Trying something new! We made about 50 extra Long Calendars and copies of our New Year’s printed newsletter, and we want to send them to anyone US-based who wants to do a mail trade. Do YOU want a calendar?!
The calendars are two sheets of 17” long by 5.5” wide, and each side has three months on it. The printing is arranged so you can flip them around and always see six continuous months, or you can stack them and just look at three months at a time. They’re made with the kitchen fridge or studio wall in mind, for taking a long view, and especially for planning adventures and creative projects in advance.
Reply to this newsletter with your mailing address (or email us: hello at anemone.studio) and I’ll drop one in the mail next week (unless/until we run out). The catch is: you’ve gotta mentally pinkie swear that you’ll mail us something in return once you get the calendar! Our PO box will be on the envelope/in the newsletter — you can be a total internet stranger or an acquaintance, it doesn’t matter, it’s a mail trade! Things you could send: a note of introduction or catch us up on what you’re up to, a letter or list about your current projects, a postcard with cool art, a zine, a new year’s card of your own, a valentine, a drawing, a comic, whatever seems fun.
Studio process
I realized from rearranging the pinboard that I’m working on a cookbook? Or more accurately, that I have been for a while. Gah, this is going to be like a long project. I’m going to continue to try to pretend to myself that I don’t know what I’m working towards. That’s too much work to contemplate. Perhaps a cookbook in the form of a series of small zines first. We’ve already done Pizza Night, and I’ve done a mini version of Sourdough… so that just leaves… Oh dear.
Adam is in the middle of the third printing, second edition of Bike Rambles Around Seattle — with TWO COLOR MAPS inside, so cool! And we’re getting so close to the next Spectrolite version. Summer Li came by ANEMONE last week as a visiting artist and made an art print and a new zine called “This is, without a doubt, a pleasant place” for a show at Michelle Thomas Fine Art Gallery + Studio in SF. And the booklet maker made an appearance in her process roundup!
Soup Raccoons
My friends Zack and Alex of Zine Hug know my all encompassing loves for SOUP and RACCOONS so of course they told me about Alex Krokus.
This is a panel from Loudest & Smartest about Alex, an internet-addicted millennial raccoon and his misadventures in the big bad city.
I include this now because Seattle pals: Alex Krokus is on book tour and will be reading from Loudest & Smartest at an event at Fantagraphics next month. The event will also feature readings from Alex Barsky, Zack Lydon, Lyle Partridge, and more. (The inside scoop: Alex Barsky is reading from surreal comic she’s currently working on called Rooms 1-19, and Zack is reading from My Beautiful CEO Vol 2.)
Mark your calendar, and Adam and I will hopefully see you there! Tuesday February 21st at Fantagraphics in Georgetown. 7pm and it's a free event! Raccoons!
SPEAKING MARKING YOUR CALENDAR…
The all well book, How to Sew Clothes, comes out February 28th! Pre order a copy and join in the sewing fun!
Pickle update
The red onion pickles I mentioned last time were extraordinarily delicious. I ate them all quickly and made more this morning. I’ve made many different red onion pickle recipes and this is my latest favorite, it’s also quite easy as far as that goes. Here it is, slightly adapted from Mostly Plants:
Take one red onion, halve it lengthwise, then very thinly slice it into half moons. In a small saucepan on high heat, add 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, a pinch of salt. (And optionally, though I didn’t have one on hand, a jalapeño sliced into thin rounds.) Stir occasionally for 2 or 3 minutes until the sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat, put in the onions and 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns and let cool. Then put everything in a jar in the fridge.
Reading / LINKS / Recommendations /Notices
This newsletter, they come along with excessive parentheticals (thanks Lara).
Stuck in the mud (relatable)
Raspberry Bow Press is opening a bookstore that will carry zines in Edison, WA. (This is great news, I can’t wait to visit them combined with visits to Bread Farm and Tweets and Mariposa Taqueria.)
How to quit your job to fight climate change (In Bloomberg lol.)
Why is everyone online autistic now? (On slow processing and taking in a lot of detail at once.)
Loved the section on William Padilla Brown’s work in In Search of Mycotopia — it’s shared online in Outside Mag. (“Don’t touch that,” he warned as he inoculated tubs of substrate, noticing my curiosity, “It’ll make your finger feel weird.”)
The lichens section of the dewey decimal system if 579 and 589. (I plan to go there on my next Reading Afternoon in the downtown branch of SPL.)
The movie Fire of Love was really great. (It’s a volcanologist couple documentary.)
Some pandemic-related useful stuff:
A useful xbb variant explainer. (We’re masking with high quality masks indoors in public/on transit, getting the boosters, opening windows, using air filters, spacing out get-togethers, taking rapid tests.)
Free tests for WA residents from SayYesHomeCovidTest.org (You can reorder each month for free so I put a repeat calendar alert on the 1st that emails me a notification that’s just the URL. They come super quick in the mail.)
This is a great tutorial for making an inexpensive DIY air filter out of a box fan, four furnace filters, and duct tape — very effective. Or if you’re tight on space or money, a box fan plus one filter is good, like this tutorial. (Also, IKEA has $75 air filters that look pretty cool.)
That’s it for now.
-Amelia
P.S. — Write back with your mailing address if you’d like a calendar in the mail for mail-trade!