Notebooks and bookmarks

The countdown is on until Poinciana Paper Press hits Trinidad for the NGC Bocas Lit Festival and then New York City for the 5th Annual CUNY Chapbook Festival, so we've been making some goodies for our table. Besides our chapbooks--including three new books since our last visit to the chapbook festival--we'll be showcasing our fun notebooks finished with a Japanese stab-binding:

I also took the opportunity to use up some leftover covers from the Saltwater Healing book by Angelique V. Nixon to make some bookmarks that people can take to remind them to check out the press online later. The phrases "This is the way we prepare to belong to the sea" and "Nothing returns to shore as whole as it left" are a diptych of sorts that are taken from my poetry collection "Infidelities" and which I feel tap into the spirit of the press: the complex existence of island life and our fragmented identities and the stories which emerge from that push and pull.

If you will be at these festivals, make sure to check them out!

Art of the Book

Our six-week introduction to making books came to a close last week.

I had four fabulous students who made amazing work both inside and outside of the workshop, which was hosted at Popopstudios International Center for the Visual Arts. They always have fantastic art classes for adults and children as part of their educational programming, so be sure to check them out if you're looking for a creative activity. In the past they've offered classes in drawing, ceramics, printmaking, quilting, and book arts, of course, and everyone is welcome! I'll be back teaching introductory and advanced workshops in book binding there again in the fall.

Here are some shots from the Art of the Book workshop where we explored a variety of book-making through writing and creative exercises. Thanks for being a part of the workshop, Kat, Sabrina, Joie and Liz!

Telling our 'Jekyl and Hyde' sides through the 'secret room' book.

Sabrina decorates a concertina fold as part of the 'exquisite corpse' poetry book

A detail of our final 'exquisite corpse' accordion fold exercise on the theme 'Road Rage'

Pamphlet stitch fun! Liz brought scissors that cut funky edges like this.

Kat highlights passages as part of the erasure exercise for our pamphlet stitch books.

Liz highlights passages as part of the erasure exercise for our pamphlet stitch books.

Prepping our Japanese stab-binding books with the paper punch.

Kat binds a tortoise-shell variation of the Japanese stab-binding

Joie decorates her cover.

Liz puts the final touches on her tunnel book.

The amazing tunnel book!

Tyler takes a peek at Sabrina's tunnel book.

What does Kat see in her book?

See for yourself! Thanks for this shot, Kat.

See you next semester at Popopstudios!

Closing a chapter, starting a new one

While some enjoyed their long Easter holiday on the beach or sleeping in, we were wrapping up the move of type from the Craftsman Press to Poinciana Paper Press.

For those who don't know, most of the equipment at the press comes from the Craftsman Press, once owned and operated by Oscar Johnson Sr. and now kindly passed on to Poinciana Paper Press to preserve and use once more. The move began last year with the presses via crane and some typecases, but things got off track with the Christmas rush.

Now, moving the last typecases, I feel really excited and also humbled to preserve and use this equipment once more. I really have to extend my gratitude to the Johnson family for working with me on this transition and ultimately making it possible for me to follow my dream. I also have to give a huge thanks--and the blog post cannot possibly begin to even contain how huge--to my parents for their total encouragement and support of this insane endeavor. Guys, they literally helped me sort, save and carry these last cases over their holiday when no one else would help me--I seriously won the parents lottery.

Now the real work begins--the cases are "dirty" in many ways--from inevitable dust and termites and also mixed up in size and/or font. So after a little global adventure this summer (more on that in a minute) I'll  be back and ready to tackle a more efficient and complete print and book-bindery shop set up.

Meanwhile--it's official. Poinciana Paper Press will be taking part in two book festivals over the next month: the NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad and the New York Chapbook Festival in NYC. If you happen to be in town or going yourself, please say hi! While we're in the 'hood, we will be having a New York City book launch of Saltwater Healing by Angelique V. Nixon at Bluestockings on May 2nd at 7 p.m.--please join us! Details can be seen at the Launches & Festivals bar above.

I'm really looking forward not only to sharing what the press is doing with a wider regional and global audience at these events, but also to some personal development. I'm taking a bit of time--since I'll be dragging myself on an airplane anyway--to center myself and my practice again. People remind me all the time that what I'm doing is extraordinary (thanks, folks!) but it can be really exhausting to 'clear bush'. The past year has been so rewarding for the press--after all, we got a studio and started moving and restoring press equipment and took on some fun and meaningful projects--but it has also been the hardest year of my life. Sometimes I think I must be out of my mind to be starting a press and thinking it can become a center for book arts in the Caribbean--to borrow a phrase from Margot Bethel's books: Who the hell do I think I am?

So I decided to take a few months to get back in touch with my mission. It's hard to remember why you are doing what you're doing as a creative person when you work within a vacuum, and especially if you're the only one--or one of a few--doing it. I'll be visiting a few book arts centers, taking some classes, sharpening some skills and learning some new ones. I'll also be making paper--something I really miss here where I don't have the proper specific equipment to do it (yet!!!)--in New York and also in Italy. Mostly I'll just get out of the box for a bit and be able to put into context how far the press has come and visualize where it can go.

I leave in two and a half weeks, but I have some things to check off my list before I go. One of them is to squeeze in a couple of last workshops which you can read about here--it's your last chance before September to take one!

When I return I'll be working on some more books and setting up our studio, so stay tuned!

Impromptu binding party: Margot Bethel

We had the fabulous Margot Bethel in the studio last week for an impromptu bookmaking session!

She had a fantastic cover design carved out of linoleum ready to go, I had some paper hanging around (not to mention a proofing press), and two days later we had 50 awesome blank notebooks with her "Who the hell do I think I am?"/"Gift" designs ready for her to take to her exhibition space in Art at Albany.

Special thanks to Orchid and her friend visiting The Bahamas, Tiffany, for their binding help. It was quite refreshing to do a project like this, and exactly the type of fun collaborative atmosphere I'd like to have going on full time.

If you want one, send me a message at sonia@poincianapress.com and I can pass you on to the artist herself!