year and see what’s coming and how we’re spending time.
What else we’ll have at Short Run…
A quick overview for anyone who likes to preview things before the busy-ness of a fair. (I hate feeling rushed and get overwhelmed easily, so I always want something like this!) The links go to more photos/info, and where you could get them online.
Notes on Artist Publishing. A collection of advice, opinions, lists, and notes from our studio practice as ANEMONE, and conversations with friends and peers making risograph books. It’s an argument in favor of making things as an artist publisher, rather than waiting on traditional publishing. For making books that are art, and seeing the act of publishing as an art practice.
Lichens of the Pacific Crest. Colorful RISO printed photos of lichen, paired with stories of the people we met while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Thoughts on growth, community, being out of the usual routine, and walking 20+ miles a day for months.
Climate Emergency Reading Recs. This is a list of (mostly) books we (Amelia Greenhall and Elizabeth Case) have read and vetted. It’s a list of what has stuck with us, and some notes on why. We hope some of these stories recommended within can help turn climate despair into something less stagnant, that others will fill you with wonder and incredulity, and still more will remind you of the power we all have to grow a sustained, thriving, equitable, and extravagantly joyful world. (Elizabeth also writes Process Pending, one of my favorite newsletters.)
How Change Happens. How do we make change? What might changes in the future look like? This zine, edited by Adam Greenhall, collects 50+ books that have shifted the way he's thought about those questions.
Words for the Print Studio — A sketch that I drew when we visited S.A.R.A. in CDMX, with Lucía’s collaboration on translating. S.A.R.A. will be tabling next to us at Short Run and their work is so awesome! You can also get two of our favorite publications from them on the riso bookstore.
How To Pizza Night. A guide to making pizzas with friends at home: how to invite everyone, get ready, make the pizzas, and make it a party. There are recipes and illustrated instructions for making the dough and the sauce, along with detailed advice on how to get started making your very first pizzas.
Sourdough Cheat Sheet. Notes on how I make sourdough in a simple pamphlet form. Incudes my cheat sheet for the Tartine method, drawings of the process and tools, favorite book recommendations.
Getting Started with Making Electronic Music. Have you've ever listened to electronic music and wondered how you could make something like that? A new printing, with orchid ink on goldenrod yellow covers!
Here’s a treasure map for how to find us at table A-5!
—Amelia