first snow, & hello Layout Department
and of course, links + recs
First snowfall at our home in the mountains. A paper star lamp, glowing in the window. The sketchbook collage in progress at the desk, after being inspired to return to my practice by a hangout with my friend Callie Little. (I need a gluestick!) Potato leek soup. Broccoli cheddar soup. Rancho Gordo beans. Wisps of cloud on the pines. Hot tub time with friends, in the cold air. Learning CAD in OnShape with my dad. Learning how to use new types of saws, beginning the process of learning the skills to build things with wood. Designing a little shelf to go on top of the risograph, so the lightbox we use for registration has a place to sit. Feeling scared, but almost ready to cut the wood. My dad sending me encouraging texts and being ready to video chat with me.
Reflecting on my creative process in a really generative way. Reviving tired sweaters with the sweater shaver. Joining my local hot yoga studio and going three times a week. Pictionary with friends, playing by the Cousins house rules. (See newsletter tomorrow for said rules; this is a GREAT activity for if you’re gathering with friends/family this week.)
Since late summer, Adam and I have been working on a new app for Mac and Windows, that you can use to make PDFs into the print files for books and zines. We’ve named it… Layout Department!
You pick what size sheet you’re printing on, how many pages you want to have on each side of the sheet (ie; the final size of your book/zine), and drag and drop your PDF in. Then, export the layout file, print it double sided, cut the pages apart if you’ve got a layout with more than 2 pages per side of the sheet, and assemble your book/zine/artist publication by folding and binding with thread, staples, etc.
Find it at layoutdepartment.com!
Also, this is the free version of the app… we’re also working on a paid version with even more features! If you’d like to test + give feedback on the paid version (in return for a complimentary license and early access to new features), just reply to this email.
Eating + cooking: Planning to make some Popping Corn and maybe watch Lynda Barry’s documentary Comic Book Confidential (our library has it on Kanopy). I want to make a grid salad with feta and Castelvetrano olives. Salad quilts! Making sourdough each week per-usual, but experimenting with different Cairnspring Mills flours. I remembered about my recipe for these chocolate chip cookies and made a batch using only 3oz bar of chocolate cut into tiny pieces (because I didn’t have any chips on hand), and they were great.
Reading: Paging through a big pile cookbooks and gardening books from the library. And lots of good articles, including: Some people don’t have children because they don’t want to. » Gathering Stardust » The Sky and Leaves as They Fall
For artist publishers: To Go Big or Come Home? & The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem. And I’m still thinking about this from our friend Gerald: “There is work that I have come to love making, and there is work that I no longer want to make. What I think this points at is I want to work more privately.”
Looking: I’m doing a pickle fountain | 3d printed moulds to shape gourds into vessels | how to make objects with mycelium zine | daily drawings 2023-2025 | Bush Modern | myog embroidered (!) bike frame bag
Building this world:
“Most consumer environmental policy boils down to tax rebates & impotent scolding. I think we should have more fun with it.” (←please read this comic!)
It’s hard to drone a solar panel (Real life making me think of novels Ministry for the Future, The Deluge, The Peripheral.)
Sewing: Looking forward to making pants from the book The Act of Sewing with my friend Rachel (as part of her 12 Makes of Christmas) — we’re going to hang out on video chat. And I’m also going make some Elizabeth Suzann patterns this winter; the Andy Pants and a Bel Skirt. (I typically only wear pants, but somehow I feel like a skirt is calling to me for winter layering?) And the Clyde Vest, since I need a warm layer to wear over my sweaters, in the studio. Something that’s not like a coat, exactly, I think it will be nice to have my arms free, but that adds a lot of warmth to my core.
Sending care, everyone, especially this week.
— Amelia
P.S. — Behind the scenes Layout Department app design… lots more book formats coming, including “hot dog” and “alligator” ;)
