squid dust-: 4/1/10

30 April 2010

after 8 years of reading his mag.. it still is one of my favs!

28 April 2010

26 April 2010

2) 1 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and drained on paper towels
1/2 cup total, butter and bacon drippings
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch salt
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
Chocolate ganache drizzle
Spray an 8" X 8" square baking pan with vegetable spray.
Cook bacon, drain on paper towels and crumble in medium pieces. Save bacon grease.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Measure bacon drippings into a 1 cup measure. Add melted butter to that to make 1/2 cup total.
Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not burn. Remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in sugar until well mixed.
Add eggs, vanilla and salt and beat well with spoon. Fold in flour and mix just until smooth.
Pour half the batter into prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half the bacon, and carefully pour the rest of the brownie batter on top.
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes, then sprinkle some more bacon on the brownies, reserving at least a handful of bacon for the topping. Return brownies to the oven and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
Sprinkle the rest of the bacon on top, and cool completely before drizzling with Chocolate Ganache.

Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival July 19-22

http://www.photographyvermont.com/Gallery/Musicians/GreyFox2009SlideshowByAdamFrehm/

http://www.greyfoxbluegrass.com/
Grey Fox takes place on the incredibly beautiful and breathtaking Rothvoss Farm that is a working hay farm in the town of Ancramdale, NY. The Rothvoss Farm has long been the site of the Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival, stretching from 1983 to 1999, presenting the best of bluegrass and acoustic music, and serving as a Mecca for bluegrass fans the world over. Now known as Grey Fox, the festival is produced by Mary Tyler Doub and Ron Thomason, who are dedicated to continuing the same great tradition.

Rothvoss Farm
Ancramdale, NY

blah hahaha. Bush memoir: 43's 'most critical and historic decisions'

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/04/bush-memoir-43s-most-critical-and-historic-decisions/1

21 April 2010

letterpress, you make me feel warm and fuzzy

How To: Build Your Own Letterpress
In the last five years, there's been a surge of renewed interest in letterpress (just check Etsy or any artsy-fartsy card shop). Evidently, a lot of new-old printers are women. According to the folks at Boxcar Press (hint: amazing resource/supplier), nine out of ten (!) of their new customers are female -specifically, these are ladies looking to print DIY wedding invitations. I'm not going to invoke a battle of the sexes, because that's just silly (plus, the one pro letterpresser I know is a dude). Still, consider this: Benjamin Franklin got into printing when he was 12. So if letterpress is downright American. Building your own press could be construed as civic duty.
We found two homemade models -a lever-based rig and a screw press - and probed our pro presser for some advice/critique, after the jump...
Lever Press esembles: C&P Pilot Press Parts: galvanized pipe, pipe fittings, shelf board, parchment paper, rubber bands, foam strips, etching board cost: $$ (~$200)
Difficulty: Easy
Pro presser says:
* "It's very possible to grab a press like this for $200-$400 if you don't mind moving it, possibly putting in some time to clean/fix it up and have somewhere to put it."
* "The flex when pressure is applied seems like this whole thing could break if you got real crazy forceful."
* "This one uses excess backing behind the print in order to achieve a better impression but chances are that backing will eventually wear down and putting in a new piece does not seem that easy -- you would have to re-do all your original registration in order to change the backing."
Screw Press (via Instructables)
Resembles: Copy Press
Parts: six 12"x12" cuts of plywood, nuts, washers, veneer press screw
Cost: $
Difficulty: Moderate
Pro presser says:
* "You tend to see this style of press used more for the gluing of book bindings, but it seems lightweight, solid, and much easier to move and store."
* "Adding a Boxcar base would dramatically help for precision alignment. It's a cast piece of aluminum with grid lines. $150 for the smallest one, but worth it if you plan to print often."
* "You'd probably get less movement and more control than with a gerry-rigged lever. If so, the impressions could wind up being darker and clearer. Sidenote: old-school letterpress guys try to print with the least amount of indentations on the paper, which is called a kiss-off. These days, though, an indentation is desirable since it shows it's handmade."
* "My main problem with both presses is that inking all those prints by hand with a brayer would drive me crazy! It's also really hard to ink polymer plates with a brayer -- it's only easy if your brayer is always bigger than the design on the polymer plate."
TIP: Use Crisco for all your initial clean up with presses, rollers, brayers, etc. Saves you from having to use expensive solvents 2-3 times. Instead, clean first with Crisco and then do a round of cleaning the heavier-duty, toxic solvents.
Getting your images print-ready:
Platen presses like these require plates (duh). Unless your press is magnetic (neither of the above ones are), then you need to pay for a custom photopolymer plate. Boxcar Press can create plates from PDF or even artwork you snailmail up to 12 x 17 inches (though they do charge for the time to scan). A small plate might cost $30; ink would be $14-20; paper varies. Not a huge savings, but on the other hand, you can wall mount your plate after printing as a thoughtful, post-wedding gift to your sweetheart.