Bookmaking in the Sonoran Desert – Featuring Prickly Pear Cactus

Prickly Pear Book - Cover

Prickly Pear Book – Cover © 2014 Bo Mackison

Second in the series of hand crafted books, exploring the Sonoran Desert habitat. This accordion book features the Engelmann’s Prickly Pear Cactus, the most common of prickly pears in the US Deserts.

Prickly Pear Accordion Book © 2014 Bo Mackison

Prickly Pear Accordion Book © 2014 Bo Mackison

I used photographs in this book. These photos were taken in the back arroyo, and I have the pleasure of seeing cacti covered with blooming yellow flowers every May.

Prickly Pear Book - Text

Prickly Pear Book – Text © 2014 Bo Mackison

My intention with these books is to make a small collection of books focusing on the commonly seen plants, birds, and animals in the Sonoran Desert. Quick and easy, with simply done content. I used the accordion format for the first two books.

The first book in the series features the Greater Roadrunner.

Bookmaking in the Sonoran Desert – Featuring the Roadrunner

Roadrunner Book

Roadrunner Book © 2014 Bo Mackison

I’ll be doing a bookmaking project in 2014, featuring a different aspect of the Sonoran Desert each week.

My first subject ran through the back arroyo as I was enjoying my sunrise coffee. A roadrunner would make a great feature for the first book, I thought, as I watched him ducking in and out of the brush. Then I decided, instead of traveling to the wide open spaces of the desert, I’d choose a subject from my backyard, the back arroyo.

Not only would it make the study of a particular animal, plant or mineral convenient – my subject would always be available – but it would also encourage me to learn more about my backyard habitat. Perfect.

No Wonder, This Bird is a Cuckoo

No Wonder The Bird is a Cuckoo © 2014 Bo Mackison

When the roadrunner visited, I took a couple of photographs, but mostly I just observed his behavior. I was amused at his rather peculiar antics — the bobbing of his crested head and the high jump he executed in the air, even the flip-flip of his tail as if he was telling me what he thought of my coffee drinking in his neighborhood!

I did some research on the roadrunner and made a simple accordion book. Then I added content. Even though I am not an illustrator, I plan to do simple drawings for these books. I’m not going to stress about this, figuring that as I practice it will get easier.

The writing was fun, especially since I uncovered so many interesting, and humorous, facts about the roadrunner’s habits. The first page of the book is an introduction and the sketch was on the next pages.

Most Famous of Sonoran Desert Birds

He skitters across the arroyo, shaking his shaggy crest,
Gives me a flip of his tail, no wonder. The bird is a cuckoo.

Two Poems in One

Two Poems in One © 2014 Bo Mackison

I wrote words and then added type cut from magazines to make two poems in one.

I decided to incorporate a second poem into the first by highlighting specific words. The first poem reads normally; in the second poem the read only the cut out words. This poem-inside-a-poem reads a little rough, since I didn’t think to add the second poem until  the words were already written in the book. I’m looking forward to planning a bit more in the next book.

Here is the first poem, read normally.

He has the habits of a slap stick comedian, a relative of acclaimed characters in Western tall tales & Saturday morning cartoons.
I’ve seen him do a helicopter dance, land with a bird in his beak. He’ll do combat with a rattler…and win.
And yet, Mr Cavalier, when courting, he presents his intended with a twig or blade of grass,
then the chase is on — ’til she decides yea or nay.
On cool desert mornings he spreads his tail feathers, exposes dark flesh,
& warms himself with the heat of the sun. An energy conservationist.

And here is the mini poem, composed in cut out words:

Sonoran Desert. No Wonder.
Come To the West & Dance…
and With A Yea!
Desert Warms the Sun.

Bookmaking - Accordion Book featuring Greater Roadrunner

Accordion Book Featuring Greater Roadrunner © 2014 Bo Mackison

See the agave plants in the corners and the sun symbols on the end covers?

One of my favorite parts was cutting out parts of the agave plant and adding them to the corners of the front and back inside covers. The endpapers remind me of a multitude of suns, appropriate for a book about the desert.

Now it’s time to go for an evening walk in the arroyo, and see if I can spot my next subject!

 

 

Yay! Desert Wisdom Cards — Now Available

The Desert Wisdom Card sets are now available. Printed in a limited edition of 26, and numbered and signed by me, the Wisdom Cards are featured in my Etsy shop. See the shop for more photos and full details.

Desert Wisdom Cards

I created my first Desert Wisdom Card in March of this year. It was the PLAY card and featured happy, pottery jackrabbits playing an assortment of musical instruments. The photo made me smile every time I looked at it, and I wanted to share that happiness, so I posted the photo on my blog. I added a quote, some musings on the benefits of play, and a few suggestions for adding play to one’s day.

