A Brick and Mortar Roost
Guys! I’m so excited! We have moved our bindery and letterpress operations into a building in downtown, Pittsburg, Kansas! Up until June, we had been working out of our homes, with the bindery operations spread out over two houses and the letterpress ranging from maker spaces at Pittsburg State University to Angel’s upstairs atelier.
But Angel has graduated with her degree in graphic design (congratulations!), and her house is bursting at the seams. And there is this cute little mock Tudor building right across the road from the Pittsburg Public Library—and it has a fireplace. And a vault. I’ve actually had my eye on it for some time, but once a friend bought it, I swooped in to get first dibs on renting it.
The front room, one of five stretching from front to back, is now a micro gallery that hosts prints and original artwork by local and regional artists, as well as some vintage collectible posters and prints. There are a few other bits and baubles for bibliophiles, including a custom incense scent and a Little Free Library branch.
The next room houses an area where clients can select papers, leather, or cloth for their bookbinding projects or book repairs. Angel’s letterpress equipment sprawls out through that room and the next, and she loves to give demos and take commissions. The fourth room house equipment that we share as well as our break room supplies, and the fourth room, with the fireplace, will be my snug little nest for bookbinding and repairs (and, it turns out, songwriting). One of the first things I bought was a loveseat big enough to take a nap on, because, as a bookbinder with a disability, I occasionally need to lie down while the glue dries.
We plan to offer workshops and occasional Fireside Craft nights where people can come hang out with us and work on their projects or use our materials to come up with something new. Think of it as a bookbinding bee, and my book club meets there once a month.
One of our local artists, Allen Childers, hosts Sketchjams around town, and we’re hoping to get him to showcase our new space for one of them.
We’re still in the process of getting organized even while we work on orders for book repair, custom binding, and letterpress business cards. One of the first tweaks to the space was to order a farmhouse sink so we ean up our inky messes without ruining the landlord’s little vanity. And I love it. It’s the perfect height. We added slatboard for the gallery, shelving and display space, paid licenses and fees, dealt with leaks and cranky antique door locks, oh, more than I can list without bursting into tears. And then came the fun part—welcoming you in to see where we are—and what we do. If you’ve ever said to yourself, “What is bookbinding? What is letterpress?” —well, you probably looked it up, but here’s your chance to check it out in person.
Our first event was a celebration of artists who combine words and images. Featured artists were poets Antjea Wolff and Tasjha Dixon. Antjea, a Pittsburg favorite, does word collage and black-out poetry, while Tasjha, a Kansas City powerhouse, creates what she calls rage poetry. Each artist talked a bit about her process and read a few poems accompanied by music from Kevin Rabas and Ramiro Miranda (drums and violin, respectively), who are part of the group String Daze. We followed that up with an open mic and some snacks. It was a great time. Two people actually said to me, “Wow, it’ s like Pittsburg is becoming the new Lawrence!” Hey, if we can help build a funky arts vibe like Lawrence, I’m all in! Our next artist event will take place this fall, date and time to be announced. The plan is to feature fantasy art (and crows) and spooky stories, songs, and poems. Stay tuned to our Facebook page to learn more.
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