In the next months I created a total of 24 cards, and I featured many of them on my blog from March through June. Then I worked on a template so that I could create a limited edition set of the Wisdom Cards. I wrote about the final piece of the puzzle falling into place when I shared about my letterpress discovery.

Once I printed the cards, I constructed a four flap portfolio to hold the set and tied the folio with a leather tie. There is also an attached milagro, or tiny miracle, charm. (These Mexican folk art charms feature natural symbols of the desert region.) The portfolio comes in a simple muslin bag for added protection.

Desert Wisdom Card - Delight

There are many ways to use the desert wisdom cards. A few suggestions include:

  • choose a daily card as a focus card during meditation
  • choose a card as a journal or art prompt
  • enrich your daily spiritual practice through contemplation of nature
  • inspire and nurture your creative muse

These cards are not only a wonderful addition to a practice of self-discovery and contemplation, they are also a work of art – modified book arts.

Please check out my Etsy store for more information or to order the Desert Wisdom Cards. Or contact me at bo(at)bomackison(dot)com with questions or comments.

Type is Set — Desert Wisdom on the Vandercook Letterpress

Title Page on Letterpress

Title Page on Vandercook Cylinder Letterpress © 2013 Bo Mackison

let-ter-press  noun ˈle-tər-ˌpres  “Letterpress printing is a term for the relief printing of text and image using a press with a “type-high bed” printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image.” from wikipedia

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Letterpress Bed © 2013 Bo Mackison

I finished printing the Desert Wisdom Cards on the letterpress last week. This week I set and printed the title page. Can you read the title page from the type that is set on the letterpress bed?

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Desert Wisdom Colophon ©2013 Bo Mackison

 

Once the title page was printed, I set the colophon. What is a colophon? 

colophon  col-o-phon  noun ˈkä-lə-fən, -ˌfän  “A brief description of publication or production notes relevant to the edition, in modern books usually located at the verso of the title-leaf, but also sometimes located at the end of the book…often included a good deal of additional information on the book, including statements of limitation, data on paper, ink, type and binding, and other technical details.” (from wikipedia)

The word colophon is from the Latin word kolophōn which means “summit” or “finishing touch”. I included a colophon in the Desert Wisdom Cards, and after printing a mere seven lines of type and my wisdom card logo, I truly felt like a had reached the summit of an incredibly high goal.

I have finished all of the printing for the Desert Wisdom Card set — the title page, twenty-two cards and the colophon. Next in the process is trimming the pages and then the assembly of the cards.

The Desert Wisdom Card set is getting closer to completion!

 

 

 

 

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Bo Mackison is artist, photographer, book-maker, naturalist, curator, and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is learning the wonders of the cylinder letterpress, and adding words to her vocabulary, as she prints the Desert Wisdom Cards.

 

Watching Ink Dry

Drying Time on Drawers of Type Cabinets

Drying Time ©2013 Bo Mackison

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.”
~ John Quincy Adams

Another look at the letterpress room at Whispering Woodlands. Isn’t this an amazing sanctuary?

The cabinets, a half-dozen metal cabinets, aged, battered with hard use, and yet fully functional, even beautiful. Each cabinet holds dozens of trays of type — mostly lead type, but there is a bit of vintage wood type, too.  Type for 6 point to 60 point. Each tray in precise order, so the same motion that fetches a Capital T from one tray would find a Capital T of a different font in the same space in any other tray. It’s the tiny organizational things spread throughout the entire process that I find so appealing.

And yes, in a letterpress room filled with a cylinder press, and a wall full of cabinets and other necessities, the most convenient drying spaces for the just printed papers are on pulled out trays. The rubber based inks are slow drying, and dry by actual absorption into the paper instead of drying upon it. A full day process. They are lovely inks to work with – smooth, slightly opaque, and forgiving of a beginner’s practices.

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Instructive Papers © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Finding a sanctuary, a place apart from time, is not so different from finding a faith.” ~ Pico Iyer

Truly, I do feel rather as if I am creating in a sanctuary – private, quiet. Just me and the letterpress, just the power from my arms and my body to turn the crank and “walk” the paper through the press. Then the process in reverse — walk back and crank in the opposite direction.

On this run, I did the words “SANCTUARY” and “LETTING GO” together, more because of the length of the words than the meanings. But I like the idea of working in my little printing room, repeating the same practice for each sheet of paper, while letting go of outside distractions, old conversations, difficult encounters, stinging words embedded in the subconsciousness. WOW! What a healing experience — running a letterpress.

Interesting that there is personal healing in the process, as I create this first edition of the Desert Wisdom Cards — cards which I hope will inspire self-discovery and inner healing in the people who work with them.

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Bo Mackison is artist, photographer, book-maker, naturalist, poet, curator, and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is learning the wonders of the cylinder letterpress, and also experiencing personal healing in the process, as she prints the Desert Wisdom Cards.